Rix Mascarenhas
If you’re in the photography market you’ve probably come across some of the 6 worst types of photographers I’ll talk about today. No matter if you are a photographer or just looking to hire one, you will at some point face some of these types.
Nowadays the business gets uglier because everyone thinks they are a photographer just because they bought an app that is better than the phone’s own app, not to mention the guy who bought an interchangeable lens, then is the or she is the king or the queen of photography.
And to break the ice a bit today I’ll talk about some of the worst types of photographers you’ll find in your life. This may have nothing to do with the quality of the person’s work, but rather how the guy or girl “behaves” in the profession. This is not aimed at anyone specifically, so don’t get angry if you see yourself at some point.
6 WORST types of photographers you will bump into in life.
1 – The “wannabe”
This type of photographer exists everywhere in the world and it’s pretty simple to find him, just pick up your phone and visit Instagram or Facebook. You will see that there are thousands of photographers who bought their first camera and want to show the world their jaw-dropping skills. The main intention of the “wannabe” is to be famous, so he is in this to show himself and not by his photographs itself.
The wannabe thinks that with just a camera, maybe a flash and some photos with more than 200 likes he can already call himself professional and of course charge very expensive for this. Usually, this type of photographer loves portrait photography or the new travel photography trend. Many of these don’t have a solid foundation on what photography is, although they really like it. They are here to gather likes, fame and that’s all.
I’m not saying that all portraitists who use Instagram to advertise their work are wannabes, far from it. I’m just saying it’s much easier for you to find this kind of photographer in places where being famous seems to be the most important thing.
2 – The talker
It’s not bad to talk, exchanging ideas constructively will always be a good thing in anyone’s life. But standing next door, or working with someone who doesn’t know how to shut up once in a while about a certain subject is stressful AF.
And when this happens in photography it’s nothing different, and no less boring. When you have something to talk to someone is great, you know each other and have the condition to understand each other better, but talking to someone who doesn’t always have something to add can be a martyrdom.
And one of the worst things that can happen to you is a photographer who keeps talking, often about things you don’t even have that much interest in. He talks about how he did such a job, and how hard it was to do this or that. Many begin to comment on the work of other people you don’t even know, or say they would do in such a different manner. Even if you remain silent, it will appeal to the obvious. For example, it will tell you how good the weather is, how the sun is shining, and producing good light.
Normal, I even understand that a professional who works alone most of the time needs someone to talk to. But you have to learn not to be boring too.
The great way to face this type of photographer is to create an escape plan. You say you forget to feed the cat and you need to leave, or you have to take grandma swimming, I don’t know, make something up.
Just never try to stop him from talking, this will be simply impossible!
3 – The teacher
Ahh the teacher. He’s the one who knows all about photography. He is a God of photography and if you avoid him or ignore his advice, you will burn in hell because this is a mortal sin. He’s usually a boring guy, and you don’t always need to listen to him, because if you let him talk he’ll try to indoctrinate you for something. He always understands the best way to compose, the best equipment, and everything that is related to the act of taking pictures.
And please don’t commit the sacrilege of taking a picture using your cell phone when The Teacher is around. This will release a gigantic will up you and will also make you win a 3 hour seminar talking about how a DSLR camera is the best thing in the world.
He usually gives you advice you didn’t ask for and tries to teach you things you don’t want to know. Because of this he is one of the worst types of photographers you will relate to. I’m not saying he doesn’t have the knowledge to pass you, he even has seen his books released, but you don’t always want to spend hours listening to someone talking about photography in your ear.
Also not all photography teachers are like this, I have met people in my life that are photography teachers that do not look like this and are people that you can a have a great conversation about everything not just photography, and when they talk photography they are not boring or condescendent.
4 – The photography addict
They say if you love your job you won’t have to work a single minute of your life. And this seems to be the case of this type of photographer because he is blessed. After all, he works with what he loves. The problem is, he won’t stop talking about photography for a single minute of his day. All he sees is through his lenses, he knows no other way to see the world.
If he calls you to a walk you can expect that he wants to use you as a model somewhere where he hasn’t photographed anyone yet. And even if you want to enjoy a sunset just by looking at it with your eyes he might not leave you in peace while photographing you.
Every addiction in life can bother a lot who is around, photography is no different, the addict in photography will preach to you that you have to do what you love, this is only you will be happy, after all look at his case. And this does not just happen in photography, no, any work involving the word “art” suffers from this type of person.
If you are married to this type of individual, my feelings, because all the time you will have to talk about photography, after all you have someone who does not know how to talk, see, appreciate, or care about something else. and when you leave together for a walk expect to go back home running as soon as possible, so he can edit and post the photos as soon as possible.
5 – CTRL+C / CTRL+V (Copy boy)
Listen to me, there’s nothing wrong with getting inspired by other people’s work, looking and trying to copy a style of photography from time to time is good to educate yourself. This all helps you to improve your artistic census, it’s normal. We all started trying to imitate someone and at some point, we even got it right, normal.
Now what’s not normal is trying to make a career by copying other people’s work, and when I say copy I’m not talking about using other people’s photos as if it were yours, after all this is a crime. I’m talking about the guy who stays hours on Instagram researching about a location and when he gets there makes the same photos, same angles, times of the day until, and even the post-production equal to the photos that have more recognition on the platform.
This is photographer Copy Boy (control c/control v). He’s not ashamed to put the same photos or use the same hashtags and everything else. The worst is that some of them still try to make you believe that they are the ones who had the super original idea of shooting there in the first place. Perhaps the life motto of this type of photographer is:
“In life, nothing is created, everything is copied”
I often think this is the worst kind of photographer out there because he doesn’t have the slightest pride in cannibalizing the work of others for his own benefit. So be careful.
If you used some work as reference and your work ended up looking like the reference more than you like, give credit. There is no shame in learning for somebody else’s work.
6 – The equipment nerd
This one here may not be as boring as the other types of photographers. It does virtually nothing wrong, at least until the middle of page 2. He always walks very well prepared, he has all kinds of equipment for the most varied situations possible. There are at least two full backpacks of equipment with him or in his car all the time.
You only get to have problems with this type of photographer if you ask his opinion about some equipment, he does have an opinion about almost everything. It will give you 55,000 answer options for your simple question and you will leave with more questions than you entered. And of course, I never advise you to touch the equipment of this type of photographer you run a great risk of losing a finger or even the hand because his equipment is cleaner than the holy water and more valuable to him than his life.
Reflect
This post is not to make anyone give up photography and not to mention that there is a better photographer than another. It is meant to fun and to remind you that before you started to see photography as a religion or a cult it is just a profession. And being just a profession we should treat things lightly so that it does not lose its good part. There are bad professionals in any area, some for the quality of work others just because they are not nice people, simple as that.
You may be thinking I’m a bitter man that I doesn’t like anyone, and for you, I say you are wrong. I have awesome friends who are a photographer and sometimes behave like some of the examples above, myself included, but at the end of the day we can share good experiences.
The most important thing I want you to get from this text is. Follow your heart, if it is into photography, go for it. You are into cooking, yes please, go for it. Life is short and we have to manage your expectations as well as the people around us, surround yourself with good people.
Any of you fall into one of the 6 worst types of photographers? I see myself in several of them at some point (heheheheh).
