Insecure Photographers.
Film. Contemporary Greats. Nostalgia. Social Media. Douchebags.
Chapter 1: Introduction.
Gonna keep it a buck with you all - I think photography is one of the gateway drugs to being a total douchebag. At least that is how some people make it seem. All of my life, photography has done one of two things to people:
Turned someone into one of the coolest nerds in the world.
Fun, easy to converse with, geeks out about cameras, wants to see your work, sees you as a person and not a networking opportunity.
Turned someone into a know it all snob.
Boring, wants to show how much more they know that others, always has a critique of someone’s work, always speaks in photography absolutes (ie. film is better, a specific brand is the best), sees you as a networking opportunity and only communicates when clout is on the line.
We can literally pack everyone into one of these two groups in the photography realm. You know the people I’m talking about - it’s okay if you see them in your head when you’re reading the two categories.
Nobody owns photography. No one person is keeping photography alive. Photography doesn’t need any saving or any purification. Regardless of how many photographers who have jobs at agencies, publishers and professional sports teams due to nepotism try to tell you it does - it doesn’t. Photography was never meant to be a certain way done by a certain type of person - it was meant to capture moments. (I know that some of you will get pissy about that statement as well because historically you always have.)
The insecure photographer says many things that hold no weight and have nothing to do with actual images. In fact, many of them are very talented - but their talent alone means nothing to them as their focus is on everyone else. Their goal is to bring down others in YOUR mind so that they can believe in THEIR mind that you see them in a better light. That’s some lame-ass, hater stuff.
Their main devices when it comes to hater communication are usually:
The Film vs Digital argument and an absolute of one being better than the other.
Never showing love to any of the contemporary greats and disguising their “love” of an older generation of photographers as the reason.
Are just a sucker for nostalgia - I mean the way they praise the 1950-60s as a utopia both artistically and politically around the world.
Labeling photographers as “Real”, “Instagram”, “YouTube”, etc.
Let’s discuss in an effort to avoid and identify these people and mindsets. After all, what matters more than being really, really good at photography - is being a decent, respectful and caring human being.
Chapter 2: Film or Digital? A question that doesn’t need answering.
Quick run through some truths that relate to this discussion:
Is film better than digital? No.
Is digital better than film? No.
Do real photographers only shoot film? No.
Do real photographers have to shoot film at all? No.
Do professional photographers have to shoot digital? No.
Is digital photography always better for professionals? No.
Do you have to experience shooting film to better your photography? No.
Does the quality of your image matter more than the format? Yes.
I know this will immediately ruffle feathers. Film is nostalgic (more on that later) and has a certain feeling or warmth to it. It has a value to it that is hard to understand - until you realize it’s a value we have assigned to it ourselves.
Film is almost 1:1 identical in every way to digital when making an image but one - the ability to instantly review. When you understand that, it’s easier to realize workflow and time limitations are the only real decisions to make when deciding which is best for you unless you’re choosing to get into darkroom printing.
You see a subject, you focus (MF or AF are available in both film and digital cameras), you expose (or the camera exposes for you), you press the shutter. If you fuck any of these things up, you end up with an unusable image. Whether you’re shooting JPEG with a preset built in or film (each film stock is basically its own preset - no two stocks react or look the same) you have to get it right in camera, or else.
Some people think RAW images and editing in Lightroom is cheating. “Editing your image is insincere - film is pure...”, is what I’ve been told over and over. If you believe that is true, I hope you never look up “darkroom editing” online or read any of the many books on darkroom editing that have been published since the inception of film photography.
A great image is a great image and that is what matters. If you take a shit image on digital just remember that it will be shit on film as well, and vice versa. You can be just as intentional on digital as you are on film. One isn’t better than the other. Don’t make either your personality. Prioritize making your personality that of a caring person.
Chapter 3: Contemporary artists deserve more respect - stop being dismissive.
When I first started getting into purchasing film books and learning more about other photographers (I was 25 at the time and I had been working as a photographer for 7 years) I was always told to view the work on an Henri Cartier-Bresson, Ansel Adams, Vivian Maeir, Richard Avedon and others from before my time. I tore through blogs, online galleries and books at my local thrift shop. The work was great - but I never connected to it. Not only was majority of it not relative to my culture or position in life but the conversation surrounding some of these artists didn’t make sense. “These are real photographers… They did it the right way… No social media… They used Leica… Large format is king…”, and many other things that had nothing to do with my relation to these artists were the reasons why I should like them. Because they were the first to put something on the map or the first to have a gallery here or there.
I understand these artists and their position in history and I respect all they’ve done for and in photography (Ansel Adams has slowly become one of my top five photographers of all-time) but I didn’t draw inspiration from them. I just like their pretty pictures.
