Sunday Musings: Your wedding is not important so quit taking pictures already!

<B>Victor</B>, thanks for the link. I don't think it's a matter of pay, as long as the quality is good. The problem is that

the quality those photographers that charge that much provide is very standard and nothing special. Most of them are

good pros but they do not deliver a good product because they only follow the "academic" rules established by

somebody that sells a lot. So, I really think quality calls for big money but people that hire photographers for their

wedding very often don't care and don't really know what quality photography is, they just look at the portfolio of the guy

and see a lot of twisted kiss pictures, brides getting their stockings on in a cool semi-darkness, the tear coming down

etc. and they like that and that's what they get. I have a friend who is in my opinion a very good wedding photographer

and he shows to his clients the traditional work and the way <B>he</B> likes to work: 90% of the clients choose his

way of working because they acknowledge the quality and personality of it. <P>Another problem is that very often

people think they are good enough to do a job like that, just because they learned how to work a camera and by

copycatting somebody else's work. I tried weddings a few times and realized I am not fit for this kind of photography. I

don't enjoy doing it, I find it very hard to establish a connection with the newlyweds whom I don't care about, I am not

able to get good photography out of my camera period but that doesn't mean that I am going to do it anyway just for the

money (although I was very tempted...).<P>As far as the nice cars with dual exhaust... I know in the US cars are much

more affordable than in Europe because the stipends are much higher than here. The average stipend in <a

href="http://www.payscale.com/research/IT/Country=Italy/Salary/by_City" target="_blank"><B>Italy </B></a>is ridiculous

compared to the <a href="http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Country=United_States/Salary/by_State"

target="_blank"><B>US </B></a>one, so for us buying a 335 is like spending more than one year savings. On top of that,

Italians like the American way of feeling rich without being rich and they put themselves in debt for anything, even

vacations. Why should I feel worried for my Country in this times of uncertainty and financial crisis? They are a bunch of

idiots and deserve what they get. The same with people that pay 5 G for a wedding album.

<B>John</B>, well said about the public schools. I didn't get the part <I>combined with an admission that one is so

narcissistic and isolated that one doesn't know anybody who's sane, intelligent, and beloved. What terrible neighborhood is

this?</I>... I just said that I know a few people that match those criteria, they are just very few and are usually isolated by others. On the

contrary, I know many people that are intelligent but they are also very smart, opportunist, phony and would screw you over anytime if they

had to. In our society, those people are usually seen like very cool examples to follow, so what kind of neighborhood is this? I choose and

strictly select the people around me, is that a bad and selfish thing to do?

I thought the greatest U.S. assets were on Wall Street? Oh well.<br><br>

From <a href="http://www.storyofstuff.com/">The Story of Stuff</a> and <a href="http://www.thepickensplan.com">The Pickens

Plan</a>, we hear that today the U.S., with <b><5%</b> of the world's population, consumes <b>>25%</b> of world oil output — and it

has to import <b>70%</b> of its oil requirements. Meanwhile, the U.S. trade deficit grows with each passing year.<br><br>

It seems few in the U.S. listened in the 1970's when <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amory_Lovins">Amory Lovins</a> (a

MacArthur Fellow) advocated energy conservation, energy efficiency, and increased development of renewable energy

sources. Why didn't they listen? Here's one possible explanation.<br><br>

From <a href="http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/historytour/history9.htm">School As a Place of Bewilderment and

Boredom</a>:<br><br>

"... the new purpose of schooling—to serve business and government—could only be achieved efficiently by isolating children from the

real world, with adults who themselves were isolated from the real world, and everyone in the confinement isolated from one another.

Only then could the necessary training in boredom and bewilderment begin. Such training is necessary to produce dependable

consumers and dependent citizens who would always look for a teacher to tell them what to do in later life, even if that teacher was an

ad man or television anchor."<br><br>

Or the Department of Homeland Security.<br><br>

Regardless, since human beings are "renewable resources," they'll perhaps someday become the energy sources depicted in <a

href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Matrix">The Matrix</a>, or the nutrient rations in <a

href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_Green">Soylent Green</a>.<br><br>

So we'd better photograph people — including narcissistic wedding couples — before they're no longer recognizable.

:-)

Antonio wrote: "I know in the US cars are much more affordable than in Europe"

That's a big reason why the U.S., with <5% of the world's population, consumes >25% of world daily oil output.

Antonio also wrote: "I tried weddings a few times and realized I am not fit for this kind of photography"

At least you're honest with yourself. I don't charge anywhere near as much as professional wedding photographers do, and I

only photograph weddings for friends or friends of friends, at their request. I only shoot two or three weddings each year. I

usually first tell them to go find someone else, but they end up asking me because (a) I don't charge as much and (b)

they're content with my simple (and unimaginative) documentary approach. That said, I try to produce images that will help

the couple treasure the memories of their wedding day, so capturing spontaneous facial expressions of the couple and their family and

friends is important.

<B>Victor</B>, that's what that kind of p. is about, I also did a wedding for a good friend and that was the best of my small

experience, because I knew the couple very well. Then tried other weddings, even under the supervision of a pro... nope!

