What gets under my skin

You know what irritates me? Well I'll tell you but first you need some back story.

I started pursuing photography and all that in entails about 3 years ago in 2010. At first it was all about my camera. I wanted to shoot crystal clear images. I wanted to shoot images with vibrancy. Most of all I wanted images I could be proud of. So, I studied. I studied long and hard with stacks of books surrounding me at the library. I read terms like "depth of field" and "aperture". I was like "Is this book in English?". It was, but at the time I was shooting in Auto mode, and poorly at that. After finally getting comfortable with my terminology and how to work my camera, I upgraded my equipment. Then I began the process all over again. I wanted to master my equipment. After all, that's the only way I'm going to truly create the art I wanted to display.

In 2011 I experimented with editing programs left and right. At this time my photos were getting better but were still pretty horrible. I had no idea what I was doing to my images but I guess in my head I thought I was being "artsy" and just slapped an action or two to the image and called myself done. WRONG! If I could go back in time to correct myself, I would. Any who... later this year I gave birth to my son Keagan. He inspired me to do even better than what I could currently do.

In 2012, I studied more, and searched for talent that would help inspire me. I found favorites of mine that I look up to. I'll save those details for another blog topic some other time. In 2012 I realized I needed to change the way I do things. The way I market, the way I package, the way I organize. Everything, everything needed to change. So it did! Photography isn't something you can just "pick up" and run with. It takes practice, tons of it, to really truly be a photographer. Things are constantly changing with the new fads and such, and one should always learn to adapt to these changes. I personally like lifestyle shots. These types of shots aren't posed. It's that glance mom gives dad when he's "wooing" her, that silly face their child makes when being tickled, it's the love the client shares with me and my camera by just being them. However, not all clients are that comfortable in front of the camera. DOH! I hadn't thought of this before, and realized what do you do when someone is so utterly awkward in front of the camera? Well... you try to pose them until they relax enough to do their own thing. After that eye opening experience, I researched poses, and tried time and time again to make sure I remembered them when the time came. It was shortly after this, I dealt with someone who had never been in front of the camera before. I set her in a basic "pose" and just spoke with her. I got to know her more in depth and therefore could make her laugh and move a certain way. Metaphorically speaking, I was her puppet master. It made for great shots because she had a great time. Once she relaxed I got all those lifestyle shots I wanted without having to tell her "straighten your back, turn your head, and now smile". It was already there.

I could go on and on about my experiences but let's jump ahead to current times. I've busted my butt and scratched my head far too much to get where I'm at today. Too much information in books and too many client interactions to just cheat my way to the top.

It's come to my attention that there are actual "photographers" out there that like to steal other photographers work. That's right. STEAL. I'm not sure if they know this but it's copy right infringement.  This is the part that irritates me dearly. After putting a lot of hard work to get where I am today, and by all means still needing more to learn from, it gets under my skin when someone decides to advertise brilliant work as their own. WHY?! Why can't they suffer and struggle like all of the great ones did when they first began. Sure, their work is probably horrid, but guess what?
MINE WAS TOO! 

In this day and age of digital photography, and social networking, people can fake talent all they want. It's turning the industry into one big joke. How is a client supposed to know any different between true talent and one who has stolen a collection of images from various photographers and slapped a watermark on it.  Luckily, I haven't been a victim of this that I'm aware of. I'd like to keep it this way.

All I'm saying, is it's not right to do so. If I were that client, I'd be really pissed if I paid for high quality images and got someone who had no idea what they were doing.

Enough said. If you're still reading this far, thank you. :)

Since you stuck around I'll show my horrid progression shots