The first artist that I ever noticed on Instagram (I didn’t have the app until 2020) was Andre D. Wagner. His work around Brooklyn and his project “Here for the Ride” absolutely rocked me. Every image was a story. I connected with every emotion, feeling and situation. I felt like I was there. I wanted to immediately go outside and create.
The first example I had of photographers taking photos for fun and not just to make money was watching the YouTube channel Stockezy (Jason Roman). A specific video where he and Gajan Balan walked around New York City taking photos with their Fujifilm X-Pro 2 cameras and an XF 16mm f2.8. I was captivated. I binged all of their videos and studied all of their posts online. I took notes on lighting, composition, the way they spoke to strangers for a portrait, their etiquette. I have a lot of reasons to say thank you to those two since then as well - their work inspired me and it turns out they’re both very nice people.
When I hear people talk about those three artists, or a Joe Greer, or a Vuhlandes, or a Jason Kummerfeldt I constantly hear alongside their praise how they’re only famous because of social media. You can’t take them seriously because they started on YouTube or Instagram (more on this later). How an artist like a Jessica Kobeissi or Sissi Lu aren’t serious because they make reels and content that don’t always obsess over photography.
When I bring up my love for imagery from Steve McCurry, Annie Leibovitz, Walter Iooss (The GOAT of sports photography) I’m often met with dismissal when I say I prefer them over some of the more common photographers I’m told I’m supposed to love. “You just need to dive into more books - those photographers were inspired by Avedon and Eggleston…”, is what I was recently met with. Yet, I don’t give a fuck. My favorite artists are those that have taken photos that I can understand. I know the places, people, faces and feelings. I don’t relate to a silver spoon Frenchman who was so insecure himself - he actively hated on a peer during their own gallery.
At some point, every artist is contemporary. That does not make them any less valuable. Yet, the stretch I see from people who will downplay our generations greatest because they feel it benefits their own ego is egregious. The resentfulness I see people have toward Joe Greer, who I don’t know and never plan on knowing, all because of his success leaves me smeckledorfed. When people create great images and great works we should be humble enough to appreciate it and wise enough to acknowledge that our refusal to allow ourselves to appreciate things is an issue with our own soul and not that of the artist.
Whether they started on YouTube, Instagram, National Geographic, Rolling Stone or in a loft in Temple, TX a photographer should be objectively judged on the quality of their work and the quality of human they are. Not the superficial things we choose in order to move the goal posts.
Chapter 4: The nostalgia trap.
Nostalgia: /nəˈstaljə/ a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations.
This one is my favorite to breakdown and explain how weird it is we’ve gaslit ourselves into thinking that the past, especially one we were never part of, was better. The feeling of film is often called nostalgic. The imagery from legendary photographers paint the world, its colors, outfits and people as something to long for and learn from.
Many an insecure photography has yelled at me in messages and comments about how the way things were done “back then” were the right way. No social media. No chimping. No likes and followers. Just earning things through hard work. Through dedication. Through countless hours on the street. Those were the days when your photography work was what afforded you notoriety and not clout.
Yes, I remember those days - when women couldn’t have bank accounts, segregation and racism was legally encouraged, nations were recovering financially from the second World War, disease and hunger were tearing through countries and chemical castration of the queer community was praised; how we all must long for the days of 1947 when Magnum was established by Henri Cartier-Bresson because cars, clothes and neon signs were super cool. Back when wealth and trust funds could get you a gallery and notoriety the right way.
You get my point.
We chase a feeling of a simpler time that wasn’t a reality for an overwhelming majority of people. We chase a feeling of significance from a time that didn’t welcome many people based on their skin, who they love and how much they make.
We chase it and tell others they have to chase it to in order to be a real photographer. That we have to take photos on a specific camera that the greats of yesterday used, on a certain film (“Color is bullshit.” - HCB), or using a certain lighting technique. Constantly being told how, “The greats never did this… the greats never did that…”, well, the greats are scaring the hoes (male, female, non-binary, etc).
We chase a time where some of the most influential people from that time were making images hoping to expose the world that actually was. Gordon Parks did not create Segregation Story to make you long for it - but to learn from it.
Nostalgia can be very poisonous. It’s a standard the camera douchebag community oddly measure themselves up against. Don’t fall for it. Be nice, encourage people to try new things and don’t confuse inspiration with the blueprint.
Chapter 5: What is a real photographer?
I’m gonna say something controversial.
*takes deep breathe… or breath… somebody help*
If you take photos with intention of things you like or find interesting - people, skies, puppies, shoes, cool looking sticks - and you archive, share or print any of those photos then you’re a photographer.
*sirens blare in the distance… screams echo through canyons*
Photographer: /fəˈtäɡrəfər/ a person who takes photographs, especially as a job.
