September 25th, 2009 New Rules for Photography

Few professions have been affected by technology as much as photography. With all of the advances in digital technology (cameras, software, etc.) photography has been completely democratized. The playing field is more even now than ever for photographers. You don’t need to go to school or spend years apprenticing, all you need is a Nikon D40 and you’re a professional photographer. I say that with my tongue firmly planted in cheek.

While I think it’s great that more people have access to photography, I can also see how much leveling the playing field has diminished the quality of photography as a whole. With the economy being pretty rough, you’ve seen a lot of people decide that they’re going to be professional photographers and the truth of it is that they’re doing pretty crappy work and hurting the craft for people who have been in it for a long time.

I suppose that I’m part of the problem. I do not sell myself as a photographer, but I do quite a bit of photography in the course of doing business. I’m not doing portrait work or anything like that, but I did take up photography as a part of my career and I’ve done quite a bit of work. Do I feel bad about taking work away from another photographer? No. I recognize that it’s a little hypocritical of my, but the truth is that I am a decent photographer and the work I am doing is good for what my clients need. When a project comes up that isn’t my bag, I’m the first one to bring in a pro or recommend someone else for the job.

All this being said, I want to propose a couple of new rules for photography.

1. Using brick walls as backgrounds is outlawed. This is not a local photographer, but this is the sort of thing I’m seeing everywhere. It’s tired and it’s boring. Every other senior portrait taken these days is using an alley or a building as a backdrop. BORING BORING BORING! Friday weddings are all the rage right now and I see these party buses pull up outside the studio and use one of the buildings as the backdrop for their “creative and fun” photos. Several have used my studio as a backdrop as have several people doing senior portraits.

2. The black-and-white-photo-with-one-object-in-color effect achieved in Photoshop is outlawed. Holy crap is this awful. With great technological capabilities comes great responsibility. Stop doing this. It was a creative and unique thing a decade ago. Now it’s just played out.

Do you want to be a professional photographer? Do you want the respect of your peers? Adhere to these rules! Stop being a follower and create the next really boring photo cliché! Much like the globe in senior portraits and the finger-thumb on the chin, there are many more terrible ideas that you could be executing. If you’re going to suck at something, you could at least do it in an original way.