Disclaimer: This is written based on a 17-year-old amateur photographer's perspective. No hatin', just sayin'.
First of all, being a photographer is amazing. Don't even get me started. It's all going to get cheesy here, and I don't want that because I'm going to be brutally frank right now.
We, photographers, ask for so much because, basically, we need to FREEZE TIME. Apparently, nobody has the ability to do so, that's why we try so hard just to visually pause it for a split second while we try to take a freaking picture of it. Sounds like hard work? Well, try doing that 700-1000 (or more) times in a few hours, or a whole day. It's grueling.
We also have to multitask all the time. That means, we have to move, shoot, and pause at the right moment. AND we have to balance those three all at the same time. If you move too much, you're gonna get crappy pictures, and you might miss a good moment. Shoot too much? Haha. IT'S A FUCKING HEADACHE TO LOOK THROUGH A BAJILLION PHOTOS AND FISH OUT THE BEST PHOTOS WE CAN GIVE YOU. You pause too much? You're screwed. Speed is important 'cause if you're too slow, you're going to miss out on a lot of stuff.
Don't get us wrong, WE HONESTLY LOVE OUR JOB. We do. We will do anything to get the perfect shot. Which brings me to my next point. Photographers like to sacrifice their own lives, and not to mention, their expensive cameras' lives, just to get the perfect photo. Just for you. Because with every photo, passion comes with it.
To sum things up, you know why we charge so much? Effort. We don't have machines to do all the work. Well, there's the camera, but what good is it if we ourselves don't use it? It still boils down to manpower and how we make use of our.. Forgive the religious reference.. "GOD GIVEN TALENTS". And skill. And experience. And eventually, adding our name to the price becomes a factor.
Can we buy talent? No. We most certainly did not buy ours.
Can we buy skill? No.
Can we buy experience? No.
Can we buy our name? Can we buy the fame and ordeals that we had to go through just to get to where we are right now? No.
Skill and experience are all provided by time. That means, the more experience we have, the more skillful we become. Which makes us more pricey. We wish we could just fast forward the time, but you know, the thing with us photographers, we have a tendency to become nostalgic creatures. I mean, that's why we take pictures of things, right? Not just us, but you too. I mean, helloooo. INSTAGRAM. You practically take pictures of everything (like me ehem ehem guilty ehem) because.. WHY? "Wala lang"? No. You take pictures because you want something to last. Because not everything lasts forever. NAKS EMO KBYE
So, now do you get it? Somehow?
It's easy to buy your own DSLR and learn how to use it, but it still boils down to your skill and having "the eye" (haluhluh). You'd probably think, "Why should I pay for photo shoots when I can just buy a tripod, a remote, and a 5D Mark III?"
OH EDI IKAW NA. IKAW NA MAYAMAN. IKAW NA LAHAT. HAHAHAHA bitter lang.
IT. STILL. BOILS. DOWN. TO. TALENT. And skill. And everything I said. And everything that I missed.
And can I just say... WE ARE PHOTOGRAPHERS, NOT PHOTOSHOP MASTERS. We'd Photoshop your pimples away, and probably make your skin smoother. Period. Anything beyond that is photo manipulation. Or at least that's what I know (please don't hate lol)
And you're probably thinking right now, "So feeling niya, may talent siya, may skill, may experience, may pangalan, may mahal na camera, lahat na, siya na?"
LOL CAN I LAUGH AT YOU? Yes. Okay. My war freak self is now talking to you, if ever that thought enters your mind. Listen up. NO. HINDI. DI KO SINASABING "ALL THAT" AKO. Haters gonna hate. Haluhluh. Here's the thing. I'm only 17 years old. I have a lot to learn. I don't have much experience, and I must say that I have a lot to work on. I don't know all the technical details, but what I have is the passion.
Yes, I am proud to say that I have the passion for what I do, and that's what keeps me going. That's what makes us photographers keep going. And actually, it's not only photographers, but artists in general.
Okay so there's this one thing (well, not just one but.. whatever) I learned from Jo Avila. We photographers are like painters. Only, we have to crop things out because real painters can put whatever they want on their canvases. Real painters with paintbrushes and paint, can add things. We photographers have to make do with whatever we have in front of us, and our job is to subtract the ugly/unnecessary parts to make it appealing/beautiful.
It's just like in cooking. If it's too bland, put salt. Put too much salt, it becomes too salty, hence, it won't taste as good. Yep.
I'm going to shut up now. Kbye.
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