Mini Rant - Please stop making your separate FB photography pages!

sNarah

{warning: post contains ranting!}

Seriously: how many people on your FB have a separate page for their photography, usually called "John Doe photography"? Which in 95% of the case contain, AT BEST, amateur photographs which leave you "Meh"?

And to make it even worse, then post images on BOTH the photography and personal page - come on lads, why did you separate them in the first place!? - so all of a sudden your timeline contains the same images twice, that is off course unless fellow togs start sharing the images and your whole bloody wall of full of the one image?

*breathes in and out*

I have a plea: stop making separate photography pages unless you actually are setting up a business. Amateurs: why don't just post your images to your normal profile? I don't get it!

And if you have both: please don't share the images on both accounts! The fact is, I will probably "like" your page, because, well, I like you and it's rude not too.... So please return this favour by stopping the double posting!

DaireQuinlan

*rushes to set up "Daire Quinlan Photography" facebook account*

Blocks snarah from both accounts.

Everyone is happy !

magicbastarder

i would say i'm missing out on this phenomenon, but 'missing out' seems like the wrong way of phrasing it.

maybe facebook could develop an algorithm which detects and blocks bad photoshoppery.

trooney

I find its best to not bother with fb at all. For anything. I can only hope it slides off into the depths of a large body of water somewhere never to be seen again. And the sooner the better. Fúck facebook and the disease riddled horse it rode in on.

dirtyghettokid

have to say, it does my head in too.
joe soap goes out and buys a 1000d, gets home, starts up a facebook page.. then your feed gets spammed with "share and like!" about 50,000 times.. all your friends jump on the bandwagon of sharing and liking.... then these hideous pics come up on the feed, and everyone's all like "ah jaysis that's GORGE" and i just want to delete the internet. facebook makes me want to delete the internet.

now! there's an aul lunch time rant for ya.



sorry, i'm in a funny mood.. one last post edit here... this is what i picture the newb looking like who starts a facebook photography page

brokenarms

This is why i love flickr as i am nowhere near a pro and have no intention to become one, and only people who like my pictures will connect with me. Flickr is perfect.

Facebook makes pictures look **** anyways. And I hate the time line thing. You can't say anything without everyone you know seeing it in their feed.

AnCatDubh

sNarah wrote: »

Amateurs: why don't just post your images to your normal profile? I don't get it!

Um... because my buddy jake the fatman is doing it (who actually i've never met but he is a BFF you know coz weird connected [sarcasm intended]) and loike, omg, but if he is doing it then i so should be doing it loike you know that i'm as important as jake the fatman, and loike if jake can double post well then i can double post loike and omg loike OMG!!!!!!!!

[semi serious contribution]
You do know the significant trait of photographers is one of ovis aries
[/semi serious contribution]

loike if you'd loike to loike my facebook photography page loike i'd be so loike really eternally your BFF....

loike.....


(omg).

[serious contribution]
meh..... put one part of them on mute or unfriend them.... yup.... been doing it in recent times.....

depends on what you are interested in... the person or their photography - unless they are real friends (whatever that is these days) you should probably just opt for their photography page and unfriend or mute their other mutterings.
[/serious contribution]

Paulw

I have both - my account and a photography page.

I have plenty of followers on my photography page. Some of those followers are also "friends". But, the majority of my "friends" on facebook are not followers of my photography page.

I don't push my photography page at my "friends". I don't harass them with "Please like my page" requests.

So, a lot of times when I post to my photography page, I would link/share that on my own page.

ImagenEstilo

Well posted. It drives me daft also. It is the reason why genuine photographers pages/photos get missed becuase of this horrendous information overload and the amount of wading required to get to proper information.

I do believe there should be some form of algorithm to spot duplicates and then penalise the page owner. Google do it in terms of websites so why can facebook not do the same.

Well posted.

pullandbang

Do what I do. Like the page when you've been asked then immediately change the settings to not show in your feed. Simples.

