“The Grass is Always Greener.”
People have often asked how do you keep in business when
there are so many good quality consumer cameras and so many “professional”
photographers out there? ...And my answer is that people always want something
that they can’t have… the grass is greener syndrome.
I am not saying that everyone is not satisfied in life with
what they have, however Apple stock would suggest that the average person will
try to make that change from an Iphone 3 to 4 and now soon to be 4 to 5!
How does this relate to our photography? We tend to shoot at
both ends of the focal range using full frame pro bodies. To try to copy many
of our images you will need these pieces of equipment, which are very
expensive… ($15,000 per camera!) This is of course excluding our tens of
thousands of dollars invested in professional lighting, soft boxes, radio ttl
light triggers, and so on… This makes our style of photography out of reach to
the consumer photographer and to a starting professional… making our
photography something that is on the other side of the fence for them.
Beyond that, there are our years of experience, formal
education at some of the best schools in the business and having been awarded
several international awards by our peers suggest a higher level of photography
than your average photographer.
There are many VERY talented new professionals out there and
they can make some beautiful images with little equipment… but their ability to
shoot in any situation is hampered by lack of equipment. (If anyone questions
this comment go to any on-location Hollywood film shoot and look at the amount
of equipment all over the place! Trucks upon trucks filled with lighting and
camera gear!)
Just having the lighting gear is not enough…. You also have
to know how to use it. We have a lighting specialist on staff that mostly deals
with location scouting and light metering.
The biggest difference is that all of this gear enables us
to shoot consistently. We can shoot anywhere and get great results. Of course
we still prefer not to shoot under a noon sun and look to the “golden hour,”
for those very special pictures, but we can consistently get great exposures in
almost any situation. This means more great pictures for you to choose from for
your book or canvas.
I share this blog with the intention of explaining how the
photography industry is changing… and if you want to be successful in this
industry you need to look a little bit “greener!”
