Feels emblematic of bigger issues with society and consumerism in general. Everything now is *fast* and/or bland and not intended to last. Fast food that doesn't satisfy. Fast fashion that has to be replaced after 3 washes. Fast furniture that lasts a few years at best. New build houses thrown up cheap and fast that are already falling apart before the first owner moves in.
Photography reduced to a nanosecond of attention on a screen the size of half a sheet of toilet paper, but it's "just pressing a button", right? Video turned on its side and shortened to under 30 second clips shot without any planning at all. All using cameras which the manufacturers really want us to replace regularly, or even phones which are on a one year upgrade cycle.
Hardly anyone provides quality customer service because we've all become so accustomed to either piss-poor or entirely non-existent service that merely showing up and doing the minimum is considered the gold standard.
Here I am, believing still that things should last and be done properly. Craftsmanship and all that. Thing is, if I stop caring about whether I'm doing things the right way, why do them at all? So I stay with my "old school" ideas of how to do things and if nobody else cares, so be it.
I think everything you say is true. But I would say it’s not that nobody likes quality any more. It’s that the budget and time restraints prevent it.
What we really need is an image now, and a new one now, and a new one now… And since I need so many more images, but I have the same (or less!) budget, you have to do more work, faster, and deliver more images. If they’re high quality, that’s a bonus! But mainly I need more and more, faster and faster.
People still like quality. It’s just no longer economically feasible.
There's a lot to do to assure success. Being patient and methodical comes with years of practice. It may be that those folks just haven't worked with good people before. The response should be something like, "this is a craft like many and quality takes preparation and a bit of time." It is client education.
I actually think it’s more than that. Emblematic of a bigger issue.
We no longer live in a world in which carefully crafted photography is especially useful, or valuable, in a commercial context. So people who do value it are seen as, essentially, anachronistic.
I care very much about the fine quality buggy whips I’m making.
I'm with you on that. All people see is the click-click oh-baby on purple paper in the movie Blow Up. I feel very strongly that people really have no idea what we do. It has been the same with our college administration, faculty, students, guests, faculty and potential students from other schools in the area.
Every year my colleague, Ponchito, and I do an open house. We both have emerged from the 70s, 80s, 90s and Aughts in San Francisco's South Of Market rich and vibrant photo scene. So, when we pull out all the stops, it is a full-bore dog & pony show; 4 multi-light, multi-background portrait sets, with 1 for small groups: spots and boxes, booms, barn doors, fills and gobos, with 7 make-up people from our Cosmetology department. 50-70 subjects in 2.5 hours. The college Pres, VP, Deans, everyone agog. No one has ever seen anything like this. In truth, I doubt that anyone does this. We just grin and think, now you know a bit about what a photo shoot is.
That said, they still weren't present as we set this up. 2 Pros, 4 top student Photo Assistants, and 5 shooters, all moving about placing gear, lights, backgrounds, worktables and work lights for the make-up crew, power cords properly marshaled. These are all placed in the 1800 sq ft studio space with consideration of traffic flow in low light, controlling light spillage, safety and security. It isn't about being perfectionists but about orchestrating energy for the emergence of the image through craft.
I have worked directly with over 50 pro shooters. Ponchito and I have worked with countless Art Directors, business owners, Studio and Location managers, assistants, stylists, scouts, models, agencies, catalogue houses, corporations, City administrations and one-offs, winning and losing more clients than we care to admit. That SOMA scene is gone, never to be seen again. The Open House was a unique representation of that energy; not perfectionist, but the methodical application of our craft learned under fire. And then you had to do it the next day, and the next.
The craft is at once in service of the expression and capture of light. There is nothing old school or perfectionist about it but method sustained by production management. It is the real-time emanation of journeyman-level skills that express a plan and juggle all the unexpected and inevitable things that are a part of that synergy. It is independent of technology. Whatever buggywhip to which you refer is not abandoned as arcane but brought to the fore as needed, just as any other tool.
There is nothing "perfectionist" about using a hammer to drive a nail but the house is built all the same.
I asked a client for a standard amount of set up time and she explained to a colleague why “it’s taking so long” She said, “Oh, he’s a perfectionist.” I’d argue I was doing it correctly and I’m not so much a perfectionist. But what if I was? Don’t they want perfection to be the North Star?
As someone who knows what they're doing which sounds like that's you. To me it's old school to ignore completely and I mean completely those two individuals that annoyed you and leave it at that. Content creators fancy restaurant host showing you to your table that's about it otherwise the opposite of the creative type they have no idea what it is to create anything.
