This is sort of a follow-up to my previous update, Secrets of the Pros Revisited. This time out, I want to talk a bit more about pro shooters, make that a few of the uber-shooters of photography and their possible love affairs with manufacturers and each other.Catalyst for this update comes from photographer, blogger, and PGS reader, Tom. Check out Tom's blog. Some good stuff there!
Back to today's update: Tom left a comment to my previous post and it got me to thinking. Here's a snip from Tom's comment to kick this off:
...what I'm seeing so clearly now is that some of the select "pro's" have learned to partner and form this huge circle ... basically a big love fest partnership run by (the) mother ship.
Nothing surprising about that observation, Tom. Love fests (hate fests too) are often encouraged, sponsored, and underwritten by one mother ship or another out there. (Or should that read "up there?")
Tom continues:
This is a very specifically built business plan to write about the amazing trips and miracle "toys" they find helps them in their photography when it's basically a link with their ID code for commissions.
That's neither surprising nor fundamentally wrong, Tom. If some of the uber-shooters truly are pimping "miracle toys" and other things that help us out as photographers, sounds pretty Kosher to me. Perhaps we should be grateful?
But then Tom gets to the nitty-gritty of his concerns:
A lot of the "Pros" are leveraging the digital bandwagon right now and milking it. They have to, there is not much work out there for them. But I feel sorry for the new people entering the hobby side, getting milked bad...
Well, Hmm... You gotta interesting point there, Tom. When the things these guys and gals endorse are products they regularly use and truly believe in, I have no problem with that. I also don't have a problem with them getting paid to endorse those products. But when, as you seem to suspect and I do too, they're claiming this or that is a big part of their photographic bag of tricks and the product(s) in question scores somewhat low on the effective-and-useful scale, that's a whole different subject. Especially if and when these products' uses don't seem too evident in pictures featured in their online portfolios, i.e., it doesn't look as if the products were used to capture many, if any, of the pics. When that happens, my bullshit radar also starts bleeping like its having a spaz attack!
Many uber-shooters have blogs these days. That's great! Many other shooters, that is those who are serious about photography, enjoy and appreciate getting tips from these people. I know I do. After all, learn enough about how they do what they do and our pics might look very much like their pics, leastwise in terms of quality and creativity. Then, who knows? A few of us might end up in the fast lane to uber-shooter status!
Lately, it seems somes of these folks have decided to use their blogs to pimp all kinds of products: Sometimes in subtle ways, sometimes in obvious ways. Nothing intrinsically wrong with that. If you're an uber-shooter and you use whatever-from-whomever to get those killer shots, it only makes sense you might want to crow a bit about the products you use. And it only makes sense that the people who hold you and your photographic prowess in high esteem might want to purchase and use that very same gear. (Obviously, a marketing strategy that's been around a very long time.)
But I'm a bit of a cynic. Like Tom, I've become more than a little suspicious when it comes to some people's motivations for doing the things they do and saying the things they say. That includes a number of photographers whose work I greatly admire and whose careers I
Did Babe Ruth truly enjoy and regularly munch on his namesake candy bar? I don't have a freakin' clue. Does so-and-so really use that gizmo on his or her speedlites? Again, I don't have a clue. Does so-and-so ordinarily uses speedlites in their professional work? Hell! I don't know that either, not for sure. Does uber-shooter "X" or uber-shooter "Y" really and truly believe we should all be dropping some very serious change on a new dSLR from Company "A" or from Company "B" that also captures HD video? Even if we recently emptied our wallets on last year's latest-and-greatest? Hmm... Again, dunno. It's not that I don't trust anyone specifically. It's just that my bullshit radar keeps going off more and more lately and I don't know who to trust. Maybe it's out of calibration? My bullshit radar, that is.
I'm not going to name names. And I don't hold it against anyone who scores an occasional payday by endorsing stuff they use and believe in. I have Amazon links on this site. Most of the specific books I recommend are in my personal library. If not, they're in the personal library of someone I know and whose judgments I trust. I wouldn't suggest them if I didn't believe they had value.
Recently, I accepted some gear from a Pacific-rim manufacturer in exchange for reviews and some pics of the gear in action. But here's the deal: Early on, when that gear was first offered to me, it was specifically stated that my honest opinions were sought. Further, even if I ended up having some unkindly things to say about this gear, that was okay. It was still mine to keep.
So here's the deal: Be careful what you purchase! Don't take anyone's word for it without doing some additional research. I don't care whose word it is! Just because someone whose work you admire is pimping a specific product it doesn't mean that product is all it claims to be, will positively help you with your photography, will open new opportunities for you, or that the endorsers regularly use the products themselves. There's a lot of crap out there that won't do anything positive for your photography in spite of what some manufacturers or their pimps might claim or infer. Like those mythical Secrets of the Pros, some of photography's so-called wonder-gadgets are equally mythical in terms of their effectiveness, usefulness, and marketing claims.
