Forgive my lack of updates, folks. Life has a way of spiraling out of control now and then.
But, I’ve returned. New year means time for new posts.
Recently, I was browsing articles on the PhotoShelter blog and I came across a post about the “Top Ten Ways To Piss Off A Photographer” (you can find said article here).
This got me thinking. As a photographer, what could someone do to piss me off?
Well, the ten reasons listed in the PhotoShelter article are a good place to start. But I think the four main things that would piss me off as a professional photographer would be the following:
1. Theft of my images.
It takes a lot of time and effort to create images I find excellent (especially since I’m my own worst critic in all things). So when someone takes an image (or any other piece of work) I toiled hard to create and tries to use it or take credit for it, I’m not a happy camper.
2. Expect to use my service/images for free.
Photographers have bills just like everyone else. Our photography is how we bring home the bread. When someone thinks my work is good enough to make use of but not good enough to warrant payment, it doesn’t sit well with me. Some photographers may find it in their hearts to do a few instances of pro bono work here and there, but when it comes down to it, no one works for free. Photographers are no different. And as the article mentions, offering a photographer a photo credit as payment doesn’t fly. It’s a little insulting really.
Likewise, I find it insulting when someone wants portraits or some other photographic service from me but doesn’t feel as though they should have to pay anything for not only the prints, but the work I did in taking the photographs and making the prints (I do all my own custom printing, folks, and that‘s a lot of work).
3. Making alterations to my images without consent.
Nothing stings more than getting stoked about having an image published only to find that it’s been so completely warped by alterations and “edits” that it‘s not even the same image anymore. Well, ok, having images stolen may sting a lot more but you get my drift.
Photographers work hard to create high-quality images. We are attached to our work because we pour our heart and soul into it. It is a piece of us, an extension of who we are, so to have someone alter an image without prior consent because they think it will “work better that way” is a complete insult.
4. Stereotyping
I’ve read countless posts, articles, and stories about photographers being accosted while exercising their legal right to photograph. In this day and age, where terrorism is a real fear, someone in a public place, dressed all in black (as most artists and photographers I know do), with a camera in front of their face taking pictures is automatically looked at like a threat. We as a society are so over-saturated by reports and images of “suspicious activity” that an innocent photographer who just wanted to take an artistic photograph of this street corner or the front steps of that building, ends up being branded anything from a nuisance to an all out terrorist. I’m all for safety and security but that kind of stereotyping is completely ignorant and it really annoys me.
So, what do you think? What pisses you off as a photographer? Or, even if you aren’t a photographer, what could someone do to you in your respective field to piss you off?
Until next time…
[-_-]
~A.M.
Audrey May Photography 