THE TIMES, THEY ARE A CHANGIN’!

Photography sure aint what it use to be!  Yes, I know AINT is not a word, but I like using it sometimes and as you may know, my way of writing is not always proper. I had to say that as I get an e-mail every now and then correcting my grammar :) That's OK though, I do not mind. Some of you also hate my exclamation points. Well, I use those as I can not help it! Sometimes when I write I actually am excited about what I am writing about and it just comes through with all of my exclamation points! Ha ha...back to the topic...

When I was a kid I loved cameras, and I loved taking pictures with all kinds of formats. Yep, my family was pretty poor back in the day so all I got to shoot with was 110 cameras, 35mm and polaroids. No fancy Nikons, No medium format stuff!. Basically just some "toy" cameras. But, I was just a kid and I loved my 110 film! I dreamed of one day working in a studio shooting portraits. Man, if only I could one day get paid to do what I love. My Father always told me to go work construction. He did not understand why I always had a camera in my hand.

Back then I remember there were quite a few portrait studios in my area of Chicago because when I was 17 I worked for a couple of them. This was PRE-Digital of course and back then there were real pro's making real money with photography. Today EVERYONE and their grandmother considers themselves a pro. Many (but not all) wedding photographers and pro shooters are feeling the crunch. Back in the film days there may have been 10-12 wedding shooters at a Bridal Show. Today there are over a hundred at some of these shows. Competition is fierce as there are so many hobbyists who got in to digital shooting and made it a profession. But yes, 70% of them suck. FACT!

So today making money with photography is tricky and not as easy as it once was for the real pros. I remember a couple of years ago I was waiting in line for the first Iphone at an apple store. I recognized a long time wedding shooter and went to say hello. He said times were tough and all of these new guys were taking his business. These new guys are guys that go into best buy and buy a NIkon D40 and then advertise to shoot a wedding for $200 on craigslist. It happens every day, and people see it as a bargain. A way to get their wedding photos for a steal.

But these silly brides look for a deal and end up with shitty photos. The guy shooting his new Best Buy DSLR at a wedding usually has no idea what the term "Aperture" or "ISO" means. Me, I was curious as to how much business these guys were getting and stealing from the real pros who deliver quality product and know what they are doing. Last year I put up a mock site with 8 photo samples. These were not even wedding shots! I put an ad on craigs list and offered weddings for $300. In less  than a week I had 4 brides offering me the $300 to book their date. I kindly emailed them and said those dates were booked. I then took down that site and the ad. It was just an experiment. No way am I gonna bust my ass for 12 hours shooting and then edit a boatload of images for $300. But, now I know how easy it is to make $300 shooting a wedding.

Yes, it is easy to start making money these days if you want to offer dirt cheap wedding packages and deliver shit product. It's pretty screwed up when a crap shooter can steal a wedding from a seasoned pro. The pros can not match these dirt cheap prices, and the "Best Buy" shooter cant match the Pro's product. But it seems everyone these days, well, they are looking to save a buck.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are those who do VERY well with weddings. There are some incredibly talented guys and gals out there who make beautiful wedding images and they get their big prices due to their quality, their technique, their marketing and word of mouth. These are the ones I would hire for my wedding. Some of this work is just gorgeous and they know how to do capture those moments in time. Those moments that are there for just a moment in time and then gone.

There I go again...ranting and raving about crap that bugs me. I guess that is why I called this "My Photography Rants". Now that I got off track with a silly rant I want to say that while its sad that some old pros are losing business to new slick rick cheapie DSLR guys, its also a good thing in some ways. Why? Well, now that the crappy shooters are out there in droves selling themselves as real photographers, the really good guys look that much better t potential clients! I have seen some wedding shots that were AWFUL. I mean, HORRIBLY awful.

One that comes to mind is the girl that shot my cousins wedding a while back. My cousin paid $2500 to some chick who showed up in a t-shirt, baggy pants and a wrag on her head to cover the bed head. She shot with a film pentax and one 50mm lens. The photos were HORRIBLE!!!! I told my cousin I would of done it for free but her *hubby to be* had to hire this "pro" who shot his sisters wedding. He is one of those guys where if one of his family members uses a wedding shooter then he will also use that person.

Uggg.

I felt bad when they got their old 1980's looking album back. But guess what? THEY LOVED IT! I was amazed and just shook my head. Yep, they were happy as can be with the absolute SHITE images that chick gave them. Some were crooked, out of focus, and NONE of them had any type of artistry at all associated with them. Hell, they looked like I took them when I was 12 with my 110 camera. OK, that may be an exaggeration.

So yes, the times have changed for pro photographers these days. EVERYONE has a digital camera. I mean EVERYONE! This leads me to my next rant...

G.A.S

GEAR ACQUISITION SYNDROME - Yes, it is real. I mean, seriously real. People in certain hobbies get the sickness and they become an addict. It happens with cameras, high end stereo equipment, guitars, bicycles....you name it. I have been stricken with this disease and am now over it but it was pretty bad at one time. I used to go through digital SLR's like they were hostess cup cakes. I would unwrap one, gaze at its beauty, use it and then basically toss it. I SAY toss it, but I would really sell it, usually at a loss. It's a pretty dumb thing to do. Before long you count up the money lost on buying and selling and you realize you could of had your dream set up with all of the money you lost! But I had more disposable income back then which fed the disease.

