I snuck into Boston for a long weekend over the Halloween Holiday. It was a surprise for my friends. I try to shoot as much as possible on those trips, here are some of my favorite images from this visit. These pics were shot using a Rollei 35SE and my camera phone, a Nokia E63.

I will preface this post by saying that I strongly believe if two people are having an open conversation in public, it is fair game for me to use as subject matter in a long rant. So that said…

I was at the coffee shop this morning and I overheard two guys talking about whatever two guys in a coffee shop talk about, at one point one of the men says, “well my brother-in-law is a professional photographer.” and the response from the other gentleman was perfect, “yeah I know, but he doesn’t have any talent.”

As a photography enthusiast I am subjected to a lot of people telling me that their brother this or their best friend that. I learned early on not to openly critique someones work unless asked to do so. Most of these “pro” photographers are a little sensitive. I look at a mind boggling number of photographs and study what makes them good not so good and just out right bad. I like to think I know a good photo when I see one.

I believe the average American would not know good art if it bit them in the ass. This is not completely their fault though. We lack education, and culturally we see little importance in art and artistic expression. Look at any American public school district and the first programs they cut in hard times are the art and music programs. You know times are tough when they cut a football program in a Texas high school. So it’s no mystery why Americans settle for bad photography, even when they overpay for it.

Wedding photographers are a special case though, I will say there is almost no originality in that field because no bride is willing to take the chance with the most special day of her life. I have heard time and time again, “I want my wedding pictures to be photojournalistic” I will be the first to tell you to stop lying to yourself. Perhaps a photojournalism style, but you’ll still see the photographer pose the wedding party for an hour or so after the ceremony, this is where originality ends. I have seen some stellar wedding photography, but it was not style that made it stellar, but the brilliant execution of the project.  This is where the photographer being a real professional pays off for the client. The photographer shows up early ready to go, they spot the best vantage points and learn who all the players are, and get to work. I am in the opinion that to be a successful wedding photographer you don’t necessarily have to have much talent, but you do need to be a good salesman and have strong communication skills to give the clients what they want. I say this because I know and have met successful wedding photographers with little to no talent for photography and making a good living at it, because the clients usually don’t know the difference between good photography and mediocre photography.

The one thing I really love about commercial photography is that it is a self-regulating industry. All sorts of professionals are involved in a photo shoot. These trained professionals already know the difference between a talented photographer and a hack. Your lack of skills will keep you from making a living. If you want to be successful in this field it strikes me that your career would be best served if you knew what you were doing.

Fine art nature photographers are can be broken down into two schools, OLD and NEW. The oldschool photographers with their 8×10 large format cameras huffin’ it through the woods waiting up all night for the light to be perfect pumping out 20 – 30 images, and the new-school rock-stars with there $5000.00 DSLRs shooting 1000 – 10,000 images manage to get lucky from time to time.

I have always loved photojournalism, and have come to the sad realization that I can’t do it myself. I do take some comfort in knowing that neither can most of photojournalists. (the Daily Camera is my case in point)

I could go on for days criticizing every aspect of modern photography. What this really comes down to, is how consumers define professional, and how photographers define that same word. I believe your work should speak for itself. In sports the difference between pro and amateur is whether you get paid or not, this can’t and should not be the same definition applied to photographers.

The moral of this story is, don’t listen to your Mom. When she tells you how smart and talented you are, she is lying to you. Unless your mom is Margaret Bourke-White you should be listening to what your peers have to say. Learn from your successes and mistakes.

Halloween According to Jack and Page.

Halloween was a particularly fun event for me this year. With the help of Paget, I was able to swoop into Boston undetected by the authorities and surprise Erik, Sarah and Jack for the Halloween event of the year.

Twas a great night!