Part 1 - Film Days..
There is a lot more to a photograph than the equipment used to make it. When I started out in photography I needed to learn how to make an in-focus, correctly exposed picture. I learned how to do that again and again, in a wide range of situations with a wide variety of equipment. I trained in film photography, 35mm, medium format cameras and large format 5 x 4 inch sheet film cameras - with movements. Film and paper, these consumables were expensive! Mistakes not only cost time but they could also cost a lot of money.
There are many many photographer and assistant horror stories revolving around film. Things that did didn't and should not have happened to and-or with the film. Wrong exposures set.. Film not loaded correctly. Exposed film being loaded twice.. bags of exposed film being lost! Or nearly lost.. whew!!! If you were a client about to put a serious amount of money into a marketing or advertising campaign you really wanted a photographer that knew their stuff. Knew their equipment and their team.
While a lot of the essential knowledge I learned at college and in the field as a photographer can now be done by the camera. Lets face it, hell, it can be done by your phone! Not surprisingly there's been some flow on effects for photographers as a result all of this innovation and 'disruption'. I call it the commodification of photography. When people believe it's the camera that 'takes' the picture, then a price based commodification of photography is inevitable. It's begun already with websites offering you an UBER driver who moonlights as a photographer.. Taxi driving has been commodified too because, well that's a different story, sort of.
Some professional photographers only have themselves to blame for this. If you qualify your fees, your 'price point' based on the cost of your cameras (etc) then the net result when the camera does 'the job' itself - focus, expose the image correctly - the photographer using the marketing model 'I've got the latest equipment' inevitably becomes either redundant; or interchangeable for any other photographer with the latest equipment. This is great for people looking to save money, they don't really need a photographer any more, they simply need a digital camera operator - but we will call them a photographer to keep them (the operator) happy.
I hope this does not sound too cynical, I think it's a pretty obvious outcome if you link the quality of your photographic work, more or less exclusively to the equipment you use. And that's why I have never positioned myself as a photographer based on equipment I use.
Part 2 - Creativity and experience are not commodified yet
Yes there is a lot more to a photograph than the equipment used to make it. With dare I say, the emotional component being the most important. That part of the image is not in the camera settings - through they are working on it - portrait mode anyone, with very obvious oversimplification. Since taking on full 360VR panorama photography; many of the ideas I have held about photography have been brought into sharp focus - no pun intended. Seemingly simple things like, where to put the camera? This is something the computer does not really know. I say computer not because the camera has circuit boards in it. I say computer as there are 360 apps out there, mapping your environment and telling the camera operator where to place the camera next - so you get a complete map. Which is good news for cartographers; but not so important for the viewer, your customer, your client. I mean the person you are hoping becomes your client based on photography, based on the pictures that portray your business.
In fact - terrible statement isn't it, in fact.. since I started shooting 360, I have renewed admiration for all the non-equipment aspects of photography that I had really just taken for granted, for years and years. There is nothing like working on a picture that needs to look good all-the-way-around to give you an appreciation for the correct angle and lens choice made as a photographer, even with your non-360 work. It's called having a vision for photography, and people have been telling me I have it, since my earliest days with a camera.
Creating a picture, any picture, to do a specific job, make the people and clothes look wonderful, the room as luxurious as it truly is, the destination, worth seeing - the viewer perhaps just a little envious, stimulating their interest and motivating them to get in contact. Book - Visit - Buy. There's never been a camera that did that.. It's always been a photographer with vision.
If you are looking for a 360 Virtual Reality photographer who understands your business needs - please contact me, Kent Johnson to discuss your project. I am available for assignments world wide.
Kent Johnson, Sydney, Australia - The World.
0433 796 863
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