There are many, many rules for photography. There are many people who shoot non standard ways and have non standard thinking. The people who are successful in shooting non standard, are those who know and understand the standard thinking.

Now that I’ve filled the “non standard” quota, lets move on…

This weekend past, I was at a Daddy & Daughter dance with my 7 y.o. Princess. We were having a grand ole time and she demanded we get a photo taken. The line was SUPER long and thus the wait began. Three minutes into it, my Princess said she was bored and wanted to go dance. I insisted we wait since we were already in the line. She toughed it out and we waited. As we approached the venue I noticed that the strobes were putting out a TON of light. Now, I had no clue if this was because I would have chosen different modifiers (She had umbrellas)? But either way, people were squiting and asking for a few moments break in-between. As I approached, I saw:

Now after seeing this, I couldn’t help but think someone was playing games with me? Yes, for a quick moment in time, I thought this was TOTALLY all about me. Then I realized this was no joke, this was real, people. I couldn’t believe this was how this photographer was shooting! I got up to her and my Princess and I got our photo taken. The photographer was nice enough. She was professional enough and fun to be around. The experience was good and my Princess enjoyed it. Afterwards, my daughter complained of seeing spots and I spent a bit more time watching.

If you’ve not noticed, the umbrella’s are pointed AWAY from the strobe! The umbrella wasn’t offering any sort of diffusion, she was bare-bulb’ing the heads. In case you couldn’t see well on the photos, here’s a video:

Now this isn’t an attack on the photographer, it’s got me wondering: Of all the photographers that may have applied for the job, why they chose this one? Price? Word of mouth? Reputation? Accessibility? These are all the things I was thinking about as I was watching her move. It was clear to me, she wasn’t what most standard people would call a “pro”, as she had a wireless transmitter on her camera body and the hot shoe flash popped up firing as well. I posted the photos on my facebook page and got some colorful commentary from some of my photographer friends. One friend said he liked what she was doing and encouraged her to do it. Said he likes the non standard way of shooting. If you know me, you’ll know that I ALWAYS say “Break the rules! Only by knowing the rules can you know which ones to break” and she didn’t know that. The rule here was simple; save your clients eyeballs!

If this photographer happens on my blog, what I have to say to her is simple:

Kudos to you for getting the job, working it and making sure your clients had a great time! Make sure that if you accept the job, you take the time to make sure  your equipment is setup correctly and that you’re diffusing your light.

Everyone loved the images on the back of her camera and at the end of the day, that’s all that matters.