WAR

Posted by Bil Brown on July 4, 2008 at 7:23pm in General Jibber-Jabber

I have decided...

If you are working in Louisville, and are doing work below a reasonable standard, below any standards, maybe not even have standards, without a sense of style or function, suck at editing, suck at making anything worth it to your clients AND STILL GET PAID...

I am at war with you.

I will tell you to your face that you are inferior to a 14 year old girl with a copy of Disney's Fashion Pro and a web cam - to your face - and guess what, I am going to let your clients know that they are getting ripped off and why...

If you shoot badly, give clients unusable CDs of half baked images, and offer services for the cost of "Make-Up" you are on my list...

If you shoot badly, and offer services to national conglomorates, bad downtown bars, and do incredibly lame fashion shows for a measley paycheck you are on my list...

If you are taking advantage of young women that watch too much ANTM, telling them they have a "contract" and are a "model", you are on my list...

If you are building shitty websites so you can take photos of young girls on speculation that someone will want to see them or your retarded naked photos, much less BUY the uninspired photos you took - hey, remember, people can see that shit on Flickr for FREE. Oh, wait, you don't care... you just want to see vadge for free. YOU ARE ON MY LIST!

If you do shit work, for shit tabloids, that have shit art direction, shit editorial, and shitty content for below standard fees - you are on my list...

If you take "glamour shots" for the uninspired, baby shots with the same damn backgrounds, same blankets, and same toys again and again - you are on my list...

If you just simply SUCK, you are ON MY LIST!**

I will see you across from tables on board meetings with your downtown clients, telling them how much you suck.

I will see you on the street, in lines at Murphy's, and trying to shoot that Senior Portrait with all the finesse of 1983. I will be laughing at you not with you... OUT LOUD! You may be laughing all the way to the bank, but I am laughing at you to your grave - because, as is said, you can't take it with you. I am at least leaving something behind.

I will see you try that new lens, that new camera, that new Nikon, Canon, Leica, with that Beauty Dish that might as well be called an 'ugly dish' cause you haven't figured out that just because you have something doesn't mean you know-how-to or should use it. When will you learn that some people, and note: this does not include you, can shoot better shots with their shitty camera-phone than you can with your 5D.

I will see you in court for the gag-order you will try to slap on me. Guess what, it won't make you SUCK any less!!

I will be there, when the client, the model, the make-up artist, hair-stylist, set designer, art director, publisher, your mother figures out you are a fraud.

**This WAR does not of course include all of the honest, integral, professional, and kick-ass artists and photographers out there that are working to make the best imagery they possibly can. YOU know who YOU are...

And, mark-my-words, in 12 months you or I will be gone from this market. Either way, the integrity and dignity of our profession will be served. Cold.

bb

DISCLAIMER: This rant doesn't mean that I don't suck too. BUT I SUCK LESS THAN YOU!!

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Lunatock on July 4, 2008 at 8:07pm: You're on!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Adam Lewis on July 4, 2008 at 10:38pm: Seriously...

I read the first couple lines and then chalked this up to a whiny rant not too unlike your previous posts.

Youre crying about other people out there getting paid for stuff and sound like you just want it all for yourself. The world of photography is changing and instead of expecting other people to step down and get out of your way, why dont you learn to step it up and do something that makes you unique and desirable?

And honestly, with your attitude, I hope youre gone from this market in 12 months.

Grow up.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Bil Brown on July 4, 2008 at 11:22pm: Um.. Adam

OF COURSE I WANT IT ALL FOR MYSELF! Or actually, I would rather not have to do clean up detail on clients that get piss poor work for practically free or free, then balk at reasonable industry standard rates.

You're 25, you have more equipment than some pros in their 30s-40s. You say you are a "Beginner" and shoot sports, events and editorial. You prolly need the pro bodies and all those lenses. Prolly... Just think if you had to buy each one of those $2,000+ bodies with money that you made... from photography... and someone was shooting the same clients, with less, for less and making it difficult for you to get what you need, want. Imagine that you would lose your house over it. Imagine that the images weren't edited, given to the client on a CD or in email untouched, no artistry... no education involved, no sense of composition... and the clients YOU need, YOU want, couldn't tell the difference between your images and theirs...

Notice, my rant didn't say a thing about photojournalists - didn't say a thing about sports. You guys are stuck in a low pay situation anyway, good luck with it! I wouldn't want to base my life on pro-stock and increasingly low-low-low Gannett paychecks. It is obviously a love that some people have. I have a respect for you shooters. Not something I can do.

If you look at my port, you should get that I know what is going on now...