BTW, I'm not trying to sound cool or hip by using the words "pimp" and/or "pimping" when refering to some of the products that some people are endorsing. I think it's an appropriate analogy. When you hand over your cash for some of these goods, you're getting fucked.
The pretty girl at the top is Selena from last year. The image is definitely outside of the my normal style: One light, modified with a 4' Photoflex Octodome, filling the ambient coming in through windows. But not so much that it overpowered those streaks of light coming in and hitting the model and the wall.
8 comments:
I actually read Tom's post before seeing this, after reading it in the comments, and I had noticed the behaviour he was referring to.
When I link to stuff I work on or with, or use for that matter, I do include my id in the link. I'm not creating super harvest link fests, but if I can get something else back from it, without costing the user, it's okay by me.
I have a book coming out soon. I get half the normal commission from Amazon sales, so my link definitely contains an affiliate ID.. It gives me almost half again! Yes the commission on the book is that low.
@Sean, Like I said in my update, nothing wrong with endorsements (affiliate IDs, etc) and getting paid commissions. Providing, of course, the product adds value to a shooter's game and, ideally, is something the endorser is familiar with or uses themselves.
Congratz on the book! I'm assuming it's about Lightroom? (Yeah, took a look at your site.) Hope it's a bestseller!
Speaking of "super harvest link fests," I see a bunch of Twitter users -- heck, i even follow some of them -- who are simply Tweeting to links that are nothing more than their own pages with other links, with a brief snip from whatever they're linking to, on a page crowded with photography affiliate ads.
As an avid amateur and sometimes sucker - I really appreciate hearing this from you folks who make a living this way....and the fact that you give the straight scoop
Hey Jim. Man 'o man, did you articulate most of my feelings so well.
I do feel, very sincerely, that there are a number of fine professionals that should "pimp" their wares and the products they use and how/when they use them. This is simply the new business model. And I have a B&H link myself because I am a firm customer.
Would I link to Leica for profit if I could? NO doubt whatsoever.
I think what is also very important, and perhaps most important is that a great many of these mfr company's sponsor photographer workshop whereas without them the fees would be beyond many folk's reach. And I know some of the best photographer's in the world right now have a very challenging time. Hell, everyone is using that word "challenging" as it's so en-vouge, it's damn sucky out there for a lot of good folk.
But there is a line and it's not even fine. It's pimping just for pimping sake. Reviews just for pimping, and even that's ok in some areas, but now we (or at least I) am seeing an assembly line of product reviews coming out of the big box, down the belt with the overhead sign blinking in red "BUY THIS"
There are actually partnerships, as I wrote prior, being formed, business plans being written for this sole purpose. And I'll speak more frank my Vet brother, a great many of these folks are not very good shooters but they are wonderful business people and have savy sales talent.
Now, time to 'fess up. You see, I was a pimp. Not with the vertical market we speak of here, but in a hi-tech world, during the massive run up leading to the bubble. I'm here to tell you that a large percentage of the wonder devices that were being touted to raise Hundreds of millions of $$ of capital never existing beyond engineering plans, sometimes emails. What I did see and shamefully was part of, is what I see now and I'm conditioned to see it almost everywhere. It's quite a curse.
My only problem with your model Jimmy is that I'm not there shooting some of the most stunning models I've ever seen in my life with you.
I'm with you and Tom, my biggest gripe is that those sites actively push the latest fad of accesories for their miracle gear, until you run numbers and see that it is even more expensive to have said miracle gear than normal average gear being used for countless successful but not internet famous photo celebrities.
I think that the honest relationship is the one where the cons and pros are explained in detail, some blogs offer "panacea" gear that's supposed to be the ultimate solution, other blogs uber fanatize gear, etc... people often forget that a camera, lighting gear, etc. are like tootbrushes, wrenches, screwdrivers -not the drink the tool ;)- in less words they are tools you use to craft your image...
And then you have their forums full of wall shots, technical superiority comparisons, etc. written by the best IT people doing photography, a shame they spent the time shooting walls instead of people, cats, dogs, interesting objects.
There are no secret tools -much less with the power of information internet gives us today- there are no secret tips and techniques, this is a craft where you need to learn and practice, there is no magical panacea.
What I like of your approach is that it is honest and much different than the "magic Gizmo to make your photos better!", "secret of the pro who uses magic gizmo in the 10 minutes assignments but is useless for long photoshoots" or finally "magic gizmo that adds up and is more expensive than regular tools".
My best wishes Jimmy :)
Eduar
oh, I forgot, over at fstopbeyond.com they have a paradoy on such products, like the wedding photography that uses her light dome to hold her gummy bears for snacks.. don't even get me started on what they do to the shoot sac.
As also an avid amateur and some times sucker thanks for the honest words.
Yeah, the orange county wedding rockstar lovefest got old pretty quick once I observed the lame cross-promo agenda of it all.
Selling the lifestyle to a bunch of moms with cameras can only work for so long, I think.
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