Monkey with a Camera - whoo whoo, hee hee

[HotHolly]

So, I met with a client the other day and this whole thing happened...wish I had a video camera. I would have titled it ADMISSIONS OF AN AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER.

When I'd dropped off her proofs several weeks ago I saw an expensive consumer camera on the table. It was probably around $1K or so. No lenses or anything. I thought nothing of it. They are well off and it looked like a gift. It was still in the box with the original packaging - like they were reading the directions.

I went back a few days ago to drop off a print, and we started talking. She tells me that she loved watching us take photos of her kids. Since we made it look so fun, she thought she would take up photography as a hobby.

So her hunny bought her a nice camera and PHOTOGRAPHY FOR DUMMIES for Christmas. She rolled her eyes when she told me about the book. How hard could it be? She said we made it look so fun and simple.

Camera's still in the box. She said she just couldn't get her stuff to come out nice. Nothing like our shots at all. She thought (and she actually admitted it) that you just press the button. How hard could it be? Then she blushed and admitted how naive she was.

I wasn't sure if that was a compliment or not. We got her so excited about photography she ran out and dropped a grand on a camera. Double edged sword I guess.

I smiled and told her and told her - I know! When I got my 1st camera I had so much trouble remembering what the buttons did and once you started talking shutter speeds and ISO forget about it.

Her eyes glazed over with the same frazzled look I get trying to understand quantum physics (cause I do that a lot in my spare time ). I guess she didn't read the book. I told her to come to our photography class this spring and we'd help her dust that sucker off and get shooting.

Just thought it was worth sharing. She hired us for our artistic look, admits that she is in no way an artisan, but there is something about the camera that is so much less intimidating than a paint brush. No one would run out and purchase a canvas, gesso, a few brushes and paint then claim to be an artist. And most people would never get that far realizing they can mix paint, blend colors, form a composition...in other words, they KNOW it would look like crap so they wouldn't try it. Curse of the trade...Photographers are so misunderstood!

At least she understands now and will buy lots more stuff. 1 down...a few million more to go.

[Silvernic]

You mean I don't just push the button???

[Paulo]

That's funny and it's great her experience was humbling. Understanding generally leads to some form of respect. Photography to me started out as a private outlet. A tool to capture things that caught my attention. It wasn't until I chose to seek additional knowledge of the craft before I was able to truly respect the work of photographers. And realize the amount of knowledge, skill, vision and luck that was involved in all the images I've ever enjoyed looking at.

[snidow]

Thanks for sharing this story, so nice that you inspired her to want to try at least and then offered to assist her in the learning process as well. We all started at the beginning once upon a time. It’s also refreshing to hear an honest person say it’s not as easy as they thought it was.

[DeLeon]

I agree, I got into photography, because I was burnt out on computer information systems and the photographer that was doing my daughters photos looked like he actually enjoyed what he was doing. Being the professional student that I am, I kept my CIS job and went to school at night and got a photography degree ( i think its around here somewhere) It is a lot of fun!

[Clayton Wallace]

You mean I don't just push the button???

Oh no. I'm in trouble then. I've been pushing them all!

Great story Holly!

[Steelsun]

Hope she bought a lens for it too and she's not just pinholing it (and I know someone that did that and could not understand why it did not work)

[NoLight]

LOL good story!!!

[TxDavid]

Great story Holly! It always feels good when people say "You take great pictures" and realize that it's not all click click click. Thanks for sharing - I enjoyed the title too!