Splinters

To be fair there's valid reasons for having both, but it sounds as if its the way people are managing both their pages thats driving you mad as opposed to people just having 2 pages.

sheesh

yes that and chain mail I just block those people I don't unfriend them just block their posts this means they can see and reply to your posts. you can also change what you see from each person. whittle that down until the bad pictures go away Snarah

DaireQuinlan

I guess this is the sort of thing people mean when they refer to something as a "1st world problem"

Jonnykitedude

Funny, I have started to go down the sole trader route for portrait shoots etc. and people keep asking me have I a FB page...I do, my own personal one. I’m very reluctant to set a "jonnykitedude photography" page up, as like you Sarah I have a pain in my hoop with them filling my page.
I’m in the process of looking at a websites etc but after talking to a number of togs, they all seem to get a large chunk of business from fookface!

Though I am looking forward to bookface dying a horrible death!

magicbastarder

Jonnykitedude wrote: »

Though I am looking forward to bookface dying a horrible death!

why so? it might be a good moneyspinner for you if you're trying to make money.
a friend is a wedding photographer, and facebook is his second biggest generator of new business.

Jonnykitedude

It drives me bonkers (tho i do spend waaay to much time on it) the "like & share this post" along with the "like this post or my hamster will die" drives me mental!

I know if I do it’ll bring in money and I will eventually set one up but at this stage I really don’t want one!

gloobag

I regularly post to both my personal and my business page. As Paulw said above, some of my 'real life' friends haven't 'liked' my page. I don't know why, and I don't really care, but I know they still want to see what I'm up to in terms of photography, so I post to both at the same time.

I know where you're coming from though, I very much have a love/hate relationship with social media in general. I know it gives talented people a platform to share their work and promote themselves, but the problem is it also gives untalented people the same opportunity. Useless hack photographers end up thinking they're the bees knees because they harassed all their friends into liking and sharing their page and now have 1000 followers. Then if you call these people out on their crap or even just try to give them constructive criticism, you're branded as a negative hater. Sometimes I find I just have to disconnect from the whole thing for a couple of weeks to cleanse myself of the BS.

DaireQuinlan

gloobag wrote: »

I know where you're coming from though, I very much have a love/hate relationship with social media in general. I know it gives talented people a platform to share their work and promote themselves, but the problem is it also gives untalented people the same opportunity. Useless hack photographers end up thinking they're the bees knees because they harassed all their friends into liking and sharing their page and now have 1000 followers. Then if you call these people out on their crap or even just try to give them constructive criticism, you're branded as a negative hater. Sometimes I find I just have to disconnect from the whole thing for a couple of weeks to cleanse myself of the BS.

Ah, but how do you know YOU'RE not one of the untalented hacks that have hassled all their friends into liking and sharing their page though? I find myself constantly concernedly asking myself that question. Though not on FB because I don't really -do- FB as such, it's just where my elderly aunts and conservatively inclined cousins get to look at shots of the kids :-D

sNarah

Before opening a can of worms here, am sich I *fully* support FB business pages and they do generate promotion/income. It's just that my personal timeline seems to flooded with photographs. Yes, hiding is one thing, but I do find that I miss out on a lot of stuff that I do enjoy seeing at times.

It's a tough one really

gloobag

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

Ah, but how do you know YOU'RE not one of the untalented hacks that have hassled all their friends into liking and sharing their page though?

Ha I don't know about the talent part, but I have never begged for likes as so many do these days. I just share my photos that link back to my page and my website. If people leave me a like, that's up to them. My page only has about 350 likes. Not that much, considering there are some awful photographers out there with thousands.

Actually this whole conversation reminds me of a new breed of dickhead that has sprung up among Facebook photographers. The 'Tag Everyone in Existance Photographer'. They tag everyone in their friends list in a bid to force you to look at their ****e photos. I've fallen prey to a couple of these plebs recently. Not only do I block/un-friend them, I send them an abusive message beforehand detailing the many reasons why they are an untalented knob end.

Promac

I do what pullandbang suggested for a lot of "professional" pages that people would have me like.

I have to say though, I find it hilarious how the facebook-haters come out from under their bridges when any thread about facebook comes up. If you really don't like facebook and don't use it then why they feck are you in a thread about it? It's a bloody marvellous tool for keeping people in touch with eachother and being involved in the lives of friends and family members that you'd otherwise completely miss out on - especially these days in the age of the new diaspora. Not to mention the genuine boost it gives to real professionals, in whatever line of work.

