Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Creative Professionals in the Photography Industry. What are they saying now?

Post no. 6

In this post, I'd be blogging about statements from different professionals on their opinions of the industry of photography today. There's three for now.

The first professional I analysed:


ANNIE LEIBOVITZ

I've linked her name for the article she was interviewed in. Big fan of her Disney Inspired works.

"I think photography is stronger and better than ever before. Those of us who are photographers, the difference between us and everyone else is that we take what we do very seriously.

..What is going to happen now is that we are the sensitive matter. You, the photographer, are the sensitive matter."

From what I understand from her statement in the interview is that she is actually happy on the the advancement of technology on photography. She takes it seriously as something she would like to see flourish and grow and it is up to these passionate photographers to maintain their art and professionalism to go along the fast-paced world.

Her views are a little bit more optimistic compared to the second professional I analysed.

The second professional is:





FRANK DESANTIS (a link to his Linkd in profile)

What he said about the future of photography is in the Linkd-in photography group forum right here.

I copied his comment over here from that link:


"Ah, change. It doesn’t look too hopeful to me. I see it going the way of the typesetters, the pre-press houses, the printers. Even this new generation of computer graphics will take care of that photographer or client wanting to do the “big budget” shoot.

Why would anybody need a photographer? Very soon the whole world will be cataloged. There will be a picture of everything, for everything. Like Google knows words and websites. When I look around I see that only web designers have work. And that I think is because people haven’t figured out how to do it on their own. Soon, with enough templates being made and made easier; web designers too will be out of work. The client who turns me away because “we can do it ourselves” will soon find they are without clients because their clients don’t need them either because they “can do it themselves.”

Anybody remember having to borrow a tool from a neighbor? Who does that anymore? Everyone has their own set of tools. There is no longer a dependence on anything or anyone else. It looks grim, because less and less people are seeing the importance of craftsmanship. Respect for the artist or professional is becoming non-existent. We will all need to find new meaning in the word “work” not just photography.

We all need to help each other find that new meaning.
Like Diane says we need to move with it not against it."

Okay, from his comment, I could already tell that he isn't too comfortable with the advances of photography these days. However, he is not completely against it, but more so aware that he should be adapting to the change and improving himself with the current technologies instead. He might be concerned with the demand for photographers these days as everyone could do so themselves through the convenience and availability from digital cameras and phone cameras which could instantly be connected and uploaded through social media accounts to provide live feeds for the user.

Hmm. There are more self-thought photographers out there, with the help of professional photographers that provide tutorials online. So, in order to truly protect the industry, should professionals be selfish and hold hostage of all these tips from armature photographers? One flaw about this 'technique' to preserve, is that professional photographers too, need exposure and income. They are able to do so through these tutorials and by building softwares and machines that make photography editing easier. They then sell them to amateur photographers that are not able to replicate the works of professional photographers. The industry is always growing, and the internet, provides open-source content.


I found this article on an e-book which actually mentioned some of the points in my brainstorming session posts! Yeay! Now I have professional back up on my points!

The Third professional:



FRED RITCHIN - After Photography

I'd like to highlight points 3 and 4 in the link I embeded under the highlight reels.

3.On how digital and cellular phone cameras break down limits on who can get images out into the world. :

This gets a little bit controversial when the summary talks about how amateurs have more interesting content compared to professionals when it comes to news. They talk about prisoners putting up videos pleading for help, but get murdered instead. These videos are put up and therefore gaining a lot of popularity in content. By using their telephone devices with their built-in low resolution cameras, anyone would be capable of having footage even more significant compared to professionals. Lets say, the Tsunami or hurricane footage that has been taken by the public would then be bought by news channels. It could be viewed as live, in-your-face action as timing plays a crucial role in these one-time events.

4. The everyday uses of digital photography in the future:

He describes the cyborgization as something that affects users today. Everyone seems to be attached to their devices, having them at a close radius around them at all times. What he also says is that this new media, for example Instagram is the current medium of photography which matches the fast-paced, learning world. It is forever evolving.


Overall, these professionals have their doubts, but are actually quite supportive of it in the end.

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