{"id":2359,"date":"2011-05-13T13:23:51","date_gmt":"2011-05-13T17:23:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adam-jackson.net\/blog\/?p=2359"},"modified":"2011-05-13T13:23:51","modified_gmt":"2011-05-13T17:23:51","slug":"photography-as-a-hobby-versus-profession","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2011\/05\/13\/photography-as-a-hobby-versus-profession\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2605 Photography as a Hobby versus Profession"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"My<\/a><\/p>\n

Micah Albert<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u2013 Most working professionals don\u2019t dwell on gear. What\u2019s funny (a lot of times not) is that hobbyist spend more time focusing on gear and talking about it, than becoming a better photographer. The thing is hobbyist have day jobs and having the latest equipment is more of a fun luxury rather than a cost of doing business. Most professionals are too busy on assignment to keep up on the latest and greatest in the market. Most pro\u2019s can take good photos with pretty much anything. So just a quick word of advice, pro\u2019s hate talking gear with hobbyist, or any one for that matter. Odds are, you know more than they do.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I read this today and agreed with those words. However, when I\u2019m out photographing, I still find a reason to explain that, \u201cthe camera I\u2019m using isn\u2019t cheap and it\u2019s a pro camera\u201d. This mostly stems from the fact that I use a camera every day that fits in my pocket. The Olympus E-PL2 is a pocket camera (when you remove the lens). I\u2019m embarrassed to ask a person to pose for me while I take a photo of them with a what looks like a buy one get one free camera they\u2019d be able to acquire at a local Best Buy.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m embarrassed to shoot with a camera this small and light and portable when I should be rejoicing.<\/p>\n

At the SF Giants game on Saturday, an old man and his son complimented me on the photos I was taking of the game using this camera. They only saw what was in the preview window and were blown away. I left with the home address of a man asking me to mail him prints that he\u2019d gladly pay for. This was before I took the RAW images into LightRoom and made adjustments. Based on my photos taken right then, he was ready to buy them.<\/p>\n

WHY?!?!? I asked myself. Why would he like a photos that weren\u2019t taken with a huge SLR and prime lens with extended battery grip and fancy shoulder sling holder and remote flashes with a sensor that only goes to 6400ISO (with lots of white noise I may add)?<\/p>\n

Because these were phenomenal photos that could be printed in a large format and sold at a baseball store. You could go to the merchandise store and buy photos framed for $500 but no, I felt insignificant with my little pocket camera and embarrassed to even shoot with it. The voice in my head was screaming out, \u201csorry that I\u2019m clicking my camera so much guys. I know it\u2019s small and the shots are crap but I\u2019m gonna lean over you anyway and take a few photos.\u201d<\/p>\n

I completely understand the logic that real photographers don\u2019t know what the latest cameras are or their specs. They just know they love this camera and lenses and they\u2019ll buy a backup camera body and, if you hand them a $300 point & shoot, they\u2019ll still be able to achieve great photos with it. I understand this fact and I love that my Canon G9 from 2008 can still take terrific photos although not AS good as the Olympus but good enough that someone would buy those photos if they were in an art store.<\/p>\n

So what is it? Have I been conditioned that great gear = great photos? Photographers were making amazing art on the Canon 5D Mark I before the Mark II came along. Why do I need a Mark II full-frame to take fantastic photos? I\u2019m still surprised when people say that a photo taken on an iPhone is amazing. I see the niceness of it but the sensor size is just too small. However, I feel the same way about my Olympus even though it has a phenomenal sensor and optics considering the size.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t own an SLR and, for that, I don\u2019t feel like a photographer. I\u2019ve had 2.2 million view on Flickr and have seen my photos used all over the web yet I don\u2019t feel like a photographer simply because my camera is not an SLR.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll get over it one day. Maybe it\u2019s ego? Maybe it\u2019s the gadget geek inside of me? Maybe I worry too much about what people think about me? What\u2019s that guy doing with a tiny camera bent over backwards trying to take a great shot? That\u2019s how I look at myself and then a photo comes out like the one below and the guy watching me taking it has no idea how it came out. Sorry I had to lean over your motorcycle to take the picture. I saw an opportunity and am glad I took it. Maybe you\u2019ll think more of me when I lean over your bike with an SLR.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/a><\/p>\n

An example of this perception of someone being a photographer: I was photographing a company event yesterday and I wanted to stay at the back of the room to be out of the way. I grabbed my 50-200 mm lens for my Olympus so I could get close up photos without being in the way. Someone passed by and saw the large lens and said, \u201coh, wow that\u2019s a great camera!\u201d<\/p>\n

No, it\u2019s just a zoom lens but thanks for the compliment. People only respect your skills if you have a large zoom lens and it causes me to feel like I need that lens on my camera all of the time or I\u2019m not a photographer. This is far from the truth but it\u2019s how I feel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Micah Albert: \u2013 Most working professionals don\u2019t dwell on gear. What\u2019s funny (a lot of times not) is…\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_custom_appearance":"","csco_disable_excerpt_posts_layout":false,"csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-photography","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb3IC4-C3","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1777,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2011\/03\/03\/event-organizers-and-their-discrimination-of-photography-enthusiasts\/","url_meta":{"origin":2359,"position":0},"title":"\u2605 Event Organizers and Their Discrimination of Photography Enthusiasts","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"March 3, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Looking back at this picture above taken at a Citizen Cope concert nearly a year ago and I'm reminded at how far my skills as a photographer have come in the last 12 months. 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Photography can be an inexpensive habit but there's a reason that the pros have the latest gear, or at least the best gear that's a bit dated.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Photography"","block_context":{"text":"Photography","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/photography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"White River Junction Dog Park, VT","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5213\/5442881870_476146beb9_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5213\/5442881870_476146beb9_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5213\/5442881870_476146beb9_z.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5323,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2016\/01\/17\/linked-its-true-apple-will-drop-headphone-jack-to-make-the-iphone-7-slimmer-says-source\/","url_meta":{"origin":2359,"position":3},"title":"Linked: “It’s True: Apple Will Drop Headphone Jack To Make The iPhone 7 Slimmer, Says Source”","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"January 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"via Fast Company: (Let\u2019s ignore the fact this article says \u201cIt\u2019s True\u201d followed by \u201cSays Source\u201d A source tells you something is true and you write it\u2019s true. 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