Too snobby for snobs, some people.

dirtyghettokid

Promac wrote: »

If you really don't like facebook and don't use it then why they feck are you in a thread about it? It's a bloody marvellous tool for keeping people in touch with eachother and being involved in the lives of friends and family members that you'd otherwise completely miss out on

you said why i keep facebook. it's just the other junk that does my head in. there's no snobbery, it's just social media has changed the way people interact. it's like there's no barriers anymore.

Jonnykitedude

Woooo never said anything about being too snobby for bookface, its hardly a fb bashing thread, I can think of other threads that have done that!

Now I am going to bash,
Its gone to **** but im fooking addicted to it, I don't want to know what you had for dinner and I don't want to see the conversion on your profile your having wth your ex boyfriends sister, it's the lazy mans way of keepng in touch with family you dont really want to talk to directly. I have family all over the world and I'd hardly use fb, I'd rather use gchat or skype.....all free!

humberklog

sNarah wrote: »

- come on lads,

I've noticed it much much more on women's FB TBH, OMG, WTF!

(Sorry I was on a roll of bebolingo there:) (it felt good too)).

But really...it's more a girl's thing than a lad's thing...IMO...Jesus!

lisatiffany

I'm going to play Devils advocate here and say this, for some people photography is a business and like any business they like to separate their work from their personal life. One photographer especially comes to mind, his themes and subject matter can be risque and he likes to keep some distance between his private page and his photography page. I didn't even bother creating a Facebook page until I was asked to specifically by the venues and labels I work for, they wanted to be able to tag concertgoers / etc online and they couldn't do that on my .com site. It can be very beneficial to having a separate Facebook page if you know how to use it properly, though granted I've seen my fair share of pages on there that really didn't appeal to the eye.

For me personally having a separate page has helped my business increase substantially because social media is a fantastic tool once you don't overuse it and spam peoples feeds with junk. I think whether people like it or not sites like Facebook are the way forward and you either go along for the ride or just blank it completely. At the end of the day no one has a gun to their head forcing them to use the sites they frequent.

amdgilmore

I deleted my Facebook before it was cool to delete your Facebook. So I don't really know the misery of Facebook photography pages.

But following on from some of the previous comments, I will say that losing touch with people is OK. It's part of life. On Facebook I always felt like I was artificially prolonging relationships that would otherwise have died of natural causes.

There are phone numbers and addresses and emails for the people you really want to make the effort with.

Promac

Jonnykitedude wrote: »

Woooo never said anything about being too snobby for bookface, its hardly a fb bashing thread, I can think of other threads that have done that!

Now I am going to bash,
Its gone to **** but im fooking addicted to it, I don't want to know what you had for dinner and I don't want to see the conversion on your profile your having wth your ex boyfriends sister, it's the lazy mans way of keepng in touch with family you dont really want to talk to directly. I have family all over the world and I'd hardly use fb, I'd rather use gchat or skype.....all free!

Some of us have too many friends and family to be video calling them all.

Fiona

We all have to start somewhere, none of us were born taking amazing photographs I am afraid.

I have a separate photography page.

It's quite simple, if you want your work to be noticed, if you want to get known and if you want to aquire media passes for certain things so that you can indulge in your passion and also learn the skills you need to take amazing photographs then you need to get your work out there and facebook is the ideal platform to do so.

It's like regulars in a pub, how can you become one unless you just start going all the time?

I cringe at some of the photos I put up intially on my page, but now I look back and smile because each set I put up is getting better and better.

So, is it wrong to put yourself in the public domain to push yourself to be better and achieve better results??

