Towel Day, and things less fun

 

It's Towel Day 2012! For some reason, as much as I love the writings of the late Douglas Adams and "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," I never bothered to celebrate Intergalactic Towel Day (May 25). I shall remedy that oversight, starting today.

I should also reread the series. I seem to have forgotten a lot of details. If I see white mice scurrying away, however, I think I should be worried.

On a little less fun note

[start rant]

Keep seeing this question come up, mostly for others. "I love your photography. What kind of  camera and lens do you have?" Does it really matter? C'mon, the photographer is an artist, a light painter. The camera and lens are his/her brushes, which the artist uses to execute their vision.

You don't ask a chef what kind of stove they use. You don't ask a painter what kind of brushes they use. You don't ask a carpenter what kind of hammers they use. It shouldn't matter to you. The only thing that matters is the quality of the delivered product, be it food, a painting, a structure or a photograph. If you have a stove, it does not make you a chef. If you have brushes, it does not make you a painter. If you have a hammer, it does not make you a carpenter. If you own a camera, it does not make you a photographer.

If you want a photographer to take your picture/portrait, you tell them what look you want. If they can accommodate your  requirements, and you can come to an agreement to terms, you may proceed. What equipment they use or technique employed is their job, not yours. You like their art, let them do their art for you; that is what you're paying for. Your job is to enjoy the experience and the delivered product. And pay their rates; it's carefully calculated to include the work it takes to get you what you see in the end. Don't want to pay their rate? Find someone else, but remember, you get what you pay for. If you think you can do it better, that is fine; do it yourself.

Oh. And please do not ask the photographer to lie with Photoshop or other  post-processing techniques. They will do their best to bring out the best in you; your job is to bring the best you to work with.

Unless it's Mom. The photographer's Mom always gets a free pass. May get some eye-rolls, but "thy will be done."

Disclaimer: I am a camera owner. Obscenely large investment for a non-professional. It does not  give me the right to dictate to a photographer how they should work. If I wish to have my portrait taken, I will select the appropriate photographer whose style I like and find appropriate to myself, pay them their rate, get out of the way, and attempt to enjoy the process of having my visage captured.

[end rant]

TTFN...

(edit: related post > Professional photographers: they are people trying to make a living, like the rest of us)