Amateur or Professional photographer!!!

 How does one know?

In my line of work, I am constantly harrowed with questions of ‘if I know so-and-so’ or ‘if I have seen so-and-so’s work’ etc. The questions do arouse the curiosity in me but in more cases than one, I am left staring at photographs of a hobbyist who has a fancy DSLR but is undeniably lacking in technical knowledge, expertise and skill in the art form, which is apparent on the clicked photographs. Today with the advent of affordable to almost cheap camera mobile phones to digital cameras, just about anyone and everyone know how to photographically record an occasion, event or something that visually stimulates them. But we must note that there is a mammoth of a difference between clicking a photograph and actually ‘creating the photograph’.

Now don’t you go letting your mind wander and speculate upon my above paragraph! I see absolutely nothing wrong is being an amateur photographer or amateur-at anything for that matter. But what I do find appalling for more reasons than one is when someone who is a novice at an art form, an elementary learner or someone who simply can afford the fancy equipment begins to self-felicitate themselves with the title ‘Professional’.  So really it boils down to a simple question on ‘how does one differentiate between an amateur, a professional and a hobbyist’.  Because in the answer to this question lies the very nature of how the art form of photography should be treated.

We can today find everyone clicking photographs of various subjects from nature, fauna, products, events etc but then there is only one Ansel Adams or one David Ziser, and the likes right? Also why is it so that with so many fashion photographers around today, we still remember Mario Testino, Helmut Newton, and Annie Leibovitz for their work of visually capturing the changing trend in the fashion industry? As owning a musical instrument doesn't make you a musical maestro nor does owning a camera make you a professional photographer. Because to get there, while yes you do need equipment, you also need to have passion, creative 3^rd eye, thirst to learn the skill technically and more importantly you need to be able to get paid.  

So for both those who are confused of their professional status and for those who would genuinely like to be able to make an educated differentiation of one from the other while in conversation with others or for that matter at the time of hiring a photographer, I've put together a basic list below to help out:

1.    Photographs that earn: This is undoubtedly the most important differentiating factor. You know you have reached there when your work demands a price. It is irrelevant how costly you are because that is another debate altogether but then when your pieces of photographic art bring in the moolah; you can safely say you are a ‘professional’.

2.    Photography as a time-pass: Many find solace in photography when they have nothing else to do. They want the photography business to keep them busy as long as they want to stay busy. Unlike professionals who strive constantly at growing their business and making strategic plans to do more and more paid work.

3.    Just click photographs: The biggest mistake made by amateurs who never manage to reach the professional status lies in their misconception that all you need to be able to do is ‘click good photographs’. As a professional photographer you need to be able to contribute effectively in marketing, brand promotion, negotiation, administrative communication exchanges, accounting, PR and a whole lot more.

4.    Professional photographers are entrepreneurs: Being an entrepreneur requires you to be able to multi task between different roles effectively and efficiently. In the business of Photography, there is much more than simply clicking photographs. You need to think and act like a businessman with a goal.

5.    Room for Improvement: As a hobbyist and an amateur are content getting rave reviews from friends and close ones, they make little if not no effort to better their skill. On the contrary a professional photographer makes every effort to study the newest developments in the field of photography, study from photography inspirations and also time and again spend money to keep their photography gear updated.

That’s the difference folks!!! ;-)

Remember you won’t always get a stunning couple at the wedding altar, or the most delicious looking food or for that matter the most stylish models but then if you are a professional you get paid to use your creative skill and turn that around to be the most viable array of photographs submitted, that my friend is a professional photographer.  I could go on and on, because as someone who started off with a tag of being amateur, it took me a whole lot of time and conscious effort to EARN the title of being called a professional photographer today and proudly so. Yes I did have my fair shares of free photo shoots for friends etc just to find any excuse to photograph but amateur then was a title I proudly flaunted too until I climbed the ladder up from there to semi professional and now a full time professional photographer.

So, my friends the next time you plant the title of ‘professional’ to yourself or others, do a quick rain check first and I hope this list helps!!!

Author: Kiran bernard Kutinha

Fotoxication

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ADDICTION

Confessions of a trigger happy addict!

Had you asked me if I had an addiction say about a little over a year ago and I’d tell you absolutely no. To be honest it would perhaps have offended me that you’d even think so (no pun intended!). But ask me today and I have to confess and honestly tell you ‘YES I am an addict’. I have a strong addiction and I am unsure if I really want to rid it. My family tells me I've changed and my friends ask me what’s keeping me busy but how do I articulate that it’s because I am under the influence of euphoria caused by feeding my addiction.