Discuss


Oh and by the way - check me out on facebook har har!!!!
https://www.facebook.com/fiwysephotography

(sorry couldn't resist it mods feel free to delete!)

dirtyghettokid

i wouldn't have a problem with legitimate photography businesses having facebook pages. someone who is a professional, or has a company.. but joe soap who is most def a newb or an amateur going on as if he/she is a pro, and doing the whole 'alri like dis, get me too 1,000 likes' thing is what wrecks my head.

funnily enough, the only irish photographer facebook page i follow is brian's (gloobag) (cos his photographs are GORGE ) (and his page doesn't spam my feed ever)

Fiona

dirtyghettokid wrote: »

i wouldn't have a problem with legitimate photography businesses having facebook pages. someone who is a professional, or has a company.. but joe soap who is most def a newb or an amateur going on as if he/she is a pro, and doing the whole 'alri like dis, get me too 1,000 likes' thing is what wrecks my head.

But how do you get to be a professional without starting off somewhere and promoting yourself online and offline?

Not just generally in photography but for any business model?

As a result of my page I have had one or two requests for christenings, it's small, but it's a start. Rome wasn't built in a day.

To any professionals on here, how did you start out, what did you do to get your name out there and what advice do you give to people starting out?

magicbastarder

i don't know why people don't just vote with their feet. just set whoever is annoying you to 'ignore', and the problem is solved.

as my mother would say, don't knock your knee off a stool that isn't there.

magicbastarder

that said, i'm not immune to being annoyed about other stuff, but it's obviously much more important than facebook. honestly.

homerun_homer

If a Facebook friend is going to post to both all the time then just don't like their photography page if you will always see their pictures in their main timeline. Then if their concerned why you don't like their photog page you can tell them why and give them what for.

I set one up in January because a friend got me to take photos of an event and I asked how she wanted the photos presented or sent for promotion. She said "Usually we link to the photographer's Facebook page". I was always skeptical of setting one up and thought it would seem a bit big headed if you're not a professional, but if I wanted to get passes to do stuff that I wanted to do like this then it seems that's what I had to do as giving a Flickr link to a personal account wasn't an option.

Since then I've found that updates and pictures from my photography page don't appear in my friend's feed much when I post something. My girlfriend testified to this, so sometimes when I'm really happy with the pictures I'll share on my own page but I'd not do it all the time, and I notice that I get more views & likes from friends when I do share.
I've got friends who every time they post 1 picture it comes up multiple times and through various formats, it's very annoying. "Joe Bloggs has posted a picture to Instagram, Joe Bloggs has posted a picture, Joe Bloggs has shared a picture from Tumblr", every bloody time. I try not to be that kind of person online.

It's the same grievance between Facebook and Twitter, you could follow someone or a band and you get spammed news feeds on FB and then you go to Twitter to get away and it's constantly the same info in tweet form. That's life, get hiding and deleting.

ImagenEstilo

I think this thread has drifted off topic a bit. Was the OP not stating that he had a pain in his/her backside being spammed by folks posting photos on two accounts. This to me is complete spam nonsense and shouldn't be tolerated. I would reign in people that were doing something similar. The decent thing to do is post your professional work on your professional page (in a gallery blog link etc), leave it there for a day or two and then if you want to share it to your own personal wall to let your buddies know what you've been at then do so but only share it from your professional page, don't repost the whole f**king lot.

Facebook in itself is a Godsend for photographers. I have my own FB page and I dont know what I would do without it. FB is imo the best tool out there for a photographer to build an audience. I dont believe there is a better medium available that has better audience targetting features. Google doesn't come close. So I dont think it should be a case of bashing FB, just use it for what it is.

I was late jumping on the FB bandwagon both personally and professionally. I am sorry I didn't cop on to certain facts earlier on but suffice to say, better late than never

Dave

jpb1974

Please stop making your separate FB photography pages!

And what if I said something like "Emm.. no, sorry, I'm afraid not, I want one"?

When you step into the world of Facebook you just have to accept it for what it is (mainly a big pile of shíte in my personal opinion).

Corkbah

Fiona wrote: »

But how do you get to be a professional without starting off somewhere and promoting yourself online and offline?

Not just generally in photography but for any business model?

As a result of my page I have had one or two requests for christenings, it's small, but it's a start. Rome wasn't built in a day.

To any professionals on here, how did you start out, what did you do to get your name out there and what advice do you give to people starting out?

most professional photographers I know let their work do the talking and only showed off top quality work, and this builds a reputation as a top quality professional photographer.

