Certainly there has been an aura of mystique surrounding the professional photographer for generations just as there is mystique shrouding most professions. There is one significant difference however in the Photography niche.
Professional Photographers have for quite some time now been smarting under the avalanche of Digital Debbie’s, who they mostly view with disdain. Why so? Well it takes more than a fat wallet and a shed load of Digital SLR’s and all the other Photographic paraphernalia to call yourself a professional.
The aspiring Digital Debbie with some spare cash can head on out to the nearest store and in an hour or two, with a little tweaking, can look almost like a professional. You know the three shoulder bags and a couple of tripods and an air of superiority can actually make you believe you really are a pro and not just a usurper.
They say you have to look the part to feel the part. You know the “fake it till you make it” idea beloved of marketing mentors. It works! At least for a time until you make the first mistakes!
The advent of the Digital Age has made it far easier for amateur photographers to slip in unannounced like a stealth drone and place a beautifully positioned tank buster under all the Professionals in their geographic area! Boom… what a mess!
In this age of entrepreneurial extravagance, where if you are not starting a business or two you can’t really be a real human being! It has never been easier for the Digital Debbie to set up and start looking for paying gigs. The over heads are low apart from the initial outlay and we all know that all digital stuff has reduced in price substantially over the last few years as more and more companies produce more and more models, with more and more features to woo their ever discerning customers.
So what’s to stop a rank amateur from muscling into to the inner sanctum of professional projects such as Weddings, Family Portraits, Events and other opportunities and proffering their services at a price at which a Pro would curl up and die?
In the past the Professional photographer would keep all his or her cards very close to the chest thus enhancing the mystique. For mystique read expensive! No Very Expensive! The film would have to be developed by a specialist operator or the pro himself and selections would then be offered to the client for perusal and acceptance.
All in all, a lengthy process and designed to prevent as many newcomers from entering the profession as possible. Fast forward to today and with advances in all aspects of computer and camera technology it’s possible to do all this heady stuff in a day or two not weeks as before.
The time element in all of the traditional photographers work made it essential to charge a professional style fee. In contrast a Digital Debbie’s time allocation is substantially less and therefore the fee that they charge is likely to be a fraction of that of the Pro.
Well you might say isn’t that the essence of free enterprise and all that? Well it is a wondrous thing to behold for sure, as young enthusiastic Debbie’s launch themselves into the blue yonder with their kit in one hand and a prayer in the other disguised as a white balance card!
Can they be forgiven in thinking that since they have all the stuff that a Pro uses (apart from the expertise and years of practice) they must too be a Professional? “I mean it couldn’t be all that difficult to rake in a few contracts a month and get rave reviews could it? There’s a shed load of peeps out there with all the gear and well if they can do it (and I am so much better than them) I can surely wipe them off the face of the earth in the time it takes to say cheese!”
Well since forgiveness is an essential constituent of the well balanced entrepreneur (if not a character trait of all pro photographers) then perhaps it might be a humane act to let the Debbie’s perform their magic for a while. Then, after a certain number of disasters, which would be de rigueur to have reported on Facebook, open season could be announced and a re-enactment of the Mariana’s Turkey Shoot set in train!
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Success has many fathers and digital imaging is no exception. If you took a poll among those who where present, you would often find Georgia McCabe nominated for the list of significant contributors in the development of mass market digital photography. She has played the role of market visionary, evangelist and active participant in most of the major developments that would eventually lead to the complete coalescence of mass market photography, personal computers and the internet.
At Kodak in the early ‘90s, she uniquely recognized the tremendous effect that high quality digitized film images would have on the then developing world of desktop computing. She evangelized her vision with the likes of Bill Gates, John Scully and Steve Jobs, demonstrating the tremendous influence that personal imaging would have on the desktop computing market.
She then leveraged these developments and formed a company that developed the technology and services to enable extremely large image collections like those at Time Warner, The Walt Disney Company, Conde Nast Publications and The New York Daily News to economically convert literally millions of existing historical images to digital form and make them readily available to the exploding population of new web consumers.
Finally, in 2000 she joined FujiFilm USA and returned to her roots in the computing and consumer photography markets. At Fuji, she was instrumental in making internet photo sharing and 1 hour web to retail printing an everyday experience in the consumer digital photo market.
Always on the lookout for market dislocations resulting from “the next wave” of technology, today Georgia is excited about the terrific new opportunities that will result from the confluence of a truly connected world and the exploding consumer participation in social media. Georgia has the skill and vision to put a personal face on technology and make it relevant to virtually any audience.
Her forthcoming book “The Relationship Age,” with social media expert, Mari Smith, and other leading social media and marketing experts from around the world will be released in the fall of 2010.
Photo/Video Credits: © 2010 Georgia McCabe
Company: Brownstein & McCabe Associates
Address: P.O. Box 5228, Englewood, FL 34224
Phone: 941-876-6428
Email: Georgia@wecouldoit.com
Website: http://www.georgiamccabe.com
Twitter: @mamagg
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/GeorgiaLMcCabe
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Coming from the IT world, I’ve always wondered why I don’t find posts (maybe I’m just not looking for them) complaining that Peter Pro Photographer is honing in on my IT action. The irony of where I am posting this comment should be enough alone 😉
It seems fairly similar. Computers were once out of reach for many, never mind a web presence! Now, every Peter Pro Photographer has a web site, and they can run off to places like Squarespace, or setup, with a credit card and a click or a few, a WordPress site, pick a theme, add some plug and play widgets, and like magic, they are looking like super stars with their own domain and all. Oh, and for most, aside from the hosting/bandwidth fees, it is…FREE!
Beyond web sites, Peter Pro Photographer sets up his backup plan, his home is glowing with wi-fi signals, he can stream music into his backyard…
I could go on, but I hope you see my point.
I’ve got no shortage of IT work for the foreseeable future and if I happen to make a buck with some photography ventures, great!
RT @TrevorCurrent: Guest Post: The Digital Debbie Syndrome and Why it’s Here to Stay: by Georgia McCabe https://currentphotographer.com/the-digit… #photog …
RT @TrevorCurrent: Guest Post: The Digital Debbie Syndrome and Why it’s Here to Stay: by Georgia McCabe https://currentphotographer.com/the-digit… #photog …
AMEN! I was doing art shows before the economy dumped. I shoot artful landscapes on film with a Linhof 6×17 pano. The Debbies and Dannys are everywhere and make my skin curl. Three cheers for MPIX for offering cheap framing and canvas services. Deb and Danny’s spring board to art shows. I print, mount and frame every piece I sell
I lost a wedding gig to the sister because she has a camera and a flash and take super crappy facebook pics that all her ‘friends’ rave about.
For free!!
Oh, and she has Photoshop, too.
Thank you. And have a nice day.
I once read a response to the debate between “Peter Pro Photographer” (love that btw) and “Digital Debbie”. In this discussion, many photogs were outraged at the oversaturation of housemom’s and such simply picking up a cheap dslr from Best Buy and opening a “business” in 24hrs. The response? Porche and BMW do not compare themselves to Kia and Saturn. There are those who prefer the quality of Porche and are willing to pay for the standards, reputation, and reliability. Then there are those who can only afford a Kia. They know that it isn’t a Porche, but they are getting what they are able to get at the moment.
I’m not sure if I worded it correctly, but it did put things into a different perspective for me.