.PHOTOGRAPHY & PHOTOGRAPHER: The Problem With Modern Society

Things have changed a lot since the olden days of photography. Cameras back then were practically the size of a room and only film, or light sensitive paper, and used by only a few people, whereas nowadays, cameras are everywhere.

Being a photographer was something of a real skill and art back in the day, but due to the easily available and cheap cameras people can buy, it means that anyone and everyone can call themselves a photographer. Especially as mobile phones these days have such good cameras on them, and nearly everybody has one and in their pockets. The art of photography has started to be diluted majorly. People are buying cheap DSLRs (Digital Single Lens Reflex which is a camera with detachable lens’) and then calling themselves a professional photographer and not charging much money. This then makes real photographers loose a lot of business as people are always looking at saving money, so will hire the person that is cheaper. This isn’t always true as obviously you get what you pay for, being cheap doesn’t mean its a good deal and you are going to get a good quality of image, but then the same can be said for being expensive, the product isn’t always great quality either.

Being a photographer doesn’t just mean that you can click a button (although thats what I feel I have spent 7 years in education learning… how to click a button HAHA), it means that you are able to see a shot and make your camera an extention of your own body. It’s something that comes natural to photographers and creatives, but it can also be learnt and you can train your mind to start to see things in different ways. Photography is an art form, and people snapping yet another sunset on their phone isn’t. Yes, it can look pretty, but it doesn’t suddenly give you ‘professional’ status, or even that you are a real photographer.

In my head there are two different photographers. You have people who have an interest in photography who takes photos every now and again, does a friends wedding, snaps photos of their children, and can make a ‘pretty’ picture. Then there is photographer who has spent a lot of time in education/teaching themselves the medium, does a professional job, maybe does it for a full time job, creative, and shoots with care. There are many other defining features for both of these, but these are the main ones I have in my head. Modern society has created these two very different photographer types, in a way its a good thing as it opens the art world up to so many more people and finding untapped talents, but too many people think that their ‘pretty good instagram account’ makes them a fully fledged artist who should be picked up by Mario Testino for the next big shoot in New York. No love. Just no.

Another thing that changes things is that editing software can be downloaded for free online that is open to anyone. This means that the amateur photographer who has just bought a camera and has no idea how it works and decided to take bookings doesn’t necessarily have to be any good at photography, just stick the camera on auto mode and shoot and sort out the images in photoshop to make them look more interesting, when in actual fact they end up looking over done and shocking (as a photographer I know it drives me up the wall).

Everyone has the right to do what they want, and if people want to buy an expensive camera without knowing how it works fully then thats up to them. But there is that difference between a proper photographer, and this person who ‘likes the look of that camera, so I’ll buy it’.

Although I have been studying the medium for years and from a young age, I am not a technical photographer. I know how a camera works, and I know how to use a camera for my style of shooting and my way of thinking, but I wouldn’t be able to teach someone how to use a camera by the rule book and how to take the perfect picture. I spent years learning the rules, and from then I have been breaking them ever since. I do get looked down by people for doing it because I may not know the technical word for something or how to get something to do what I want, but the technology is ever changing in photography. I create the images I like and in the style and way I like.

I know a lot of other photographers like this, and the ‘better’ photographers do tend to look down on us as if we are the type of person that just likes photography and doesn’t know what we are doing. The photography world is very bitchy, clique-y, snobby, and full of name droppers. This does make it very challenging to push through it all, but this is what makes the photographers different from the people with a hobby or slight interest in the medium. We push and we try. Photographers are very strong minded people.