[Scott Kelby Blog] A Great Day For Sports Photography?

I just don't know how to comment on these two posts on Scott Kelby's blog. ; I can tell that the subject upset Scott. ; First read this one

A Great Day For Sports Photography?

Then read the follow up

Update: Please Don’t Blame FSU

 

that is a real shame that ego and lack of knowledge ruined the winner's prize. ; i am not sure what the big deal is.

 

For some reason the "professional" photographers thought this other, respected photographer was going to let some newbie run around the sidelines like a kid in a candy shoppe. ; Why anyone would think "one of their own" would even allow that to happen speaks volumes to me about the mentality of the sports photographer.

I had seen that mentality first hand when I was in college. ; A friend of mine had recently graduated from Journalism School and was working at a small newspaper as a sports writer. ; He needed a photographer to shoot one of the games for the ACC Tournament for soccer that year. ; He knew I was comfortable with a dSLR and new I could get my hands on one (my dad's Minolta), so he got me the press credentials and we went to the game to do our "jobs".

So, here I was among a sea of professional sports photogs with their monopods and white lenses and I was there with my pro-sumer dSLR (this was pre-digital) hand held and looking grossly inadequate amongst them. ; Most of the guys were very mean to me and didn't want me there despite the fact that I was properly credentialed.

There was one guy, much older, who heard what I was up to and did let me shadow him and gave me pointers. ; But their definitely was a big air of entitlement in the pool of photographers.

Later I had been given the opportunity to shoot the ACC Tournament for Basketball at the Dean Smith Center at UNC-Chapel Hill, but our schedules didn't align. ; I was kicking myself because normal people don't ever get to sit as close to the court as the photographers do

 

i saw the forum post where a lot of these guys were spewing their venom and rhetoric and it really makes me happy that TMIP doesn't have those issues. ;

 

Every hobby that has a professional faction to it has this problem. ; Nancy sees it in the quilting community and as soon as scrapbooking becomes a business model for some (creating them not selling the supplies), you'll see it there too.

Attitudes of exclusive membership doesn't really help in the long run. ; And with the constantly improving quality of cell phone cameras (which I hear are much better overseas where there aren't such restrictions on hardware like in the US) I'm sure photographers are getting nervous because every citizen can become a photojournalist or paparazzi

 

I am not too familiar with Mr. Kelby or the debate, but I've certainly felt that same attitude from 'professional' photographers before, and still do to a lesser extent. ; I really started to get into photography, and began really experimenting and broadening my shooting, with an ultra-zoom P&S camera. ; Due to the excellent lens, and range of that lens, I was able to shoot daylight subjects such as wildlife and birds as well and in some cases better than those with DSLRs who had invested heavily into their system and had gone ahead with the declaration of being professional photographers. ; I never once argued that a P&S is the better tool, nor that in the right hands, the DSLR and right lens couldn't run circles around my best effort. ; But what I did find was there were quite a few who seemed to think their professional status was some form of earned right because they had an expensive camera with a big lens, and spent lots of time taking the same types of shots. ; They were immediately offended at someone popping in for a few hours with a P&S that cost under $500, and getting a close-up detailed view of the head feathers of a perturbed green heron from 100 feet. ; It was usually easiest to dismiss me as an amateur who didn't know any better, and that my shots only looked good in small sizes and could never compare to their stuff. ; I've had people tell me to give up, go home, you'll never sell anything, I'm ruining photography...all kinds of comments. ; And the comments kept up even as I'd post shots in large size, heavily cropped, and still retaining detail. ; Even as I actually got published, unsolicited. ; Even as I made money selling prints and getting publication requests. ; Even as I got several paid shoots with the camera.

In the end, it comes down to bruised ego, and deeper down, a lack of confidence. ; All of the carping and fussing from the 'professionals' more often than not results from the fear that the amateur with the cheaper camera actually has a true skill and a good eye, that all of their expensive equipment will never give them. ; Many approach photography as a job the way the typical American approaches their job - slightly ambivalent, a little lazy, and just relying on a standard, rote procedure to churn out assembly line photographs that meet certain standards and rules. ; While good on a technical level, few can actually cross the threshhold to artisticness or creativeness. ; And if someone were to come along and have those things with a much cheaper camera, it threatens their sensibility and their confidence in their job.

With all of the encroachment from amateurs with P&S cameras, or the tens of thousands of unskilled newbies buying DSLR systems, and even the proliferation of cellphone cams, I truly don't see much fear from the truly GOOD professional photographers. ; They know they are better than those amateurs, and are secure that they bring something to the table with their photographs that those amateurs and first-time DSLR users aren't able to bring. ; His skill, eye, and instinct keep him heads above the rest. ; It's the other photographers...the ones not sure of themselves and trying to bolster their confidence with their equipment...the ones who fear their fraud will be revealed, that maybe despite the equipment, all the time they've put into it, and all the jobs they've done in the past, someday it will be revealed that they are just following the path by a set of rules, rather than blazing a new path and forging new rules.

I still get the turned-up noses even since moving to a DSLR...because I still haven't followed the rulebook. ; I didn't buy a full-frame, it isn't a Canon or Nikon, my lens isn't white, I don't wear a vest and spend 16 hours a day in the same spot with a tripod and a camoflauge net over me. ; So obviously, I really shouldn't be allowed to be in the same zip code as the Exhalted Ones.

Personally, I've seen some folks deliver more impressive photographs with pocket cameras than some self-proclaimed 'pros' with multi-thousand dollar cameras. ; The multi-thousand dollar cameras are clearly the better tools for the wider range of jobs, but the person using the tool still matters just a wee bit!

 

i have said before and will say again, scott dommin ("scott" round these parts) takes better shots with his p&s than most do with their d/slrs. ; it's a shame some people have to be so snooty about things...

 

email sent...

 

I guess the worst thing he could say is, no thanks and the best thing, "I'm going to Pixelmania!"