Its crazy but its something that happens daily all over the world. For example, here is a way to tell if you have G.A.S.:

Lets say you buy a new camera...you love it. But soon, after 2-4 months you realize you want another one, or the latest and greatest. You then will do whatever it takes to get that new model! Same with lenses. After you get the new model you have buyers remorse for losing all of that cash and then you realize that your images are no better with this new camera and in some cases, you may prefer the older one! You feel rotten and either want the old camera back or another one you read about online. You feel if you can get this other camera that your images will look way better than they have in the past.

Sadly, its an endless cycle of losing money. My suggestion to anyone in the market for a camera. Buy the one you really want up front. If you settle for a cheaper camera you will always wish you had the one you really wanted. Save some cash and spend more up front if at all possible. Its cheaper in the long run!

I have been through this so many times and it ended when I bought the Leica M8 and now the M9. Yes, I did upgrade to the M9 but ONLY due to the fact that I know it will last me for many many years. At least 5, hopefully more. If it is solid like an M should be and it could very well be my last digital. I also went through this G.A.S. with high end stereo equip. That ended 14 months ago when I just said NO to G.A.S.!!!!

Running out of money also helped me say no. Ha ha...

PHOTO FORUMS..THATS ENTERTAINMENT!

One thing that can either get me really steamed or really laughing are photography forums. On the forums you have some cool people as well as some true IDIOTS! Why is it that forums seem like a breeding ground for dumb asses? You have your guys who tell you how bad a camera is, and why its not worth the money, but the only problem is they have never even seen the camera let alone used it! So many guys who do not shoot go to these photo forums and talk trash. Instead of going out and shooting and then sharing useful info they instead sit at home all day in their underwear and greasy hair to stir up controversy on the forums.

One experience I had comes to mind. Rewind back about 6 or 7 years ago. On DPreview I posted how I did not care for the Canon 10D. I talked about its plastic looking output and un-natural colors. I showed samples and compared it to whatever else I was shooting at the time.

Now, from what I just write you may think I sounded like one of the guys I complain about but that is not the case! I owned and shot that camera for months and was never happy with it. After extensive use I felt qualified to post my experience and did. Well, one super Canon fan took offense. He blasted me on the forums and on my Pbase page he wrote the nastiest comments under pictures of my then 7 year old son calling him a faggot and gay among other things. He called my wife a fat cow (she is the opposite of fat). He was leaving some pretty nasty emails as well. ALL OVER A CAMERA REMARK I MADE ON A FORUM! This guy must have been having some serious sex with his 10D as he took serious offense to that! He kept up his shenanigans for 1 1/2 years. Whenever I posted on a forum in DPreview he was there slamming me for not liking the Canon. The guy eventually disappeared when he realized no one cared about what he had to say.

I have had others as well. I remember posting how I liked my Nikon D2h better than the Nikon D200 (which I did NOT like) and posted side by sides showing better color and  tone with the D2H. I even upsized the D2h files to 10MP and showed them just as sharp as the native D200 10 MP files. MAN! Guess I should not of done that! All of those new D200 owners were pissed! Why? Probably because they saw what I saw. Better color with the D2h. More depth. BUT I was slammed for it. I had 23,000 hits to my Pbase D2h/D200 page over the next few months. But MANY agreed with me. The D200 was not up to snuff. Nikon fixed this with the D300 though and that camera did beat the D2hs overall, in most ways.

Sometimes the forums can be great, but other times there are just too many idiots. With the Leica M9 just released I try to stay away from DPreviews Leica forum as all the trolls are out in full force. Starting trouble wherever they roam. I check in every day to see what is new for a few minutes but I am waiting for the trolls to fade away. It doesn't seem as bad as when the M8 was launched though.

WHAT PHOTOGRAPHY MEANS TO ME

Now that I am cured of G.A.S. and have my camera system of choice (Leica M) I can relax. I can concentrate more on taking photos which is really what its all about. To me, photography represents going out there and shooting with full passion. Capturing that one moment in time that can never be seen again. Those moments that are lost as soon as they happen. They are everywhere. Walk the street for a while with a camera and take a good look around. You will see so many of these moments to capture. Same with family. Wether its your aging parents or young children. You can take a camera and capture those moments in time that would otherwise be lost and forgotten. Years later you can look back at those images and remember those special days, the special moments. It's magical really and almost like a time machine. Well, it's the closest we will ever get to one so we should take advantage of it. Hmmm. Yep, a camera is like a mini time machine in some ways. I never thought of it like that before.

MY LEICA M9 & OTHER REVIEWS ON THE WAY

My LEICA M9 review will be coming. I have had a bunch of e-mails on this and all I can ask is to be patient! It’s coming and will consist of a bunch of real world samples, RAW vs JPEG comparisons, low light, HIGH ISO shooting, and plenty of full size samples. I will also answer the question...Is it worth the premium over the M8.2? When I review cameras I like to take my time instead of holding a camera for a day and writing a review. The M9 review will be my best yet and I want it to be as informative and enjoyable as possible. Stay tuned! Until then, check out this link and make yourself a homemade tilt shift lens for your digital camera! Other reviews coming in the very near future? Leica X1, LEICA S2, Canon S90, Canon 7D, Nikon D5000, Panasonic GF1, Canon G11 and more! probably enough to keep me busy until Christmas AT LEAST! Check back daily!