As you may or may not be aware, there was a “professional” photographer who was commissioned to shoot the Olympians. What an honor this must have been for said “professional”
The end results of the photos themselves? No where near close to professional and sadly, most Moms with a Camera could have done a better job. Unlike me, many of my blogger friends all jumped down the guys throat and attacked the photos. I on the other hand, wanted to wait to see what he had to say before I picked him apart. And boy am I glad I did!
First lets look at the job:
Every two years, the world holds the Olympics. This is where every country gets together their best athletes to represent them. These guys spend 2-4 years of hard work and training every day all day to represent their country and earn various medals. Apparently, the Olympic committie didn’t work as hard finding a photographer to represent these special men and women! Before I go any further, I’m sure you seen the images but I will post them here in case you missed it:
Now that we have recovered from viewing those images, lets look and see what the “Professional Photographer” Joe Klamar has to say:
“I was under the impression that I was going to be photographing athletes on a stage or during press conference where I would take their headshots for our archives [and] I really had no idea that there would be a possibility for setting up a studio’.”
This has to be one of the most poor excuses I’ve ever encountered. How many of us have shown up to a job only to have the rules or ideas changed on the fly? Once while shooting a wedding, I was told flash photography was allowed only to get there and find out the Pastor said no flash photography allowed in the church. Part of being a “Professional” is being prepared for the job. Part of carrying a “kit” is to as the Boys Scouts say, “Always be prepared” If shooting something as prestigious as the Olympians, one should have everything INCLUDING the kitchen sink packed and ready to go! This “Professional” blew it on many more levels than he realizes!
Because of his snafu of Olympic proportions, he has now LOWERED the bar EVEN MORE for professional photography! I’ve seen several HUNDRED comments where people are saying these images are “Beautiful” “Not so bad” and one moron even said “Gorgeous!” The sad thing? The moron that said it is one of my clients! These images that are being used to represent a Super Power Country are less than decent and now others are thinking this crapography is acceptable! Being he set the threshold so low, I fully expect more clients to feel the Devil ISN’T in the details!
In an economy that is terrible for the professional photographer, has Professional Fauxtographer Joe Klamar contributed to making it even more terrible? Michael Phelps, sorry bro, had to use that photo.
Sound off friends!