I'm naming names without naming names and yeah, I have an attitude. It's kinda of what a rant is. It is also, somewhat tounge-in-cheek.

btw, I refuse to grow up!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Scott Slusher on July 4, 2008 at 11:34pm: Burning bridges is a very "unprofessional" thing to do. Bill, you know I think very highly of you and some of the best creative conversations I've had have been with you over coffee and cigarettes. All I'm saying is... you never know when you may need to step back to a bridge you've burned to a char. I know it's frustrating but do the quality of work you do and those who want it will come to you, not the hacks you speak of in this rant.

Good luck my friend!

s c o t t; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Elizabeth Wright on July 4, 2008 at 11:37pm: If you take "glamour shots" for the uninspired, baby shots with the same damn backgrounds, same blankets, and same toys again and again - you are on my list...

sometimes you gotta do just what gets you the paycheck week to week, and do what you really enjoy about photography, what you love, what isn't currently paying the bills, on the side just to get by, it doesn't always mean that person sucks, simply because they have a steady paycheck coming in doing something atleast related to what it is they love.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Adam Lewis on July 5, 2008 at 12:05am: Look. I dont know you from anyone so Im not sure if youre joking or if youre serious.

However,
What does my age have to do with anything?
My level of expertise?
My equipment?

When I joined, I put that I was a beginner with a Sony Mavica because some people, for whatever reason, instantly view you in a different light when you say youre a professional with a laundry list of gear.

Also, you give this story of people covering the same stuff for less and with less? Do you have any clue what its like in the PJ/Sports market? Any hack, and I truly mean hack, with a camera and a long lens can get into sporting events anymore just because they tell agencies that theyll shoot for free "because they just love it". People with too much time on their hands are CONSTANTLY making it harder on people who are trying to make a living off the PJ/Sports racket.

Do you see me bitching about this? No. What I do, is work hard to make sure that my work is above the level of other people out there and I work hard to network with the people I need to network with. I work hard to find new angles and come up with ideas that other people dont shoot. I work hard to give people a reason to pay me more than the next guy.

Like I said, instead of whining about people moving in on your territory, why dont you figure out ways you make yourself, your product, and your delivery more unique? Why dont you spend the energy trying to come up with ways to rise above the norm and figure out something to set yourself apart aside from everyone else?

You honestly just sound like youre throwing a fit because someone else out there wants to do the same thing you do.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Bil Brown on July 5, 2008 at 12:48am: Adam, yep, you don't know me, from... um.. Adam

^_~

My work is unique, I think, I have been told. I am not worried so much about competition as I am the quality of work given to people and an industry I give a shit about - pushed off as being useful to that industry. But maybe it is a bit of my competitive sense drawing up... I am reminded of a scene in Amadeus, where Mozart was "Shocked" Salieri got a gig from Emperor Joseph II because he was - well - not so great. But, hey, politics right...

I do know how hard it is in the PJ realm. I have enough friends that are in it, have been in it, and I used to be an art director for a weekly... so I know what my editors would give me as pro work, because they didn't have to pay for it or it was dirt cheap. So I feel you there. It is difficult.

The MONEY is not what this is about, however, it is - in as far as it helps out with life.

What this is about is seeing time and time again incredibly lazy photographers with little attention to detail or anything getting work, any work, because they simply give it away and clients (some of which are now mine) taking it thinking it is "good stuff" because these people have marketed themselves into a niché thinking this was (and now is, because of some freak of nature) something they could do.

My market has been, until now, outside of Louisville for the most part - except for some creative projects that I utilize models here for, or they come to me from elsewhere. I haven't given a shit, frankly, although have taken notice of some really, really shitty business practices and very shotty craftmanship.

What this is essentially saying is - I have a choice - I stay in this market and try to up the bar with like-minded folks and make the market unsuitable for folks that are doing our city-market a disservice, or I leave to another market where I can ignore those same kind of folks and just do what I do.

Louisville is just too small of a market to ignore the lame. You stand out like a zit on a pale pale ass.

No man, your age doesn't mean much. Hell, I'm almost 40. I'm just being a bitch.

Cheers.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Lunatock on July 5, 2008 at 1:18am: Haha, you guys are worse than middleschoolers. Oh the fun we have on internet forums.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Adam Lewis on July 5, 2008 at 1:18am: I think this is just the same story thats been played out time and time again. Even if it was just a movie, you even made it apparent when referencing Amadeus. There are gonna people like those you dislike no matter where you go. Im not telling you to stay and Im not telling you to leave, but I am telling you that I think you should hang it up if all it does is make you bitter.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Bil Brown on July 5, 2008 at 1:21am: Nah. Thanks though.

Not bitter really, on a witch hunt ;); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Adam Lewis on July 5, 2008 at 1:27am: I also dont think that this forum may be the best place to vent your frustration ;); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Scott Slusher on July 5, 2008 at 1:30am: May I suggest lead pipes and chains? There hasn't been a really good rumble in this city in a long time.; ▶ Reply to This