Same ol', same ol'....

Yet another round (sort of) of Carlos whining about "People with Cameras".

So I took Allie for her softball team's photo day. They shot individuals and group shots. As I suspected (feared), the "photographer" was using a Canon 40D, a tripod and camera-mounted flash.

Now I wanted to continue the long-running argument about people with cameras taking away work from professional photographers and not providing quality images, so on and so forth.

The 40D is a good camera. It's older, but still a solid imaging device. She (the photographer) seemed to have a reasonable Canon lens attached.

I began to think maybe she really knew what she was doing. I, after all, shoot a lot of my work with substandard (i.e. not professional-looking equipment).

She did a pretty good job of posing the kids and taking time to make sure props like bats, glove, etc. were positioned well. Her demeanor behind the camera was pretty good. She joked and kept them smiling. Perhaps her flash settings were honed from years of knowing exactly what distance, lighting conditions and other factors contribute to the proper settings. She certainly did not have a light meter handy.

However, I did not see her taking a lot of time to check the images as she shot them. "Chimping" can be a distraction for the subjects but it is sometimes necessary when you're concerned with having eyes open and smiles all around. I didn't see her adjusting her flash to adjust to group versus individual shots. I especially hated seeing her turn her camera vertically with that flash turning with it as well.

Their prices for the various packages was surprisingly inexpensive. That can be good or bad. I'm certain they were using a third party for providing an array of photo-imprinted products like coffee mugs, faux magazine covers, trading cards, etc. But I paid $12 for a 5x7, 8x10, two 4x5s, 4 wallets, and something called "individual player".

I'm also concerned because her company did not have a web site--not that having/not having a web site makes you any less a photographer--but there's still an added amount of credibility when you at least make some attempt of having web presence. Even a FaceBook page is reasonable these days.

So now I wait. Not sure how long it will be before I see the images. They will be mailed to me. I'm guessing two weeks, but probably longer. I'll get back in touch when they surface. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. Maybe I'll yet have more to whine about.