I am sure professional photographers cling at when they see an amateur playing with a sophisticated, pausing as they have the slightest idea what they are doing. Clearly, technology is a double aged sword, the first SLR Digital Camera circa 1991 cost around $30,000 and only news outlets could afford it. For reasons unknown to humanities awesome cameras can be purchased heavily discounted and just about every store now stocks digital cameras making it harder to choose a good one and making it easy for anyone to get one which in turn makes it harder for all of us to walk around without running into people’s cameras. However, I have come to the conclusion that there is pretty much nothing you can do with photography that will make me think, “Wow, this person is cool.”
I also blame social networks in partnership and ego driven youngsters to encourage such lame whore-ing. Most people now feel obligated and pressured to make their life interesting and adventurous. What’s a better way than a picture, it used to be worth a thousand words. Now with pictures one can express to their virtual friends that they have friends in the real world who can take their pictures. I am sympathetic towards the thought, but it’s just all wrong. As many professional photographers (I am not one) will rightfully tell you Photography is not easy. It’s difficult to get a good shot with an intriguing subject, thrilling composition…or something that’s stands out and create an experience. Granted, most of us are capable of the act of pushing the shutter button everybody’s able to point and click and register an image through a lens. And when it over, your friends are nice so they will tell you, your pictures are nice not to hurt your feeling of course, but you are too full of s?*t to see it as such. Needless to say your head is so big and your assault on everything decent in photography begins.
At the end of the day It turn out that celebrities are not the only ones among us who feel like punching photographers, I get that feeling too often and I am not a violent person by any mean. Here few times when I get those feelings as I see tourist attempting to do one of the following:
1. Taking pictures of articles at museums, it’s a silly world, every time I go to the Smithsonian here in Washington DC; I want to throw up at the first sight of something taking a picture of an article through the glass window. Most museums have virtual museums so why do you need a crappy picture of an item that you can easily find on the internet? It beats me.
2. We get it, you have a 500 gigabyte external hard drive that you got for Christmas so you feel like it’s not worth it sitting there empty, but that’s no excuse to take silly pictures. Why do you need to take a picture by the Department of Commerce Sign? I mean we already know you are broke intellectually and artistically. And do not even thing about making a gesture with your figure, it is not 2001 anymore. Go back to Wisconsin and preserve your dignity.
3. The White House? You can almost get no good shot of this place without giving the Secret Services a reason to examine your camera and your mental stability. Think about how the President feels, he does not take pictures of your home, why do you feel like he owes you a picture?
4. The Capitol building, really? I mean everyone knows that we hate these people who occupy this building and wish they all on both sides of the aisle vanish. Why do you want to torture yourself by looking at the place where you are constantly robbed you of your hard earned money to build that bridge to nowhere. Do not give the secret service any reason to detain you for taking pictures in sensitive areas.
