What? What? That makes no sense. How could you ask such a question? Think about it for a second. Now, I don't want you to misunderstand, I am not not bashing camera makers here. They are making outstanding cameras at an affordable price, while doing what they need to do to make a profit. Good for them, but in the long run, it is crippling pro photographers. How you ask? I call it the "Uncle Larry Effect". Because the cameras are so good, at such an affordable cost, every "Uncle Larry" of the world can afford an awesome DSLR. In recent past, every wedding I have been to has had "Uncle Larry" there with his great DSLR taking pictures. What's to say that the bride and groom decide to use "Uncle Larry's" pictures instead of purchasing the photographers, or not even use a photographer at all because of "Uncle Larry". I say this is very likely. Why? Because the cameras are so good that anyone can get one of these things, flip it on easy auto mode, shoot away, and take OK pictures. With this, people are starting to ask, "why do I need to pay for a photographer?" I've heard is statement came from people's mouth. Sad but true. The pro photographer is slowly becoming a dying breed, because so may people have DSLRs in their hands, and call themselves photographers. At the same time, it is giving pro photographers a bad rap because, people are seeing these OK photos that are being put out by the "Uncle Larry's" of the world , and saying "hey, I can do just as good if not better", and they are right because they will be using pretty much the same equipment, doing the same things.
My father (who by the way is the biggest reason I have an interest in photo/video) and I were talking the other day. He was showing me some pictures that were taken by a "pro photographer", that was sent to him to do souvenir work with. Upon seeing the pictures, I said "meh" to them because, they were not that good. A little out of focus, the color and lighting were off, etc. Needless to say, had I paid for those "pro photos"', I would be right upset. After looking at the EXIF data, I was very shocked. The photos were taken with a Nikon D800 with a 24-70 2.8. WHAT!! A camera setup that I would die for. With further inspection we learned that the photographer was shooting in Program Auto mode. WHAT!! To me this says that this "photographer" has no idea now to use the equipment. Now make no mistake, the D800 with a 24-70 2.8 isn't chump change to most, but if you are on a modest budget,and scrape your pennies, you can get it. Thing is though, this "photographer" was letting the camera decide what the settings were for a client shoot. Any photographer worth their weight would never do this unless it were a run and gun situation, or.... it's "Uncle Larry" that has no idea how to use the camera.
Lets look at another angle. The point and shoot market is dead for the most degree. Everyone has these awesome cameras built in to their smartphones, and no one needs the point and shoot anymore. And can you blame them? Did you hear the recent news about the Chicago Sun Times firing the majority of their photographers, and hiring freelancers to shoot with iPhones for photo and video? You see the path we are on? For the most part as a society, was have come to accept "good" photos, not great ones. I fully expect to see camera makers start teaming up with phone manufactures to implement their optics and brand. It just makes sense at this point.
So what can a real pros do to combat this? The best way is to deliver an acceptable product for starters. Know how to use your equipment. Get out of auto and use your camera. And finally, find ways to go above and beyond "Uncle Larry". More and more, I hear of pro photographers going back to shooting film, or even starting to shoot Micro Four Thirds, just to get an advantage on everyone else. This isn't a bad idea. The best photographers learned on film. You gotta know your stuff to shoot with an SLR. More and more people are finding the range of things that you can do with MFT systems. Pros are starting to adopt it because of this, along with size and costs.
In closing, In the beginning here, I beat on the camera makers a bit, and they are to blame to some degree, but they are doing what most of us are or wish we were; putting money in their pockets. The rest resides on those of us who pick up a camera and call ourselves photographers. Before you start posting to the world with photographer in your title, be sure you can back it up with the quality of your photos so the pros can be pros again.
--Kevin A.
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