My work was very poor, not for me, I just could not see it happening. Thanks for the great links, I will check them out

(tomorrow, it's late here...). <P>It's so ridiculous seeing those small old ladies driving into the grocery store's parking lot

with a 6.0 liters Mercedes or a huge Excursion, I feel sorry for them. It's like a drug, the need for status and power I mean,

and people get addicted to it, to the point that they loose touch with themselves and the real world. The problem is that the

US economy is based on consuming in order to make the money go around and if they start saving that could be the end of

it. That's what they say, although it's a theory that doesn't fully convince me...

Antonio had written: "those are very good links"<br><br>

Here's an even better one that shows why weddings are worth documenting. Enjoy. :-)<br><br>

<a href="http://www.divinecaroline.com/article/22267/37887">Wedding Photos We'll All Remember</a>

Antonio: "I know many people that are intelligent but they are also very smart, opportunist, phony and would screw you over anytime if they had to."

I don't. Where the hell do you live?

" In our society, those people are usually seen like very cool examples to follow.."

Again, what society is that? Move to a better society. Seems logical.

" I choose and strictly select the people around me..."

Wait a minute Antonio, I'm confused... I thought you said "The most intelligent and self-thinking people I know are considered socially outcast and crazy." Doesn't this say you get some kind of weird thrill, living in a society you actually despise? Move, for goodness sake.

btw, I'm Pickens Army too. As I understand it "we" are laying low, mostly getting educated and making

connections...until somebody's president for 100 days, when we lean hard on him.

Heard Boone Pickens in person in September. I'm sold. But his online "community" needs design/functional

reengineering. www.pickensplan.com

His huge wind farm venture is already a huge opportunity for photojournalists (photograph and interview the

rednecks, loving the income from their wind generators)...but I've not seen anything really good yet. His

National Energy Pipeline idea (like Eisenhower's US Highway System) is crucial, but maybe better visualized and

sold with animation... wind farms are beautiful, but natural gas pipelines are just plumbing.

<B>John</B>, you are right, I should move and that's what I'm trying to do. I have been taking auditions around and some

of them are going well, hopefully I'll really be able to move soon. I must ask you where do <B>you</B> live, though, I don't

believe you don't know opportunist people, you sound a bit naive here... I am a very realistic person and cannot pretend

things were different than they are. Read a history book, start from the beginning and tell me when the human beings have

been nice and caring to one another.

Antonio, It sounds like you're looking for the weaknesses in others in order to invent an identity for yourself....like a prince in some Russian novel.

fyi I was a studio-oriented graphic producer/designer/photographer in San Francisco for around 20 years, pulled the plug to live in New Mexico. I can't recall ever being a victim of anybody's "opportunism," though I have been righteously out-competed a few times. Do you fear competition?

...incidentally, I read a lot of history.

You asked when people "have been caring to one another." Here's a great example...it describes how much many Americans cared seriously, therefore beyond "nice," about humanity: "Team of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Goodwin http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/06/books/review/06mcpherson.html

<B>John</B>, I do not <I>fear</I> competition but I hate it because I believe it is the death of the artistic expression.

Being a professional musician and having to be expressive weather I want it or not made me realize that whenever the

human ambition and desire to be "better" than the adversary comes into play that's the end of it all. I think the fact that

you have been out-competed tells a lot about you, I think you needed something more than just competition. <P>New

Mexico is an incredibly beautiful state. I don't know it but I drove through it a few times on my way to Indianapolis from

LA, I think it was the I70...? It's funny that, among so much history, you mentioned a time of US history. The

colonization of the US represents the need of people to run away from something, like the British Monarchy then and the

Nazism or the Fascism later. People really believed that they would have found the land of the free and started a new life

and so it was for a long time but look at what American competition has come to... I wish I could go on in this interesting

conversation but I really got to go right now, I'll pick it up later.

"The colonization of the US represents the need of people to run away from something..."

That seems an ultra-lite, second-hand belief.

Symbols "represent," reality, whatever it is, doesn't.

The US "represents" nothing today, and never did, except to armchair types who can't experience directly... such as historians. "Representation" is by definition not direct perception...( "representative painters" probably aren't your favorites).

The US is almost entirely the experiences of newcomers ( includes most Native Americans), who differed wildly from each other according to their money, religion, clan, status, race, sanity, acquired wounds, fears and aspirations. There are as many newcomers today as there ever have been, and they include kids from families who arrived here on the Mayflower many generations ago.

To assert that one is "creative" while others are not (the "competitive" ones), is itself competitive.

The fact that I've been "out-competed" means that I've learned, or that I didn't try hard enough, or that I wasn't good enough. If one has not been "out-competed" it means one has not even tried to be oneself. Nobody exists without competing.

"All that money and effort for what? "

In a traditional (not necessarily "formal") weddings (at least in the USA) the bride's parents pay for the

photography -- not a strict rule; it is negotiable.

So, the money and effort is for the bride and her parents, mostly, in traditional weddings.

"Is your life that important that it needs that level of care in documenting it - or in documenting it at all?"

You betcha.

"But surely we don't need to spend thousands to do this?"

I'm sure many a father of the bride would agree.

Weddings are social and family events. The bride and groom are necessary, but not the point or reason. Your

perspective, however negative, is rather charming and romantic, I think. Try for a larger perspective.

Karim, you started a great thread.

Good to end the weekend with on a rainy sunday evening in The Netherlands..

Thanks.

Proof positive that people will go to outlandish extremes to preserve their ill conceived ideas about the importance of themselves ..... look

at the tux that guy's wearing!!!!!!

Please, please, please no more photographs of that tux!!!!!