amateurs.

i just want to put something out there that has been burdening me since the moment i graduated college and then realized that i was solely responsible for supporting myself (a very scary thought). when you choose a career path that does not require you to mold young minds, hold a political office, or have an extra D & R before your name, you pretty much enter into a world of uncertainty and chance. now i like to consider myself to be more of the adventurous type. yeah, i like to take risks, challenge myself, take the road less traveled...or at least that's what i have been trying to tell myself ever since i did not choose one of the aforementioned careers and instead went with something i enjoy as a career. what i am now plagued with is the notion of whether or not choosing a career based on personal satisfaction is ultimately more beneficial than choosing one that ensures stability and perhaps even a decent paycheck.

allow me to digress the the real point of this particular blog entry; one that i hope enlightens and awakens what seems to be a somewhat oblivious audience. i am in the creative field- design/photography to be more definitive. this is an area that has exploded in the last decade or so as better cameras and software have emerged and become available to consumers of every skill level. this is a good and bad, very bad, thing. good for all you young mothers wanting to capture every moment of your child's new life, and good for all you college students searching for moments to document and post on the latest social networking site. but lets get real for a second because this phenomenon is potentially fatal to all of us who have set out to make a living creating beautiful images. to all of you who have hired a friend who somewhat knows how to operate a camera to shoot your wedding; to those who think picnik is a great editing tool; to all of you out there who happened to get lucky and take one decent picture and think 'hey i could do this for a living!'- please, please stop replacing what could be beautiful, skillfully planned, quality images with poor attempts at recreating the former. i look at some of the stuff put out there and just cringe that most people are not knowledgeable enough to realize the lack of work or skill that actually went into the making of it- and because of this, they buy into it. this is where the true craftsmanship and knowledge get overlooked because people are ignorant enough to put out such crap. there is a reason good photography is expensive- and WORTH the INVESTMENT. photography is the only mechanism for freezing the moments in time worth revisiting each time we glance at a photo. it is the only thing that will last from your wedding (other than your vows let's hope) and one of the few things that can allow emotions and special moments to become permanent and tangible objects.

i am not claiming to be a perfect or even fully qualified photographer- but i have the ability and inspiration to do the job right and do it well. i am still learning and growing, but i think that is what every great artist constantly seeks to do in order to perfect their art. take it or leave it, but at least understand this- i do not attempt to give medical, political or educational advice because i am not under the false impression that i know what im talking about in regards to such subjects. in the same way, give us photographers a fighting chance and invest in our know-how. and your smile will resurface each time you gaze at that perfectly captured moment later on down the road.

*p.s. i almost contradict myself with the accompanying photo which was taken with my webcam and edited in 5 mins. but not quite.