Some worked for newspapers, agencies, magazines, studios .... building their network of business contacts....using Facebook simply allows friends/friends of friends to know you exist and in my opinion anyone who is looking for a photographer through facebook is looking for someone to do a cheap job - they may or may not be a good photographer but the person hiring will more than likely not notice the difference.

Facebook is and should be used as a tool to enhance a photography business - you should build a business first and have facebook there just to keep in contact with customers/clients and display a portfolio of current events.

Fiona

Corkbah wrote: »

Some worked for newspapers, agencies, magazines, studios .... building their network of business contacts....using Facebook simply allows friends/friends of friends to know you exist and in my opinion anyone who is looking for a photographer through facebook is looking for someone to do a cheap job - they may or may not be a good photographer but the person hiring will more than likely not notice the difference.

Facebook is and should be used as a tool to enhance a photography business - you should build a business first and have facebook there just to keep in contact with customers/clients and display a portfolio of current events.

Points noted

I suppose I am just not at a stage yet where I

a) know how to use a camera properly / have enough experience

b) have the resource to be able to leave a high paid secure job to do something very unsecured / freelance etc

It may happen in time but hey I am sure am having fun learning and any time I get with any 'professionals' at events I have been bombarding them with questions :o

gloobag

dirtyghettokid wrote: »

funnily enough, the only irish photographer facebook page i follow is brian's (gloobag) (cos his photographs are GORGE ) (and his page doesn't spam my feed ever)

Aw shucks Thanks for the support!

magicbastarder

Corkbah wrote: »

using Facebook simply allows friends/friends of friends to know you exist and in my opinion anyone who is looking for a photographer through facebook is looking for someone to do a cheap job - they may or may not be a good photographer but the person hiring will more than likely not notice the difference.

depends on how you use facebook. if you're just using it as a page, you're not going to go anywhere, but it works for some people as advertising - if you pay for ads on it.

dazftw

I set one up because I was taking photos of surfers and instead of directing them to Flickr I was told I should setup a Facebook page for it cause EVERYONE has Facebook. The idea of it being separate so you can have your personal friends on your own and the randoms on the other.

Then I realised I was getting more attention on Facebook than I was on Flickr so I've kept at it posting the photos I usually post on flickr. I also post photo documentaries as well.

At first I didn't want to but I realise now It's just another avenue and I really don't see what the big deal is about.

AnCatDubh

I don't think people are getting annoyed by other people having a photography page. The best outcome for someone who considers themselves a photographer is that their images are viewed and appreciated. Promotion is fine and good. I gather that the issue is when someone has their personal account, and their photography page only to follow up with posting the same content (photograph) to both places which implies that if someone follows your page (as you've probably asked that they would) and also is friends with you, that they see the same content twice. This I gather is what is annoying to some. And it's most likely not a single occurrence. It appears to be where this becomes the habitual behaviour.

For those that have both then surely if your *real* friends had any interest in your photography then they would also like your facebook page, so post only stuff for general consumption to your page and personal stuff which may include photography of you on a night out with the girls/lads, your attempt to create a gastronomic delight, your cute puppy or your ninja cat to your personal account.

I also think the problem has its genesis in people following a not unexpected pattern - starting with a facebook account, connecting with genuine people they know and casual e-friends (well it would be rude not too), then having the light bulb going on over their head that they will create a photography page, but not taking their entire connections with them.

I recall quite a popular photographer /educator after the event making the distinction by creating a page for his photography and unfriending people from his personal account. I also recall how upset people were that they were no longer *considered* his friend. These wouldn't have been people who he was personally known to (yeah, internet is a very weird place).

For those that consume others content (connect, friend, follow, like) - decide if you want to follow them personally or photographically and unfollow, unfriend, or mute their alternate streams. If you want to follow them both then I guess accept the potential consequence of same being a spammed activity stream, or timeline [looks in accusatory tones in sNarah's direction :pac:] .

brokenarms

I think the issue here is the recent surge in DSLR growth. For as little as 300 euro a person can buy a very capable camera and start learning.
They are everywhere now. I am one. I got the 1000d when it first came out 4 years ago and after using it a while, wanted to become a pro photographer. (never happened) Since then the sale have multiplied more.

