Assholes in Photography

I’ve been a photographer for a long time, and I can attest to the well-known fact that looking at the world through a camera’s viewfinder changes one’s perspectives and points of view. I’ve been looking at the world through that little window since I was eight years old and sometimes I catch myself thinking about everything that goes on around me in terms of frames. What’s even worse is that, for example, when I see a car accident, my first thought is “Where the hell is my camera” instead of “I hope those people are OK.”

There’s another trend that I have noticed recently – a much more disturbing trend. You take a perfectly nice person, give him or her a camera and let them read a few books on photography. In most cases, as if by magic, that person turns into an absolute and complete asshole. Over the years I have belonged to a number of photography clubs and participated in a multitude of photography-related forums. I’ve seen this happen hundreds of times – people who consider themselves professional photographers or at least advanced amateurs tend to treat other photographers with disrespect and scorn. If you don’t believe me, look on photo.net. Read almost any question posted by a beginner, and then read the responses by “seasoned” photographers. Instead of simply answering the question, they punish the person who posted the question in the first place for trying to learn.

Another brand of “photography assholes” have this notion in their heads that photographs should be taken in a certain way, following certain rules. A few months ago I posted a photograph from a photo essay that I did years ago on what goes on at college parties (underage drinking, drug use, etc…). That photograph was published in several magazines, a fact that attests to the picture’s merits. When I posted it online I got an overwhelming number of responses that berated me for bad lighting, lack of sharpness and graininess instead of commenting on the photograph’s content. I wanted to scream! Cannot people understand that journalism is not the same way as studio photography!