I have made a discovery or two recently. First and foremost, I have discovered that I am a photography snob. I’m not a snob in the sense that I’m concerned about what type of gear a photographer chooses to buy, beg, borrow, steal, or otherwise acquire for his or her use. I’m very well aware that some of the most astonishing images come from the most surprising sources. The thing that makes me a snob is this: I tend to feel (and I hate to admit it) a little bit of contempt and to be fair, a certain amount of jealousy when the people who make those images don’t know enough about how they were made to be able to reproduce them on a consistent basis.
I tend to have a technical and logical approach to making images. I know how ISO, aperture, and shutter speed work together to influence exposure. I shoot manual all the time — not because I think it’s better, but because it’s how I learned to do it twenty-five years ago and because that’s what’s comfortable for me. I don’t think that people should have to shoot manual, but I do think that they should be able to do it when they want to or when it’s appropriate. I’m a snob because I think that people should be able to produce high-quality work on purpose more often than they do it accidentally.
I would like to be more creative, and I would like to be able to create unique work. It would be nice to be able to sell myself, but I haven’t enough confidence for that. I’m jealous of the people — the same people who take one hundred photos to produce one keeper — who do have the confidence to put themselves and their work “out there.” That was my second discovery. Actually, it was more a thing that I’ve recently admitted to myself than a discovery, per se.
Last thing: I am a snob because I die a little bit inside every single time I read, see, or hear a question from a professional photographer that sounds like the kind of question that would come from a photography student. A person should not have to know everything about their chosen profession to be a considered a pro. That’s too much to ask of anyone. But if they don’t know the basics about their chosen profession, then should they really be asking people for money for their services? That does get under my skin.
And yes, it bothers me mostly because I’m jealous of them.