I was seriously thinking about this the other day. With the advent with the Canon's 10megapixel XTi camera which can be had for about 700 dollars (at the time of writing), I'm thinking my competition is not only the other professionals out there, it's the uncle Joe's and Aunt Petunia's altruistic motives to take pictures of the wedding or event for free. How do I compete? Or rather, do I even really care to compete. And my thinking on this would be the latter. If I lost sale because a potential client wanted to really cut corners and have their aunt do it for dirt cheap, then I will be more than happy to let them do it. Because at the end of the day, I do not want to be working with a bride like that. Is it scorn? Not really. It's more of the fact that I think the relationship between a photographer and the bride or subject has to go slightly beyond quid pro quo. They pay me money, I take the pictures. It has to be selective. Do I want to be taking pictures with this client? Do they really value photography as art? As something to be cherished? Or something that they think anyone can do, and it starts with the snap of a button and it ends there. During the interview process, I take all this into account. Yes, I do want the sale, but at what cost. It all boils down to the a single question...Why go professional? both for me and the client.

If in essence, photography is merely snapping pictures, and anyone can really do it. What sets us apart from the rest? The more I think about it, the more I realize it just comes down to one word. "Passion". It takes someone a lot of effort to get up sometimes at 6am, and end your day at 11pm or twelve midnight. And afterwards, sit down for hours upon hours to weed, process, and go through all the series of images to tell the story of the day. Standing, crouching, kneeling all day and and carrying lots of heavy equipment. Sometimes running around and toiling in the sun for the entire day isn't most people's cup of tea. And I suspect, your Aunt Petunia did not expect that taking pictures full time for an event was that taxing. After all, it's just standing there and taking a few pictures with her nifty point and shoot, or even niftier 20 or 30D, replete with the fancy kit lens. You really have to love what you do, to go through the things that some wedding/event and even photojournalists have to go through.

Beyond that, what else does a pro provide? An eye for photography. Some people pay upwards to 6 to 10K for their wedding pictures, and not to besmirch my fellow professionals, but sometimes I think to myself. I dont think they were worth it. While other times, I look at someone's work and go wow....'That'...looks the work of a very expensive photographer. One can argue that art, is very subjective, but when it comes down to it, there's good art...then there's bad art. And then, there's the really expensive bad art! As an example, take a camera, go outside, and try to take some good pictures. Easy right? You'll soon realize that it's not as easy as it looks. We all take sucky pictures, and a good friend of mine told me. A good photographer, never shows his bad photographs. So if it's the dirty little secret of all photographers out there, why pay money and hire a professional one? Because we've done it enough times, know what to expect, know what tools are needed, to ensure...or rather...to mitigate the bad pictures.

I'd like to think of it as take an amateur, a professional, and someone with a really photographic eye and have give them a challenge of going out there and taking just only 10 pictures. Statistically, what they come back with? In my opionion out of the 10 shots, the amateur will be lucky if they come back with 1 or 2 good ones. The person with a good eye will come back with about 2 or 4. And the professional will come back with about 2 or 3. Really not that much difference to me between a pro and someone with a good eye, except for the willingness to go above and beyond, work long hours under oftentime stress filled environments, all for the purpose of documenting a moment in time. The professional will go out week after week, sometimes doing pro bono work for the purpose of improving their craft. Yes the exposure is definately an added bonus.

When I'm doing a paid shooting engagement, most often times when I snap the picture, I think to myself. If aunt Petunia and Joe Blow over there can consistently take better shots, then I will quit the business right now. I would not have earned my keep, and should be moving on to other endeavors. Though I do believe in the merits of guests shots. They sometimes come out spectacular! The person lives for that moment. Sees the activity, snaps the frame. Done deal. They can potentially take a fantastic shot. They don't have to worry about how much memory do they have left, are the cards currently being backed up. Lighting conditions for the next portion of the shoot, how to pose the guests for the formals. Their mind is generally clear. And that I think is the key. My first pro shoot, I was stressed as all heck. Are these shots being taken? Is that portion covered? It's really dark in this room, I don't have enough light! And after a few more engagements, things all work out smoother and smoother. I learn with each and every shoot. What to and what not to do. The key difference between someone good and someone bad (taking artistic talents aside), is how they handle stress, and the situation at hand. As with any endevear, seeing things through with a cool and calculated head is what a pro brings to the table. Take the aunt/uncle or less experienced shooter, have them go through the day of shoots, and quickly things may fall apart.

What about equipment? Does equipment make a difference? If I had a penny for how many people ask me, how many megapixels is your camera? Uncle Joe has a good point and shoot rated at 12megapixels! It's fantastico! To this, I generally explain to them, megapixels don't really matter all too much. It's the quality of the pixels, and as much as the marketing people don't like to say it, "not all pixels are created equal". The 1D, which is a 4megapixel pro body....can most likely out resolve uncle Joe's noisy, grainy 12megapixel super cute light small camera any day of the week and twice on Sundays. Techno babel aside, I believe the pro brings their quality, durable equipment to the table. Fast lenses, capable of taking pictures with less light. Redundant systems, with backups and even backups for the backup should the backup fail. Yes equipment does matter to some extent. It provides a set of reliable the tools for someone to work with. But tools are not everything. My friend Doug always said, "It's not the tools, it's the carpenter".

Given the best equipment ever, people can still manage to take really really sucky photos. Or, conversely, going to flickr under the toy camera sections....pinhole cameras or hogas can take marvelous works of art. So I think that answers some of the questions I have for myself. Why do people hire a professional? How can I be of service to them, and add my experience and expertise in the matter. And most importantly, how can I improve my craft, so that hopefully, I take a good enough photo, where someone out there would want to passed down from generation to generation, and have my art outlive me.

-NLE 02-23-07