So if i am being totally honest, i think it freaks me out a little that anyone can call themselves a photographer or a film maker these days. I know, I know, chase jarvis might disagree saying “rising tides, floats all the boats” but to me, an over saturation of the market dilutes demand vs. supply ratio and i am still having trouble understanding how that is good.
I have heard it described as the following… “giving everyone access to a DSLR that shoot photos and video allows anyone to create content anywhere at any time which allows some really great talent to emerge that might never have been discovered." Yes, agreed but it also gives way to so much noise and foolishness that I wonder if it has actually made it any easier to actually find real talent. Its almost like the advantage that we now have with tools and access have been neutralized with that amount of people that can "create” work and post it.
So needless to say, i have my reservations about the whole deal not that i can change the fact but i am just sayin. I mean i think its great that it has been made to be so easy for the average consumer/wanna be artist, but I think my beef is that it is a slap in the face of the true artist that have taken years of their life and dedicated it honing their craft, learning technique and being deliberate in their creation of work as opposed to pointing, shooting and getting lucky. I mean in the Renaissance period there was no way for the average Florentine to just grab a brush, paint an average picture and try to pawn it off as a masters work or to try and sell it or their services on their own. There was years of work ahead for a student who wanted to be any kind of artist. And maybe the days of quality over quantity are gone in a microwave society. But that’s a damn shame. It just assures me that we’ll never have that level of work again. I mean 600 to 800 years from now will they be looking at our instagram photos with the same awe and revere that we look at that of the masters? I don’t think we look at last weeks work with that sort of respect.
Sure there is still a distinction in the quality of work from someone who is trained (even if that training is self training) vs. someone who is clearly an amateur but finding that qualified person, I think, is getting that much harder.
On a commercial scale, I think it puts all the equity in the hands of the buyers and forces the photographers to have to lower their rates in order to compete. But lowering our rates compromises our standard of living, takes food from our children and doesn’t allow us to stay current with the constant and necessary upgrades needed to stay afloat in a digital world. I think we’ll see what is happening to the VFX world in hollywood, eventually happen to photographers. We’ll be forced to lower our rates to compete, eventually putting us out of business and the quality of work will eventually suffer. Its not promising, at least from my view which makes me think why do i still do it?
I guess that answer is still simple. Its why i did it in the first place. Because i am an artist. A creative. Because i would be doing it if they didn’t pay me. Because i love what i get to do and its bonus when they pay me to do it and its a rare thing when those two planets align. Honestly its the only driving force sometimes because it seems like you are always fighting to prove your worth and i guess it feels like when you are struggling to get paid to do your art you could question as to whether or not you should be doing it.
So no it doesn’t make me feel better that everyone thinks they are photographer or a film maker. But that’s me looking out. When i look in, I could care less either way.
By: Rick Navarro
Los Angeles Fashion & Entertainment Photographer