airfrogusmc
Veteran
Answered....
FrankS
Registered User
Oops! Sorry.
airfrogusmc
Veteran
Sorry for what?
FrankS
Registered User
For incorrectly assuming you were only a hobbyist like me.
airfrogusmc
Veteran
I am hobbyist with my personal work.
My day job just happens to be photography.
My day job just happens to be photography.
FrankS
Registered User
So doing photography as a job hasn't ruined it a a hobby/passion. That's good!
airfrogusmc
Veteran
Why would the job ruin it for me? It didn't ruin it for Avedon, Wynn Bullock, or the personal side of Weston's work... From my post #82
I am a photographer and I still love it. Been at it several decades and I have been making my living doing it. My professional work is more often than not a collaboration with other creatives like art directors/designers/ account managers/marketing directors to ultimately satisfy a client so that work is really not mime but the clients.
My personal work is all mine and though I have had success with it i couldn't support my family and give them a decent standard of living with just my personal work. Without my personal work I would have been burned out a decade or two ago.
So my professional work is the base that makes everything else possible.
A couple of others that this was also true for.
"For me photography has been a profession, an avocation. Now it has become a way of life." - Wynn Bullock
"There’s always been a separation between fashion and what I call my “deeper” work. Fashion is where I make my living. I’m not knocking it. It’s a pleasure to make a living that way. It’s pleasure, and then there’s the deeper pleasure of doing my portraits. It’s not important what I consider myself to be, but I consider myself to be a portrait photographer." - Richard Avedon
Maybe my favorite and the one I really can relate to. The only difference is I, like Avedon, don't hate the work I do to feed the beast.
"When money enters in, - then, for a price, I become a liar, - and a good one I can be whether with pencil or subtle lighting or viewpoint. I hate it all, but so do I support not only my family, but my own work." - Edward Weston
I am a photographer. It is my my life. There is rarely a day that goes by that I am not doing something photographic and I love it more now than the day I started the journey. For me anyone that doesn't have a burning passion needs to find something that they do have a burning passion for. Life is to short and the journey is over in the blink of an eye.
FrankS
Registered User
"Life is to short and the journey is over in the blink of an eye."
Most people don't realize that until the end.
Most people don't realize that until the end.
hepcat
Former PH, USN
Oh wow... did I ever miss some good discussion!
I bring over 40 years experience as a working pro to the table as well. I'm semi-retired now, still do an occasional wedding or advertising gig... but I shoot mostly what I want to shoot now when I want to do it for me.
I shot Leica M4s, Mamiya C330s, Canon EOS1s and Hassy most of my career. I started out as a Navy photographer a million years ago and there aren't many genres I haven't shot over the years, including phojo, aerial, forensic, advertising, portraits, weddings, and some other non-forensic scientific work.
FPS is just a tool, like any other, and there reasons to use it. I am from the days of the Hulcher Sequence Camera when NASA was using them and Hassy at the Ames Research Center in the windtunnels when I was stationed at NAS Moffett Field, so I'm familiar with motion studies. I still use my 40 year old Norman corded studio lights, fer cryin' out loud. I could afford the latest whiz-bang technology lights, but let's face it... light is light. It doesn't matter what gizmo makes it in the studio... it's how it's directed that's important. And that's also my philosophy with the box that captures the light. If it's competent to do the job required, then it's adequate.
FPS has it's place, but it's usually not where most folks apply it. I can't understand the need for FPS at a wedding for example. If you think about it, there are really only a dozen "events" to cover in a wedding... a couple of hundred frames more than covers it if your timing is good... and "modern" wedding photogs are shooting 2,000-3,000 frames now?
Nobody is looking down on anybody; especially me. I do what I do pretty well. I'm in awe of folks who can do what I don't. But, there are skills that some of us old guys have that seem to be mostly lost today. The patience to wait for "the moment" for example (timing) seems to be one of them. It's not snobbery driving me to say that... it's just commentary.
Honestly, yes. I've done that my whole career and been successful enough to make a living at it. Have I missed some? Sure... everybody does... but I hit it often enough that I don't go hungry.
I didn't say it did... nor did I say that it's inappropriate or even unnecessary... but you're right... it's task specific. It does make me wonder if folks who use FPS when it's NOT necessary lack the confidence in their skill level to get the shot when they need it though?
No, Frank... it really isn't. The consequences may be different, but the preparation, skill level required, and knowledge of your subject matter, equipment, and your performance should have exactly the same requirements. An image is an image. A pro returns the image for the client and paycheck. The amateur returns the image for themselves. That's really the only difference.
I bring over 40 years experience as a working pro to the table as well. I'm semi-retired now, still do an occasional wedding or advertising gig... but I shoot mostly what I want to shoot now when I want to do it for me.
I shot Leica M4s, Mamiya C330s, Canon EOS1s and Hassy most of my career. I started out as a Navy photographer a million years ago and there aren't many genres I haven't shot over the years, including phojo, aerial, forensic, advertising, portraits, weddings, and some other non-forensic scientific work.
FPS is just a tool, like any other, and there reasons to use it. I am from the days of the Hulcher Sequence Camera when NASA was using them and Hassy at the Ames Research Center in the windtunnels when I was stationed at NAS Moffett Field, so I'm familiar with motion studies. I still use my 40 year old Norman corded studio lights, fer cryin' out loud. I could afford the latest whiz-bang technology lights, but let's face it... light is light. It doesn't matter what gizmo makes it in the studio... it's how it's directed that's important. And that's also my philosophy with the box that captures the light. If it's competent to do the job required, then it's adequate.
FPS has it's place, but it's usually not where most folks apply it. I can't understand the need for FPS at a wedding for example. If you think about it, there are really only a dozen "events" to cover in a wedding... a couple of hundred frames more than covers it if your timing is good... and "modern" wedding photogs are shooting 2,000-3,000 frames now?
Nobody is looking down on anybody; especially me. I do what I do pretty well. I'm in awe of folks who can do what I don't. But, there are skills that some of us old guys have that seem to be mostly lost today. The patience to wait for "the moment" for example (timing) seems to be one of them. It's not snobbery driving me to say that... it's just commentary.
Honestly, yes. I've done that my whole career and been successful enough to make a living at it. Have I missed some? Sure... everybody does... but I hit it often enough that I don't go hungry.
I didn't say it did... nor did I say that it's inappropriate or even unnecessary... but you're right... it's task specific. It does make me wonder if folks who use FPS when it's NOT necessary lack the confidence in their skill level to get the shot when they need it though?
No, Frank... it really isn't. The consequences may be different, but the preparation, skill level required, and knowledge of your subject matter, equipment, and your performance should have exactly the same requirements. An image is an image. A pro returns the image for the client and paycheck. The amateur returns the image for themselves. That's really the only difference.
Tompas
Wannabe Künstler
I am absolutely sure that there are very many people who don't have a burning passion for anything. It doesn't look like they miss something, but I'm not sure about that.
Tompas
Wannabe Künstler
(...) I don't think earning a living in photography is a very popular thing for most to read on photo forums...many don't want to hear it, trust me on that one...As much as I try to kid my self to the contrary, I'm pretty much hated here for it....
Why would that be?
Unless you were joking I think you're a little paranoid.
Cameron
seasick, yet still docked
Hsg
who dares wins
Since this thread, I have seen a lot of changes in my view towards photography.
For example I have begun to share my photos without thinking about whether they're going to be liked or not. That act of sharing my photos have completely changed my opinion about them, and in a way has made them valuable.
So this thread helped a lot to clear my thinking.
