AZ Writes: "Kostas, Think of us photographers as being like the artists who practice sumi-e brush painting - rare birds who find peace and meditative wisdom mastering something difficult and beautiful. The younger, multi-tasking minded will venerate us. Like, as if...!" Why not compare professional photographers to professional shoe shine men? You see them often in the airports and sometimes you find one or two that are really really (REALLY REALLY) good. I have favorites in several cities around the country and will actually choose what shoes to wear based on knowledge that I will be in that city with some time to spare and hope that they will be there, too. They can shine your shoes like you never could. Not that you can't give your own shoes a bit of shine, you just can't ever get the same high quality results yourself. Perhaps that makes them artists? Certainly they qualify as craftsmen. The thing is people WILL notice the difference in your shoes if you use a top flight professional shoe shiner. If you do it yourself people won't necessarily notice anything wrong with your shoes and of course that can be good enough. Just fine. And you saved 5 bucks. Fact is your your shoes could look like someone with dog poo on the bottom of their shoes walked all over the top of yours and some people won't even notice that. And that might be ok with you, too. And of course, you would have very little sympathy for some whiney spit-shiner blaming you for his children needing new shoes as you rush to catch your flight. My take on the original post was that the person was looking for that magic piece of cheap gear that would raise her work to professional standards. My reply was meant to say that all she really needed was light and better skills in how to use it. I could do better portraits than she was doing with a 500 watt light bulb, a white wall, a roll of waxed paper and some tape. Not just because I am a pro but because I am a better photographer. I have a better understanding of light. That is what most "photographers" are lacking. And of course, I don't count to three and push the button but that is another topic all together. r
