I recently had a a collaborative job with another photographer for my full time employer. He handed me over files to bundle our photos for handover and his work was awful. Bad colours, out of focus and banding in the skies. Bad framing etc. Just all round sub standard. I spent a full day editing his work because we split up the work i had to use his photos too. I had a look through his online portfolio and connected on LinkedIn and he constantly posts bad photos with his logo on them. However he’s good at business and has been a professional photographer for 30 years and does so many jobs freelance. I just can’t believe how confident he is putting out substandard work. Its something we can all be guilty of but this was another level of bad.
I started out in photography straight from school and by the time I was 22 I thought I was amazing. I look back now 16 years later and laugh at my mediocre photography and cock sure confidence. I’m now 10 times more skilled and experienced but with only half the confidence. Has anyone else cone across photographer like this at professional level?
In short I worked with a photographer who’s bad but doesn’t seem to know it.
Journalistic photography is a beast all of its own. Him not shooting RAW is such a small aspect of this story. It wasn’t a problem until I had to recover highlights. I often shoot jpeg when the situation calls for it. This particular shoot was a planned commercial shoot with a client brief and budget. Not a journalistic fast turnaround job. He was recommended to me ny a colleague who knows him personally and he fit the project budget for a second shooter. It was only after his images were an issue I discovered it’s his entire portfolio. He has found his niche and his customer base. But it’s not compatible with the specific commercial work I do. We are different photographers of different skill levels and specialities. That’s what’s so wonderful about photography. But there is a basic standard you should meet.