I find it odd that when you tell someone you are a photographer they immediately assume you are the local Olan Mills studio operator. They either want a family portrait or have a daughter that is getting married and want to hire you. I guess there is a mass disconnect when it comes to the word photographer. Should I introduce myself as a Fine Art Photographer?
Maybe Fine Art Photographer is a little too stiff for an opener. Perhaps it would be better if I told people I am a photographic artist. That should throw them into a tailspin. Or should I start off by saying I am a photographer that does not work with people? I seem to face this dilemma at times and it is hard to convince some that I only shoot rocks and trees. Should I ask a person if they have some interesting rocks or trees in their back yard that they would like me to photograph? How about a nice 11×14 contact print of that old barn out on granddad’s old farm?
I am not out to offend anyone. I have no need to place myself above any portrait photographer, it is that I just don’t do people. It takes a special kind of person to coax out those really interesting images of a person. The knack of catching that expression just so. I’m no good at it and I will be the first to admit that to anyone.
I don’t like photographing anything that moves. I hate the wind. Seems every time I find something really interesting and I check and see the wind is absolutely calm. . . well. . . you know what happens. You get the camera all in place, pull the slide, get the shutter release in hand and there is just this little hint of a breath of moving air. Just enough to make some little feathery leaf or weed wiggle. I shoot with big cameras. An 8×10 is my every day shooter. I shoot with very small apertures and very long exposure times. If anything I have chosen to be perfectly sharp moves, I have just wasted a sheet of film. Depth of field is very scarce. How do you get someone to not move a muscle? Guess if I were photographing people I would be best suited to work with the dead. Would that suffice as an inanimate object?
So for those of you that are not familiar with Fine Art Photographers, the next time someone tells you they are a photographer, be sure to ask first if they do people. Don’t just assume that photographer translates to Olan Mills Portrait Studio.
JB