Feels emblematic of bigger issues with society and consumerism in general. Everything now is *fast* and/or bland and not intended to last. Fast food that doesn't satisfy. Fast fashion that has to be replaced after 3 washes. Fast furniture that lasts a few years at best. New build houses thrown up cheap and fast that are already falling apart before the first owner moves in.
Photography reduced to a nanosecond of attention on a screen the size of half a sheet of toilet paper, but it's "just pressing a button", right? Video turned on its side and shortened to under 30 second clips shot without any planning at all. All using cameras which the manufacturers really want us to replace regularly, or even phones which are on a one year upgrade cycle.
Hardly anyone provides quality customer service because we've all become so accustomed to either piss-poor or entirely non-existent service that merely showing up and doing the minimum is considered the gold standard.
Here I am, believing still that things should last and be done properly. Craftsmanship and all that. Thing is, if I stop caring about whether I'm doing things the right way, why do them at all? So I stay with my "old school" ideas of how to do things and if nobody else cares, so be it.
I think everything you say is true. But I would say it’s not that nobody likes quality any more. It’s that the budget and time restraints prevent it.
What we really need is an image now, and a new one now, and a new one now… And since I need so many more images, but I have the same (or less!) budget, you have to do more work, faster, and deliver more images. If they’re high quality, that’s a bonus! But mainly I need more and more, faster and faster.
People still like quality. It’s just no longer economically feasible.
Good point, actually. People do want quality but they want cheap and fast more, and that's one of those "pick any two" choices.
There's a lot to do to assure success. Being patient and methodical comes with years of practice. It may be that those folks just haven't worked with good people before. The response should be something like, "this is a craft like many and quality takes preparation and a bit of time." It is client education.
I actually think it’s more than that. Emblematic of a bigger issue.
We no longer live in a world in which carefully crafted photography is especially useful, or valuable, in a commercial context. So people who do value it are seen as, essentially, anachronistic.
I care very much about the fine quality buggy whips I’m making.
I'm with you on that. All people see is the click-click oh-baby on purple paper in the movie Blow Up. I feel very strongly that people really have no idea what we do. It has been the same with our college administration, faculty, students, guests, faculty and potential students from other schools in the area.
Every year my colleague, Ponchito, and I do an open house. We both have emerged from the 70s, 80s, 90s and Aughts in San Francisco's South Of Market rich and vibrant photo scene. So, when we pull out all the stops, it is a full-bore dog & pony show; 4 multi-light, multi-background portrait sets, with 1 for small groups: spots and boxes, booms, barn doors, fills and gobos, with 7 make-up people from our Cosmetology department. 50-70 subjects in 2.5 hours. The college Pres, VP, Deans, everyone agog. No one has ever seen anything like this. In truth, I doubt that anyone does this. We just grin and think, now you know a bit about what a photo shoot is.
That said, they still weren't present as we set this up. 2 Pros, 4 top student Photo Assistants, and 5 shooters, all moving about placing gear, lights, backgrounds, worktables and work lights for the make-up crew, power cords properly marshaled. These are all placed in the 1800 sq ft studio space with consideration of traffic flow in low light, controlling light spillage, safety and security. It isn't about being perfectionists but about orchestrating energy for the emergence of the image through craft.
I have worked directly with over 50 pro shooters. Ponchito and I have worked with countless Art Directors, business owners, Studio and Location managers, assistants, stylists, scouts, models, agencies, catalogue houses, corporations, City administrations and one-offs, winning and losing more clients than we care to admit. That SOMA scene is gone, never to be seen again. The Open House was a unique representation of that energy; not perfectionist, but the methodical application of our craft learned under fire. And then you had to do it the next day, and the next.
The craft is at once in service of the expression and capture of light. There is nothing old school or perfectionist about it but method sustained by production management. It is the real-time emanation of journeyman-level skills that express a plan and juggle all the unexpected and inevitable things that are a part of that synergy. It is independent of technology. Whatever buggywhip to which you refer is not abandoned as arcane but brought to the fore as needed, just as any other tool.
There is nothing "perfectionist" about using a hammer to drive a nail but the house is built all the same.
I asked a client for a standard amount of set up time and she explained to a colleague why “it’s taking so long” She said, “Oh, he’s a perfectionist.” I’d argue I was doing it correctly and I’m not so much a perfectionist. But what if I was? Don’t they want perfection to be the North Star?
A classic example of thinking we just show up and press a button.
Can I put “Crusty type viewing with disdain” on my business cards? Oh wait we don’t use business cards anymore?
At 60’s one’s just old
As someone who knows what they're doing which sounds like that's you. To me it's old school to ignore completely and I mean completely those two individuals that annoyed you and leave it at that. Content creators fancy restaurant host showing you to your table that's about it otherwise the opposite of the creative type they have no idea what it is to create anything.