So, I was out with friends recently and we were chatting about business in general and then more specifically about MY business. My friend asked "In this day and age, when we've all got a phone camera, why would I book a professional photographer?" It's not an unreasonable question to be fair and I was happy to get involved in my answer. It's true, phone cameras are excellent and yes you can capture lovely photographs with them .. BUT .. can you capture moments like in this picture? There is a story within this image that speaks 1000 words without saying a thing. You can't capture this as a selfie .. how would you hold your phone? By the time you've set up your selfie stick, the moment has gone because it was a genuine moment, not staged. Your mate could take the picture .. couldn't they?? How would they get this close without ruining the moment? We all know that zooming in on your phone loses some quality. Is your friend a good enough (and quick enough) photographer to see this moment approaching and get in the right place for the right time? Does your friend understand light, how to position themselves to make the most of the available light? What is the best angle for the photo you're trying to make? What if you want to enlarge a photograph you've taken because you love it so much you actually want to print it and frame it and hang it on your living room wall .. shock, horror, that's so old school!! But what if you did? Would your phone image go big enough not to lose any quality?
Tell me, if your computer breaks, or your car won't start, or your boiler fails do you question the skills and the expertise of the software engineer, the mechanic or the plumber? Do you ask him/her why you should bother buying their services because you could probably do it yourself? Why are the skills of a photographer less valued than anyone else's skills? OK, OK, the skills I mentioned are more important than mine (clearly!) but my point is this .. if you want a professional job doing in any field (IT, engineering, garden landscaping, building) you would ask a professional person to do it. You would trust their skill set to do a good job for you. If you could do it yourself, go ahead, nothing wrong with that, but sometimes what you can do yourself is "OK" but it's not necessarily professional. It will "do" but it's not necessarily professional.
As a photographer it is easy to have my confidence knocked by those who want me to justify my skill set. I'm very happy to have a conversation about what I can do and what I can't do but the important thing is to recognise the client who doesn't see my value and wants something for nothing and to recognise the client who wants my service because it is as valued as any other profession. It takes a lot of courage to believe in oneself and to put oneself forward into the big wide world and actually charge a fee for the skills they can offer. That courage alone deserves respect.
If you would love to have a photography session but feel the cost is too high I would just ask that you respect the learning that has gone into building the skills needed to produce a beautiful piece of art for you, the equipment that is needed (camera equipment is certainly not inexpensive) and the courage it has taken that photographer (whoever that may be) to step off the cliff and believe they can fly in order that they can bring everything together to create something beautiful for YOU.
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