Fancy hair for dance company.
Ballerina down! The first week of school caught up to Baby Chick.
I'll be the first to admit that sometimes small things get under my skin. That happened this week. Nikon Asia (and Nikon in general) has been slammed online after choosing 32 male (that's zero female) ambassadors to represent the new Nikon D850 camera. My first reaction, unfortunately, was that this is not out of the norm. I live in a male dominated world. I worked (and fought) in a male dominated world. When I first began working for a public accounting firm through a cooperative education program when I was in college, we were told that women were not allowed to wear pants. This wasn't an unwritten rule whispered to you in the hallway either. Skirts and dresses were mandatory. Can you imagine being told that you couldn't wear pants to work in a public accounting firm today?? Times have changed for sure, but we still have a long way to go.
So while Nikon's crappy move didn't get under my skin, the reaction of certain female photographers did. Several photographers have written open letters to Nikon and while most were well written, a few, and one in particular, annoyed me for a few minutes. This photographer wants Nikon to know she's a professional photographer who supports her family with her professional photography. As such, she should not be included in the category of female photographers who are moms with cameras or momtogs. In addition, it was important for her to note that she's neither a hobbyist nor a photographer looking for extra mom spending money. Basically, she put down an entire crew of fellow female photographers. If we are to fight sexism, shouldn't females stick together? Also, so petty, but I don't enjoy feeling like a second class citizen in the photography world because I'm not a "professional." Am I not worthy of Nikon's latest and greatest because I may use it to make money to pay for my kids' ever increasing dance bills? Or because I'm simply a hobbyist?
Okay, moving on.
Jose hasn't been much of a storm here in Southeastern Massachusetts. Some wind gusts. Some rain. It's more of a marine storm with Cape Cod and the Islands feeling the worst of it. Beach erosion is expected, and there are some power outages on the Cape. We did have the most gorgeous sunset last night, created by Jose's swirling clouds.
4 comments:
That sunset!!! Ohmygoodness!
This line: "If we are to fight sexism, shouldn't females stick together?" YES!
I don't remember the first time I read about Shine Theory, but I remember reading this, "Surrounding yourself with the best people doesn't make you look worse by comparison. It makes you better." and thinking that I'd finally found something that made sense... we've got to SUPPORT each other and there's room at the top for all of us.
I'm a woman who thinks we should stick together and also think the fact that she supports her family with her photography business does give her the right to distinguish herself above hobbyists. What if someone did their friends taxes in their spare time? Would you think that's different from a CPA?
Bree - That's so true. I always think about who I'd want to work with. A strong team is only going to make you better.
Anon - she does have a right to distinguish herself from hobbyists but the fact that she threw in "momtogs" "moms with cameras" and "moms looking for mom spending money" with hobbyists means she's lumping hobbyists in that category too - which is what annoyed me. I can find at least a hundred "moms with cameras" on IG who have more talent than some professionals - in my opinion, anyway. It's hard for me to compare the photographer/CPA thing because it's too completely different markets. There's a shortage of CPAs but an overabundance of photographers. At least in this area. In other words, I don't think nonCPAs preparing returns on the side (which they can't sign) are taking money away from CPAs. If someone wants their return prepared and signed by a CPA, they have to go to a CPA.
I think your "niche" could be these slice of life, artistic, thoughtful snippets of young dancers (or gymnasts or football players or trumpet players.)
It's something different than the posed recital or team photos.
A way to capture a child's interest and passions. Photos for worthy of frames, enlargements and albums.
You've surely got the portfolio to get started!
I'm photographing a dear friend's wedding in October. I'm excited and nervous. I have no dreams of being a wedding photographer. But I do want her to have beautiful images. I've been reading up like craazy!
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