If I was a pro, I would not be worried as if you are good and have a good name in the business then a bunch of newbies will be zero threat to your career.

In fact I think you should embrace them as some of them may have tallent.
Let them have the facebook. Simple block the ones you dont like.

the_syco

sNarah wrote: »

I have a plea: stop making separate photography pages unless you actually are setting up a business. Amateurs: why don't just post your images to your normal profile? I don't get it!

And if you have both: please don't share the images on both accounts!

I'm one of these people. Well, except for the second part; I don't share images on my primary account.

I like taking photos (but getting lazy in uploading them), and find facebook a handy place to post them, so I can link the albums up to whatever band that I was taking photos of.

The two reasons for not posting them in my page was that I'd prefer to keep my photos and my humour separate, and so that people can find the images by clicking "albums" and not have to wade through pictures of random crap.

So far, I have 18 albums from maybe 16/17 bands, and 13 likes. I don't see the point in spamming people, as I'm only an amateur.

Corkbah

brokenarms wrote: »

I think the issue here is the recent surge in DSLR growth. For as little as 300 euro a person can buy a very capable camera and start learning.
They are everywhere now. I am one. I got the 1000d when it first came out 4 years ago and after using it a while, wanted to become a pro photographer. (never happened) Since then the sale have multiplied more.

If I was a pro, I would not be worried as if you are good and have a good name in the business then a bunch of newbies will be zero threat to your career.

In fact I think you should embrace them as some of them may have tallent.
Let them have the facebook. Simple block the ones you dont like.

problem with that is that businesses are looking to "newbies" in order to cut costs on paying a professional photographer, which is why there are sometimes threads on "how much should I charge?" .... "newbies" can be capable of doing the same job as a photographer and sometimes they have a full-time job so can subsidise their photography.

businesses are looking to save money, photography "newbies" are sometimes offering to work for free/experience which means that a professional photographer with a decent reputation will suffer financially and has every right to feel threatened by "newbies"...sometimes a professional cannot afford to drop their prices to the same as the "newbie".

in saying all that there is no regulation in the photography industry and many professionals produce lesser quality work than "newbies" ...more modern cameras can compensate for lack of technical understanding about how to expose the image properly.

The industry cannot shun new photographers and professionals cannot demand that someone with a 1000d and kit lens should get out of their way simply because they have a 1DX and top of the range lens....but lots of newbies I've encountered have to learn about manners, most "new" photographers I encounter have less morals and more rudeness - they want the pic and f*ck everyone else.....same goes for society in general - no respect these days !!
EDITED PART
*The cycle usually goes like this:
-Hobbiest enjoys taking photos which they share with family/friends
- they buy plenty of gear and over time family/friends ask them to do jobs (usually family events and for free)
- word gets out that they can take a pic and friends of friends and business colleagues see the photos (maybe through Facebook !!) and soon enough the photographer starts getting a few jobs here and there.

after a while of doing a few jobs, some for free some paid (even if its not Union rates its something) ...the photographer thinks ... Hey, I can do this ...maybe if I charge less than professionals I can get more work and build a business then I can become a professional.

they pack in their full-time work ...continue doing jobs, purchase more kit, discover all of the overheads associated with being a professional and start to increase their prices to ensure they can make some bit of profit at the end of the year.

after about a year of turning full-time photographer they discover that they can work all the time and need to increase their prices to ensure they cover all costs and then ... their clients turn to someone who is newer and offering to do the job cheaper or free .... and they are left with debts, so options available are sell the gear to pay off the debts or keep going and try find a niche !! [The End]

* = actual story, people, equipment and experiences may vary depending on the person - no animals were hurt in the making of this story !

genie_us

I find this topic really interesting!

I am one of the dreaded newbies, and to be honest I feel like a fraud calling myself a photographer!
I often see posts like the OP or even on FB itself from other photographer pages giving out about amateurs having their own FB pages or doing jobs for free or for half nothing, and rightly so in a lot of cases.
And I definitely have experienced some snobbery on the way.

