Fauxtographer

Defining a New Generation of Photographers

Saying you are a photographer these days is packaged with a lot of assumptions. It’s like saying you’re a cook.

I can cook but I’m by no means a chef. I don’t know how to pair items to create a cuisine. I can follow a recipe and it might be good when all said and done but I’m not crafting a custom plate.

I feel the same way about photographers in the digital/camera phone age. You have a camera then BOOM, you’re a… photographer?

No — you’re a fauxtographer.

I would pose a hypothesis that if given a camera loaded with film that a majority of todays “known” names in photographer wouldn’t be producing the images the are with digital and there would certainly be no market of undercutting “Uncle Bobs”.

Even the term photographer today has so much underlying meaning.

Do you know the ins and outs of cameras,lighting and editing?

Are you a set designer, a creative with a vision for compositing?

There almost needs to be a ranking system or certification system like belts in karate. If you go to Best Buy and pick up a kit camera to shoot your kids soccer games then you’re a white belt or a photographer 1.

If you want to be a photo ninja it’s going to take years of work and certifications that come with tests.

I see a lot of “working photographers” who’s work is just blah and uninspiring. I see others who are hailed as top photographers because they shoot the WHO’S WHO but the photo isn’t anything special — it’s just Brad Pitt. Throw my aunt in that photo and it doesn’t get a second glance.

It’s just not enough any more to say “I’m a photographer”, there needs to be further definition.

We need chefs not cooks. Line cooks are a dime a dozen. A master chef is rare. Someone who has vision, takes risks and executes — that’s what we need. Not white belt, kit camera “photographers”.