A good photographer is not just a person who owns a nice camera and has a basic knowledge on how to use the manual shutter speed function (I will call these people "Button Monkeys"). A good photographer knows how to set up a picture or how to distinguish a decent candid pose or situation from a bad one. At a recent musical production that I was a part of (working as a technical manager) a photographer (Button Monkey) was called in to take pictures of the cast and crew. She wasted more time than she was worth because she couldn't make a picture look good. This girl had no idea how to get a decent picture of 60 people so she turned to the director. The director ended up setting up all of the pictures and positioning the camera. The girl would then count down, say "cheese" and push the button. This is a prime example of a button monkey. She has no real talent yet she is being paid to demonstrate this lack of skill.
I think that it is safe to assume that there are now more photographers than there are people who need their pictures taken. What are we going to do with these people who are flooding this occupation? Now that every stay at home mom and college dropout claims to be a photographer, how are we supposed to weed out the bad and hire the good? Well I think that I have figured it out...Instagram!
I hope that my sarcasm was sensed, but now that we are talking about Instagram let me just tell you how much I despise that website. It is just a new attempt on social media, but the only thing that you can do is post and comment on pictures. Okay, I do have an Instagram account, but, upon discovering wh0 and what it encourages, I had to get out. The idea behind it is that you can take a picture on your phone's camera and then post it onto this website. There are various filters that you can apply after you have taken the photo that make it look like you actually know how to take pictures. You can apply some with soft lighting or a fade effect around the edges and the at least the pictures turn out to be decent. Some people have become idolized for their ability to take "pictures" when they are really just snapping a photo out of their car window, while stuck in traffic, and applying a filter. I am sick of looking at the exact same pictures taken by the exact same types of people. Again this is encouraging people with no skill.
I really think (or maybe hope) that this photography craze is merely a fad that will die out in time and leave only the true photographers behind. Button Monkey...your day's are numbered.
