Yes I do. If you just want to please the general public.... shoot pretty, meaningless s***. They love it. The good thing is that it also requires no thought.. just shoot stuff with impact, dramatic skies... lovely sunsets.. pretty models... nice cars... the usual stuff.
Competing With Cats
You’re an artist. I’m an artist. We’re all artists. Actually, no, we’re not.
Very few of us are. And even those that are acclaimed by the great and the good and receive vast amounts of dosh for their ‘art’, are often at best, dubious artists. Art is in the eye of the beholder, I hear you artistically whine? Maybe…
But the plain fact is that, for the likes of you and me having our photographic work appreciated (or if you’re on FaceBook etc,liked) you have to compete with the
really good pictures.
Those of cats.
I like cats. I really do. Most people do. Except for dog people. (By that I mean people who like dogs, not the dog people race who I think are wonderful and won’t have a bad word said against them despite the fact they are clearly barking)
These two pictures on the right are of my own cat, now sadly an ex-cat no longer with us.
Where was I?
Yes, I like cats. And really, you can’t compete with cat pictures. A cute cat picture will garner kazzilions of ‘likes’ and ‘faves’ on whatever social media site you care to put them. By contrast, your own work might get one like. Or maybe five, if you’re really lucky.
And this despite the fact you trudged for two days through freezing weather to reach that one rare inaccessible spot where the light at a certain time (and not any other time) brings out the landscape into melting dew-dripping loveliness. And to capture this view, your back is now killing you from carrying a tripod and a bag of photo-gear so heavy that it would make a commando faint.
Then you’ve trudged back home arriving two stones lighter [again, for our American reader: a stone is a heavy rocky thing we use to estimate weight] complete with twisted ankle, water-damaged expensive camera and foot-rot. But it’s all worthwhile because you have the most exquisite photograph nestling on your memory card. This is then painstakingly tweaked over many hours at the computer to show off the finest detail and softness of hue your camera can produce. Frankly, it’s a masterpiece.
But it gets only five views, two likes and some b*****d comments: “Pretty Colours!” while the fluffy b*****d cute cat shot gets drooled over and liked in the thousands.
Obviously this is just an example. No really, it is. Things like this don’t bother me. At all. Nope.