I feel a constant need to invest my every minute of the day in my addiction and almost in a ridiculously funny way causing myself to refrain from indulging in anything but just that. Fortunately that this addiction of mine is lifting my spirits and keeping me in good stead mentally, artistically and creatively; contrary to what most addictions bring about. In fact even a day without entertaining my addictive desires will leave me feeling extremely antsy. But pamper it and it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the emotions and thrill of feeling right on top of the world.

YES!!! I am an ADDICT, a Trigger happy addict, a photographer who simply loves his job way too much to take a break even for a day. I do it for a living, I do it on my breaks, on vacations and even on my days off, so really what does that make me? I’d say it makes me a photography addict. For me photography isn’t a mundane activity nor does it feel like a chore, if anything I experience absolute chaste gratification every time I hold my camera up to my eyes. In more ways than one I feel blessed because I’m addicted to my job and enjoy it immensely.

If we want we can easily find enough legitimate reasons to avoid work, but for me it’s exactly the opposite as I look for more ways to spend time with my art and addiction-Photography. I feel like the sky is the limit and there is just about no way I can run out of subjects to create my picture. While client projects restrict me to applying creativity to predetermined subjects, my personal projects take me on an unending journey of exploration through my lens. My camera is growing into me and is becoming an extension of me.

But I don’t need help because I am a Trigger happy ADDICT! So I conclude based on my experience that not all addictions are bad or have negative effects. The word itself doesn’t necessarily need to be detrimental. In my case I have a very healthy addiction and I simply love it. Photography has made me a better human being who values the beauty in the little things we see around us. I am perpetually intrigued by the realms of possibilities we can reach as photographers and if anything it makes me ever so ecstatic to have found bliss in my job and my art form.

Bio-blog: Kiran Bernard Kutinha

Authored by: Sheena Benedicta

Fotoxication

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EXTRA EYES

For your wedding day!

Weddings are the most endearing event in the lives of each and every person. Most of us have spent many hours musing on the required preparations leading up to the day, the festivity of the day itself and the excitement of stepping forth into a new journey with your partner. In India especially, lots go into planning the wedding. It is considered one of the biggest and the most auspicious event in one’s life. We in India leave no stone unturned to make it as dreamy and magical as we envision it to be. It is often seen that for all the craziness surrounding the wedding and its planning, the only respite presents itself in the form of the wedding photo album that you receive a couple of weeks later.

The album with its collection of photographs helps you actually revisit those beautiful moments; this time sans the tension, nervousness and anxiety. You can lay back and simply smile, laugh or perhaps even cry over those pleasantly emotional, nerve-racking yet fun times. And mind you this time, the experience of celebrating your beautiful day with your loved one next to you at each point in time and at each little place within your venue really makes for an enjoyable adventure. With the wedding rituals and festivities on way, you really cannot afford to have your eyes on all things happening and you will appreciate the extra eyes you hire to capture all those moments and give them to you through a photo-journey that is spectacular.

Well another thing is that you may have your parents, siblings or relatives pick those extra eyes to help photograph the event but just for a moment ask yourself if you just want photographs of different people wishing you or if what you want is an array of candid photographs that reflect the essence of the day, your family, the guests, the venue, the mood, the revelry and more. Is it about just clicking photographs as a record or is it about sharing the fete with your dear ones for generations to come. Candid wedding photography is considered by most an art. It requires skill and understanding of components beyond mere technical specifications. There is a level of storytelling and artistic visualization involved in the photography style used for candid wedding photography.

So if you have caught yourself dreaming about the perfect shot and hoping to document your wedding in its truest magnificent self then you need to garb the reins of your wedding and pick your own trusted candid wedding photographer. I have often found myself asking my partner, who will capture our wedding and with my trusted wedding photographer at the altar with me, I always find myself gasping for an apt answer. But then again that is something you don’t have to worry about because Fotoxication can help be those ‘EXTRA EYES’  for you at your wedding justifying the pureness of the moment with the impeccable photo-journalistic approach. Creativity and candidness resonating itself with each click so wait no more, if your wedding is being planned than book Fotoxication to be your extra eyes today!