That’s the definition. If it fits, it fits. Don’t overthink it or ask for the opinion of others. You did it. You’re a photographer. Don’t let anyone tell you any different. It doesn’t hurt anyone to say this. It doesn’t hurt photography as an art. You are a photographer.
What a jealous, insecure, hater-ass photographer may say in response to this, after they stop shaking and log into their burner account, is that, “Not everyone is a photographer - it’s disrespectful to the art to say this and just because I cook a meal doesn’t make a chef!”, to which I would easily answer, “Right. Everyone is not a photographer - but people who take photos intentionally over and over again of things they find interesting are. It isn’t disrespectful to the art because the art has no guideline other than to photograph images. If you make one meal and continue to do so with the intention of getting better at making these meals and share it with others - that kind of fucking makes you a chef.”
By most photography snobs definition of the term, Vivian Maeir is not a photographer. Street photographers like Joel Meyerowitz would have been encouraged to give up and stop wasting our time. Technically, Andre Wagner should have never picked up a camera. The label wouldn’t fit.
Labels - they’re lame as hell. They’re used to help identify things. In the right mind they can be used to help. In the wrong one they can be used to put down others.
A year ago, on Threads, I saw a discussion about real photographers and photography that worried me. A young woman - who used Instagram to share work, sold presets and used social media as a portfolio when they first began - spoke about the difference between, “… real photographers and Instagram photographers…”, and made some very ironic points.
Real photographers are those who:
Study the greats.
Don’t make content for Instagram.
Don’t rely on presets.
Have a portfolio outside of social media.
Carefully craft their images because they love photography.
It was such a weird rant. The assumption that if you take photos that are posted on Instagram before you get a job at an ad agency, an ambassadorship with Panasonic or use your familial connections to land you jobs, that you are just an “Instagram photographer” and not a “real photographer”. That no one but working photographers have ever heard of “the greats”. That presets, similar to the ones used for this artist to achieve their distinct look, were bad. That unless you’re paid to take photos you don’t care about your photography.
There were many others who chimed in with the same sentiment that all had the same ironic things in common - they all used their social media platforms to disparage artists who use social media platforms to share their work. They made sure to articulate the difference between themselves and someone who is literally just like how they used to be before they were given a job.
Labels. If you allow insecure people to create them, they will always be used to separate and demean.
I get comments all the time about me being a “YouTube photographer”. I have been actively taking photos, being paid and published in some extent, for over a decade now. Commercial work, weddings, sports photography, documentary work. Websites, magazines, newspapers. $50 jobs to $10,000 jobs. Yet, the thing that bothers me about someone calling others a “YouTube photographer” isn’t the implication I am not professional but the implication that someone’s art is less valuable because they choose to share it online.
There are even people on YouTube who call photographers on YouTube a YouTube photographer while they post three videos a week to grow their own YouTube channel. Hypocrisy is the backbone of insecurity and fear. It’s the only way you can take yourself seriously. Labels used to separate or to create classes of something are used by the insecure to limit growth and the voice of those that scare them. Those that make themselves feel not good enough or weaker than.
A real photographer isn’t verified by who they know, what they were paid or where they were features. A real photographer is, by definition, someone who takes photos. That should be all there is to it. If someone who takes photos of ducks being called a photographer ruins your day - that’s on you. If you can’t enjoy your $4000 payday from a wedding you shot because some girl in Toledo, Ohio called herself a street photographer after three months then you need help.
But don’t blame others and the joy they have for the fact that you’ll never be happy with yourself due to your own jealousy.
Chapter 6: Why I wrote this.
People will always complain and ask - lots of time not publicly - why I wrote this because I’m bringing more attention (such a stupid argument) to the negativity in photography.
Here are the reasons why:
I did cause I could - If you want to defend any of the things I said are shitty then you’re free to type that bitch up.
I have recently received multiple comments saying, “I was insecure about saying I’m a photographer”, or, “I was discouraged from photography after talking other photographers”.
I believe it is important to be reminded people that we can see their insecurity and that it is corny as fuck.
I believe it is important to promote kindness and people minding their business.
Hope you enjoyed this subject; my intention was not to offend - unless you deserved offending.
Take it light, but take it.
Thank you. Truly , thank you. I'm starting to feel comfortable sharing the photos I take. I used to feel inadequate in a space where we should all be free to express ourselves fully and embrace our creativity.
I don't read much as I prefer audiobooks to manage my ADHD, but I enjoy photo books very much.
Thank you again.
Yeah I never got why people who shoot film get so elitist against those who don't. I shoot film primarily and never had the feeling of superiority because I shoot film. In fact, I shoot film mainly because I really enjoy shooting old cameras. My favorite is a Hasselblad 500c and you best believe if I could afford it, Id use a digital back on it. I do my best to surround myself with other photographers that build each other up with encouragement and advice and stay away from those that tear others down. Find the right people to be in your circle and filter out the noise.