Friday 30 December 2011

Review: Photographer or not? Part 1

This is a little bit of a random post, but it is not as random as you may think.

In the feedback from my tutor Matthew Winterlich in assignment 1, he noticed that I have mentioned that I have no interest in being a photographer, and in fact "You can have no education, no job, but you can still call yourself a photographer." The original post I believe is here:

http://art-of-photography-sip.blogspot.com/2011/11/three-months-after-enrolled-in-oca.html

He gave me links on the skill requirement of photographer as an career and suggested that I should start a discussion on the OCA forum. I yet have a chance to see how that post goes (or if anyone bother to comment). To be honest, I was not too into discussing why others want to become a photographer while I don't. It is a matter of personal choice that one has to learn to respect (in my opinion).

I have been reading some articles lately and this topic springs back to my mind. I can't quite elaborate how I feel at the moment, so I will post the link and quote directly. The person in the "interview" is Stephen Eastwood, a famous fashion photographer in United States.

Here is the part of the interview that I find interesting.

"As a career, never make it about you or your views of beauty. If you want to succeed, understand that the client and the market the client is aiming for decide what is beautiful. You simple have to be able to accept that and make it come to life in your image despite many things that will work against you, from the wrong model, to the wrong concept, to the wrong art director and set designers. At the end of the day it is all your responsibility to supply a great product, which in this case is an image that sells what the client wants to sell. Next never be afraid to use retouching to complete the job. It is what is expected in todays world, people are not use to seeing real, they see perfect people and perfect skin, that is not possible in a day to day job, so being able to create it is what it is, and it is what will make you successful. Clients do not want to hear excuses, no matter how true, or whose fault it is, they don't care, realize that going in and make sure you can respond to everything and supply what they need and or want. "

Here is the rest of the interview.

http://www.stepheneastwood.com/bio/

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