It’s the photographer’s fault.
I was thinking this morning about pictures and the common experience that so many people have as it pertains to getting them/taking them/having them etc., and I’ve come to conclusion that many of the sentiments that people have surrounding pictures has more to do with the photographers than the people. If we are historians and documenters of the past for future use, the onus is upon us to provide an experience that clients and end-users can cherish and enjoy, even to the point of enjoying the actual experience.
It troubles me that all too often people have splendiferously easy memories of bad photographers (who do their part diligently to color the photographic experience negatively) and hardly any of good, pleasant photographic experiences. And the funny thing is, “good” seems to be more in the realm of “remembered as painless” or “that person with the camera that was really cool.” And where are they? Probably out working while everyone else focuses more on the money they’re not getting or the prices that everyone wants to negotiate with, or the art that has gone undervalued and unappreciated.
It’s a tough pill to swallow, but we have to get over it. Photographer’s aren’t the pictures they take, the pictures are part and parcel of the actual service photographers work to render. And because we’ve been sucking in the service department, no one really cares to know what service we actually render, thanks to all the wonderful education obtained from photographers who care not to inform them appropriately.