Walter is absolutely correct: The days of pro photographers helping others learn the craft are dead. Dead and gone. Dead and gone and buried.
That's because the old "get a pro to teach you" model is dead and gone and buried as well. In truth, it only worked for years because in the 70's, 80's, and 90's only a very few people ever wanted to be pro photographers.The equipment was big and heavy and dumb and the educational curve was steep. So approaching a professional and becoming an apprentice and spending 5-10 years learning the ropes was a viable plan. The exact same path that carpenters, plumbers, and roofers still travel today, I would point out.
It worked just fine because it scaled correctly: X-amount of pro photographers existed, x-amount retired every year and were replaced by approximately the same amount of apprentices ready to join the ranks. The model was balanced and sustainable.
But these days everybody and their crippled grandmother picks up a camera, takes a pretty picture of a barn and suddenly dreams of becoming a pro photographer. So they grab a URL, fake a bio, print up business cards, steal some online photos and away they go.
Talent? Experience? Knowledge? Equipment? Apparently, that ain't part of the equation anymore.
So, not surprisingly, the apprenticeship model has completely broken down because the scale has broken down. The model is no longer sustainable because the field is now inundated with pretend photographers turning out pure photographic crap while looking to "make a little cash" on the side (wink, wink) because really - you know, how tough can it be?
And since the advent of cellphone cameras, the entire universe has suddenly decided that blurry photos are perfectly acceptable - thanks Facebook - and so we are left with a millions of bad photos flying around the Internet and dumbing down the entire photographic ecosystem.
But after years of complete lunacy, pro photographers are finally - FINALLY! - fighting back. It's too late, of course. But at least the industry is finally fighting back.
Just so you know, I used to help train young photographers all the time. Fact is, I still lecture to camera clubs, community colleges and the occasional high school class. I shoot assignments for local newspapers and magazines seven days a week. I shoot high school and college sports and ad campaigns and house fires and boring politicians. I've photographed presidents, kings and even the Dalai Lama once. Nice guy. (Really.) And as my job as DoP at a regional newspaper, I hire local pro photographers five times a day. Sometimes more - but don't tell my boss that.
But I am absolutely finished helping 20-somethings, moms-with-cameras and laid-off prison guards learn the ropes in wedding photography only to have them second shoot at five weddings and suddenly proclaim themselves to be "pros" and try to take my business away. Five weddings as a second shooter and they're friggin' "pros." (Gimme me a break.) Photography is my job - every day, all the time. No tricks, no gimmicks. No cheesy website music. No hokey Instagram filters. No tilted horizons. No weird color processing. I leave the trickery to the shamateurs.
But I do protect my business like a tiger-momma protecting her cubs. So when I speak to clients and business and students I point out how bad the fake pros are. Believe it or not, my workload has doubled since I've begun educating local clients as to the pitfalls of using shamateurs for anything - not just photography. But I live in a small town and so word-of-mouth has a larger impact around these parts.
Which is not to say that some cheapskate business owner or family doesn't hire the low-ball photographer anyway. They do. (Of course they do.) In fact, every time I turn around someone is out starting a new photography business in my hometown. Generally they last about a year or so and then call it quits, soon to be replaced by another pretender. (Boy I could tell you some stories on this front.)
Let's just make this one point abundantly clear: Faking your way to gain traction in a field - any business field - is not a good model and low-balling the competition in order to gain clients is even worse.
My business workload and profits have grown tremendously since I began educating clients about the pitfalls of using pretend photographers. Yes, I am generally acting like a complete photographic jerk here. My pro photographers friends say my diva routine is actually a form of pre-qualifying my wedding clients. And they may be correct on that point because I don't get phone calls from any more bridezillas.
So I'm betting the real pro photographers in the San Luis Obispo area are in the same boat when it comes to protecting their business from intruders.
And while we are on the subject, a "professional" in any field as defined by the IRS (and really, who else matters on the subject) is someone who makes 51 percent or more of their total income in a given field. (Quality of work doesn't come into play.) So you couldn't be both a pro roofer and a pro photographer. Fifty-one percent mandates that it's either one or the other. End of discussion.
In my neck of the woods - Hudson Valley, N.Y. - there are maybe a dozen fulltime pro photographers (and I know them all) and literally hundreds of teachers, cops and housewives running around playing pretend photographer with real websites, fake bios and very little experience and talent. All of them trying grab a slice of the photography pie because - as we all know - there ain't that many jobs out there. But as the pie gets sliced thinner and thinner, you also can't blame the real pros for shouting "ENOUGH - GO AWAY! GO PLAY IN SOMEBODY ELSE'S SANDBOX!"
And that's what you - as a wannabe photographer - are up against.
Look, I've got 41 years in this business and four more to go. I have a nice lifestyle, a good home, three nice cars, I take good vacations and I'm putting one daughter through college now. And 100 percent of my income comes from photography. Always has, always will. But I would have to be absolutely crazy to continue to help people to learn the ropes, only to have them turn around and try to eat my lunch.
Nope. Not doing that no more, no more.
These days the photography equipment is smarter and lighter and automatically does things that it used to take years to learn.That's good because the learning curve is not so steep and more people gain access to the world of photography. But today's uber-cameras can only nail the exposure part of the equation. They do nothing to help if you don't have the experience, knowledge, posing techniques and artistic eye required to actually be a professional photographer. And I haven't even mentioned the emotional aspects of pro photography - which are literally half the battle.
In a way, I feel bad for you. Because you are actually trying to do it right by looking for an apprenticeship first - instead of just jumping into the pond. But the waves of amateur photographers who have come before you have polluted the waters. ("Hey. How hard can it be?" Wink, wink.)
Just last week I had a another mom-with-camera approach me and ask if I would "teach her how to use her studio lights" because I was a real pro and she had no idea how to use them. (Now this has happened three of four times in the last 12 years.) Of course, she already had business cards printed up - why do people always do that first? - and a website and she was out there trolling for business. (My business as it turns out.)
So my answer was very easy: No.
Yes, Walter is absolutely right - but he's a gentleman so he says it nicer than I do. (And quicker)