I work full time Mon-Fri in a non photography related job. I started studying photography about 4 years ago now on a Sony A200. I saved up and moved onto a 7d, studied some more, got myself a diploma, practised a lot, joined the camera club, saved up some more and recently finally was able to buy the much drooled over 5diii

My ultimate goal is to become a full time wedding photographer. As someone else mentioned, family and friends see me with a fancy arse camera and assume I'm brilliant and I'm asked all the time to take photos of christenings and kids and parties and even weddings, (although in the case of the weddings not as the main photographer, more as an alternative perspective if I'm there as a guest anyway)
I do these things for the practise and I enjoy doing them.

After emailing nearly every single wedding photographer I could find asking if I could assist at weddings etc, in June last year I finally got the chance to go along to one. A few months later I met another wedding photographer who was amazing, he was unbelievably generous with his time and taught me loads, not just about the actual wedding photography but how to do all the other things like the people management, the running of the day etc etc.

I have my first wedding in July (:eek:), for someone who knows what stage I'm at and yes, for a very low price. She is a friend of a friend.
But how could I charge her professional prices when I'm not yet professional?
Where did other professionals start out before they were professional?

I feel very nervous and excited but confident that I will be able to deliver a high quality set of photos to her. Do I think they'll be the most amazing photos ever? No, I still aim to become an amazing photographer.
But there is NO WAY I would agree to take on a wedding if I didn't think I could do it for someone, no matter how much they offered me.

But we all have to start somewhere.
I have a personal FB page and a photography one. The reason being, I was sick of getting asked to do things for friends and then they tag other people in photos who I'm not friends with, and suddenly I'm getting friend requests from people I've never met in order for them to see photos.

When I got married I felt like an awful eejit calling myself a wife, or referring to himself as my husband. I don't know why!
And it's sort of the same if someone calls me a photographer - I don't feel qualified enough to be called one.
When does that change?

I have a long way to go and a lot more to learn, but I would hate to think that I'd be considered one of the annoying newbies out to undercut the established professionals.

Corkbah

anyone who takes a photograph is a photographer !

but not every photographer is a professional.

so YES - you are a photographer !! ...and best of luck with it.

pullandbang

Corkbah wrote: »

anyone who takes a photograph is a photographer

I'd have to disagree.

Not everyone who hammers a nail is a carpenter.
Not everyone who wires a plug is an electrician.

Any muppet can take a photograph but that does not make him/her a photographer.

AnCatDubh

pullandbang wrote: »

Not everyone who hammers a nail is a carpenter.
Not everyone who wires a plug is an electrician.

Darn it. I now have to take electrician and carpenter off my LinkedIn profile experience. I suppose next you'll be telling me that because I can carve a sunday roast, that i'm not actually a surgeon... should i also strike that one off?

genie_us

Corkbah wrote: »

anyone who takes a photograph is a photographer !

but not every photographer is a professional.

so YES - you are a photographer !! ...and best of luck with it.

I disagree too.

To say I'm a photographer, to me, implies that I'm informing someone that I have a certain level of knowledge and skill in photography.

Feck this, I've just decided, I am a photographer!

Nerro

thats probably one of the most useless threads on boards...
if you dont know how to use facebook dont use it at all.now if i wouldnt know how to drive a car and would start ranting here that nobody wants to give me drivers licence and how the world is unfair...what would u say?
OP just google how to set filters on facebook instead of telling people what shoud they do and what shouldnt.
peace.

sNarah

Nerro wrote: »

thats probably one of the most useless threads on boards...
if you dont know how to use facebook dont use it at all.now if i wouldnt know how to drive a car and would start ranting here that nobody wants to give me drivers licence and how the world is unfair...what would u say?
OP just google how to set filters on facebook instead of telling people what shoud they do and what shouldnt.
peace.

Well, I did anticipate the thread with "mini-rant" therefore indicating that maybe it's a tad of an unwarranted complaint. For me, the main "issue" is finding the right balance between supporting my photog friends of FB - which accounts for at least 30% of my friends - and hiding them.

I know they need my, and others support, in order to have a successful business and come across as one on FB, but sometimes I just get fed up with them. And hiding them means I'll never get the updates, which I'm not interested in neither.