I took a walk around one of the neighborhood parks Saturday with my wife. The sun was out; it was about 75 degrees with blue skies. It was a beautiful morning. As we were heading to the car I passed a guy doing Senior Photos with a girl on the stairwell of the park building. The mother was holding a saxophone as he was posing this girl. I paused for a moment to analyze the scene. At first I thought he was using a camera phone, but as I looked closer he was using a small point and shoot camera. Great. I thought. Another bozo who wants to do it cheap. It sounds mean and cold, but it's people like him that are currently ruining the photo industry for professional photographers.

            How are they doing this? They buy point and shoot camera's like this guy, or they buy expensive professional cameras and don't know how to use them correctly. Some of these people will buy a $5000 professional camera and put it on "Automatic" while the beautiful photos done by a skilled professional are shot manually. They have no formal education or basic knowledge of photography and expect to get paid for their "photography" We call these people "GWCs" or a "Guy With a Camera."

            In contrast,  professional photographers spend years perfecting our art. Some of us spend thousands of dollars going to four year universities, two year junior colleges, and art schools to become professional photographers. This does not include the immense amount of money we spend on our own equipment that can equal the equivalent of a college tuition, conferences, and dues while joining professional organizations. There are others who are self taught who spend the same amount of time and money as a photo student working on their own photography before even thinking about charging for work.

            When these people charge for work, they will charge cheap something like $25-$50 for a CD. That sounds like a great deal compared to the thousands of dollars an actual pro would charge for a wedding. Is it? So you decide to get your cousin Jimmy to shoot your wedding. He's family, he has a cool camera, and he is a bargain. You are at the church, and Jimmy goes to work. He is fun to work with as he poses you, your new husband and the wedding party as he joyfully releases the shutter. He shoots the ceremony and the reception. You come back from your honeymoon and pay Jimmy for the CD. You load the CD into your computer and that excited smile turns to tears. The shots are out of focus, the lighting is horrible, the compositions are pathetic and the shots have a lot of grain or noise. Your memories of the best day of your life are ruined.

            How does this make things a complete mess for the Pro? First of all cameras are cheaper so everybody thinks they are a photographer. It floods the market with people who have no business shooting professionally. It causes distrust between the photo industry and the consumer because of the confusion between the cheap rates of a GWC and the more expensive rates of a Pro. How do you know if the guy shooting your kid's Senior Photos is over charging or if he is a serious Pro?

            Secondly, those who charge extremely cheap rates hurt the market of the photographers who do this for a living. Professionals spend thousands of dollars on equipment such as camera bodies, lenses, CF or SD Cards, lights, insurance ( liability, equipment, health, dental, visual), studio rent, computers, and the like. You can't survive charging $50 for a CD. The consumer doesn't realize this. They want a bargain. This brings the value of the industry, as a whole, down.

            Anybody can use a knife. If you were sick and needed surgery, would you use just anybody or would you use a skilled surgeon. It is the same with photography. Would you use a GWC since he has a camera, or would use a professional photographer? You decide.