Ahh, photographers: self-entertaining hobbyists with too much time and way to sensitive egos such that they must defend themselves against any possible encroachment on their hard won talent and skill (ha! — make that “on their expensive and too cluttered camera gear collection”!)

To quote a response to their own site:
http://youarenotaphotog.tumblr.com/post/10655005541/hate-mail-its-a-free-country

“… Look folks, this is a free country. If people want to buy photographs that don?t measure up to your standards then so be it. Everyone has their own definition of what they consider to be ?quality?. How much time do you spend going around to people?s homes criticizing their decision to buy laminated particle board furniture from discount retailers like Wal-mart instead of hand crafted real wood furniture that costs 5 times as much at specialty furniture store? How many of you pay the extra money to buy food from health food stores instead of the big chain grocery stores? … Somehow I doubt that most of the people in the photos featured on here have the resources to afford ?quality? photography, so who cares? If you?re a pro then maybe you should embrace the fact that there are fauxtogs out there who are actually making your work look that much better by comparison! What a bunch of whiny crybabies …”

Funny, the defensive responders to this attacking response equate photography to being as critical as obtaining services from a trained and certified doctor, lawyer, plumber, pilot — seriously?

Look, folks, photography is not a “life or death”, “life, limb, or property”, “food, clothing, shelter” activity, especially not the kind of photography ridiculed at the “you are not a photographer just because you bought a camera” web site — and they harpoon mostly Facebook shares, about as non-critical a type pf photography as there is.

And don’t get me started on the use and abuse of the word “quality” as if it were a perfect, rather than saying “… qualities of …” and then specify the parameters and magnitude, such as the qualities of price might be expensive-to-inexpensive, the qualities of affordable might be a simple toggle of yes-or-not affordable, different from the qualities of price, and so on.

Personally, I think we all could use a little less ridicule, a little more hard-won humor NOT at someone’s expense, and a little more accuracy in our thought process and sharing.

=8^o

Oh, hahahahaha!

Click!
Love and hugs,
Peter Blaise Photography
http://www.peterblaisephotography.com/