I love photography and can't get enough of it. In my experience of photography I have had the unfortunate experience of encountering many different types of photographers and there is one type that seems to get under my skin. The kind that acts like they know it all to everyone around them, when in reality they are hiding the fact that they have no basis to be acting like that.
It is good to be confident, but I have known photographers that just seem to have such big egos it becomes a huge annoyance. I have always felt that the work that an artist or photographer produces should speak for itself. Yet some photographers make everything about them. There are a few classes of photographers that fit this mold, here is how I'll define them (this was written with some humor but the scary part is there is truth in each one of these classes):
THE "TECH KNOWITALL" SHOOTER: this photographer frequents photography forums and always is there to correct everyone on lighting, exposure and uses their vocab of photography as a way to make themselves appear superior. This is the photographer that feels their gear is superior and makes them a BETTER photographer than anyone else. Discussions with them can easily lead to the desire to hit them in the face.
THE "ARTISTIC NUDE" SHOOTER: this photographer has learned that there are young women out there wanting to be "Americas Top Model" and they actively recruit these girls 18-21ish to pose for artistic nudes. This class of photographer gets a LOT and I mean a LOT of followers and that only adds to their massive egos. People (mainly males) love commenting on this classes work, saying things like "hot pic", "Yummmy" and this really makes the photographer think he/she is a god. This class doesn't really know about composition, lighting or how to edit, they just care about hot girls and more LIKES and comments when they post.
THE "I PRETEND I KNOW HOW MY CAMERA WORKS" SHOOTER: this is the opposite class of the tech knowitall shooter. This class doesn't know how their camera works, they just shoot and pretend like they do. They shoot as a "pro" but have no clue what is happening with their camera or how to use the gear they do have.
THE "I HATE EVERYONE WITH A CAMERA" SHOOTER: this shooter typically is a "pro" that rants and HATES that everyone is getting a DSLR and that this will somehow put them out of business. They go on social media and get their hate on, ranting about "Moms with cameras" or a person charging less than they are for a wedding, family session etc. They cannot stand that other people are enjoying photography and wanting to profit off it.
THE "SELF ENTITLED CRITIC" SHOOTER: this shooter doesn't really shoot much, they love going on photography pages and leaving a critique on the work. They tell everyone how to do it, what's wrong with it and how to be better....the problem is they hardly ever shoot work of their own and couldn't take a decent shot to save their life.
I know there are more classes of shooters to avoid, these ones just seem to be the most common in my experience. I prefer the humble types of shooters that are friendly, the ones that don't care what stage you're at in photography, they are not concerned about your work, they just do their thing.
To end this blog a recent edit from a shoot. MODEL: Billie Dee