Author: Sheena Benedicta

Fotoxication

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I’M A LEFTY, WHERE’S MY CAMERA???

Did you know that most cameras come designed typically for right handed people?

Well it is no secret that most cameras have their shutter release button on the right itself. Most if not all cameras are designed to meet comfort levels of right-handed individuals. And hence these cameras have even the other function and control buttons on the right along with the shutter release button itself.  But have you ever wondered how left handed photographers would use one with ease and comfort; enough to create a memorable photograph?

Even popular brands such as Canon and Nikon do not have any left handed cameras in their range. In fact my research on this found me only 2 camera brands Exakta camera and some Konica F series to be amongst the few or maybe only shutter release-on-left cameras. Also these are said to be only point and shoot cameras, so really I found absolutely no DSLR to have been launched for left hand photographers with a left hand control panel yet. 

And despite this limitation, the world has seen some pretty amazing works of photographic art from left hand photographers; both amateur and professional. Most left handed individuals say that using the camera with right-hand controls becomes as simple as any tasks that they do otherwise using their left. While there are those wondering when a left hand control camera will see the light of day, still others feel that this too fits into their category of ‘getting used to using all things right handed’.

If you are a left hand photographer or an ambidextrous you can try flipping the camera; if it still feels awkward, just keep at it and eventually you will get used to it or perhaps a remote shutter release held in your left hand can also help. Some left hand photographers swear by the tripod too. Though for most of our lefty buddies this may or may not be a struggle while photographing but as a fellow photographer I cannot undermine it because I tried using my left and boy was it not easy!

Author: Sheena Benedicta

Fotoxication

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Source of facts mentioned : Friends & Internet

Imagining a life without Photos!

I’d often wonder to myself what would this world be without the introduction of photography? I mean seriously let’s for a brief second deduce that there is no such thing as photos; whoa... what would that be like? You know what challenges my thinking is how this world would turn out to be. With no photos we’d find our only solace in hand art which would remain the sole method to documenting how our historical leaders, inventors or even our grandparents looked. You know experts say that sans photos in our lives we would have a hard time remembering the past, understanding with clarity our history or learning of our heritage.

You will agree with me that it is in seeing, knowing and studying these facts through visuals that make us who we are. Our belief systems, our thinking style, our patriotism, our character and our personality are largely a product of visual-comprehension.  Famous photographs such as those of Abraham Lincoln famous portrait tell us about his character, till date lots are said and documented in books about the caring look in his eyes and his noble stature. With photographs it’s like we know the subject and it becomes not alien to us. A sense of familiarity is built psychologically with photographs. It is said every photo tells a story and rightly so because photographs help us never forget who we are and where we come from. 

 This Photograph called ‘last photograph of Lincoln from life’ was shot by Alexander Gardner at the Gardner’s gallery in Washington, D.C. on a Sunday dating 5^th February 1865.

 Photo-preservation endorses our thoughts, feelings and helps us relive important moments that shaped our life, influencing our present and our future; be it photographs of historical importance, our brave leaders, even family photographs, photos of you growing up or important occasions like weddings, birth and festivals. Well if photos didn’t exist we’d still use illustrations as our means of preserving the past. But do remember the biggest difference between illustrations and photographs is that in an illustration there is a large amount of interpretation by the artist who creates it. Photographs are truly what can capture the exact emotional representation at a specific moment in time. Think of famous portraits taken like the one in Times Square of the sailor kissing the nurse in elation on hearing of Japan’s surrender and ending of World War 2.

This photograph was shot by photo-journalist Alfred Eisenstaedt amidst all the chaos in Times Square on 14^th August 1945

So really a world without photography would have most certainly been incomplete. You wouldn’t be who you are and neither would I. Maybe we’d known a life very different from this one and one that is clouded by personal interpretation of our history, our heritage, our past and with that sketchy knowledge our present and future too would be affected. I am glad that isn’t the case though, today we surround ourselves in all kinds of recording devices. Photographs help us keep in touch with the past, ensure important moments are being preserved for future generations and in more ways than one make us who we are. So with pride and sheer happiness I am grateful to the recorded year 1827 when it was said that Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, took the world’s first photograph and set the photographic trend that has revolutionized the way the world looks at its past and its present.

This photograph was shot by the French inventor and pioneer in the field of Photography Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in the year 1827.

Author: Sheena Benedicta

Fotoxication

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Source of facts mentioned : Google