Judge Joe Brown Is A Photographer….Who Knew

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  • #2371
    ennuipoet
    Participant

    http://fstoppers.com/video-judge-brown-tears-cheap-wedding-photog-a-new-one

    WOW! Kit lens wedding photographer vs Judge Joe Brown!

    Heh: “It’s like walking into the chapel with an iphone and saying you’re going to take professional photography”. The video is long but so full of win!

    #40530
    Kestrana
    Participant

    “What f-stop were you using?”
    “We were using a tripod.”

    #40531
    Plamadude30k
    Participant

    Wow, that’s awesome. The guy clearly knows a bit about photography, and he lays an epic smackdown upon the defendants. I like.

    #40532
    orionid
    Participant

    I have a very nice camera. It came in a box.

    /oblig

    #40533
    Farktographer
    Participant

    This…warm feeling I have in the pit of my stomach. Is THIS why people watch these judge shows? That was an epic smackdown!

    #40534
    ennuipoet
    Participant

    I read through the comments on fstoppers after I posted this and they seemed to break down on three lines: Laughter at these inept fauxtographers, “you get what you pay for” and “A good photographer can still make good photographs on cheap equipment”.

    All of these are true.

    These two fauxtographers deserved the mocking they received. They clearly had no idea how to use the equipment they did have. When asked about fstops the blank look on their faces was priceless. Every time they opened their mouth they showed how little they knew about what they were doing.

    You do get what you pay for, however these folks dropped a thousand bucks on a photographer. While a professional wedding photographer averages 3 to 7 thousand in a larger city (here in NYC a pro wedding photographer can easily run 10k plus!) if you are in a small town a thousand bucks should buy you some small modicum of professionalism. If they dropped a couple of hundred on these two ladies, I might roll my eyes and say you get what you pay for. Yes, they should’ve checked portfolios, asked for references and done their research but paying a thousand bucks for a wedding photographer should get you a certain level of professionalism.

    Finally, on whether Judge Joe was using the expensive camera/good photo fallacy. Yeah, he was. He kept asking where is your 1 series, where is your 5D, where is your 7D? Still, you hire someone with the expectation they have the proper equipment to get the job done. If you don’t have the equipment to shoot in low light, don’t hire yourself out!

    In the past few weeks I’ve committed two photographic sins just like these two fauxtographers. I shot a fundraiser for a friend and did not have replacement batteries for my flash. I was forced to shoot in a dark room at hideous high ISO with all the noise and crappy shots that implies. This weekend I was asked to shoot portraits and I didn’t scout the location, the space they wanted to shoot in was cramped, they wanted full portraits of one seated one standing and I am trying to shoot in cramped space with a 24-70 on a cropped sensor, AND they wanted the room light to be highlighted in the shot. On top of that, I can’t pose people for shiat, I shoot candid! I was out of my depths and unprepared for BOTH of these instances. BUT, I wasn’t charging. These folks got what they paid for, and they didn’t pay jack. They were happy with the results, I was not. It taught me an important lesson, I am not ready to be a professional photographer!

    I’ve good gear, so I could pass the Judge Joe Brown test, but gear does not make the photographer. I’ve got a lot to learn about posing, light mixing and generally being prepared for the unexpected. I was happy to learn it before I started asking people to write checks, I don’t want Judge Joe ripping me a new one!

    #40535
    nobigdeal
    Participant

    Nice…I don’t watch garbage TV but I have a new found respect for Joe Brown.

    #40536
    Kestrana
    Participant

    Photography is always a learning experience. I’m sure every one of us can look at raw images from a month, 6 months, a year ago and go MAN I could do SO much better today than I did then. Listening to Trey Ratcliff (stuckincustoms.com) talk on G+ about his failures has been really eye opening to the growth into being a professional.

    #40537
    ennuipoet
    Participant

    In my case I see I have some huge holes in my skill set and need to concentrate on them because those holes are the meat and bread of the business. Once I have spent six months to year concentrating on those elements I would feel more comfortable “selling” myself.

    I am searching right now for a photog in the bidness that I can tag along with as an assistant on a semi-formal basis. It’s the one way I know I can learn the business side of the business.

    #40538
    ravnostic
    Participant

    Great video–but he skeered me. I shoot with a Canon xTi! I would never presume to do a wedding without the explicit understanding that I’ve never done one before. And I certainly would charge a deeply discounted (say, $250) rate because I know there are shots I wouldn’t get.

    I’m looking forward to working with my model friend Jodi over the holiday furlough; I’m sure she’ll be able to give me tips on how to capture her properly, portraiture being my least experienced area. And dammit–I gotta find me that wallet I lost in my house (the one with $700 from the casino), so I can get me an x3i, which would be a decent step up, at least. (Yeah, I’d love a full-frame seriously professional camera, and some better lenses…but I’m not there yet, financially–maybe if I win the Az. millionaire’s raffle, lolz.)

    #40539
    ennuipoet
    Participant

    Great video–but he skeered me. I shoot with a Canon xTi! I would never presume to do a wedding without the explicit understanding that I’ve never done one before. And I certainly would charge a deeply discounted (say, $250) rate because I know there are shots I wouldn’t get.

    I’m looking forward to working with my model friend Jodi over the holiday furlough; I’m sure she’ll be able to give me tips on how to capture her properly, portraiture being my least experienced area. And dammit–I gotta find me that wallet I lost in my house (the one with $700 from the casino), so I can get me an x3i, which would be a decent step up, at least. (Yeah, I’d love a full-frame seriously professional camera, and some better lenses…but I’m not there yet, financially–maybe if I win the Az. millionaire’s raffle, lolz.)

    Rav the XTi is a good camera, there is nothing wrong in shooting a wedding with an XTi. Shooting a wedding on 18-55 Kit Lens? Welllll not so much. I’ve seen your stuff, you know how to work your gear for the best results. These two bozos didn’t even take the camera out of Auto. (I don’t KNOW that but, I would place money on it.)

    #40540
    bender16v
    Participant

    Anytime I’ve ever seen those courtroom tv shows the biggest thing that gets me is how the people are dressed. Fortunately I don’t have much experience in the courtroom, but I always assumed that one would wear a suit when going before a judge, whether is be Wapner or the Supreme Court.

    In any case those people didn’t seem to know what they were doing, I wonder if they paid the $2,500.

    #40541
    caradoc
    Participant

    Cases on Judge Brown and The People’s Court, etc., are typically paid by the producers. Not by the plaintiff or defendant.

    #40542
    Kestrana
    Participant

    ennuipoet I’m guessing that the people didn’t take their camera out of auto either. I just can’t believe they had no clue what an f-stop is. If you’re going to do something as a hobby and a freaking business wouldn’t you spend time trying to improve your skills? I mean any beginner’s guide to DSLR is going to have that information. Glass houses, throwing stones yadda yadda but I’m struggling with what to do with my business because I don’t really feel I have the skills but you have to start somewhere, and these people sheesh. Give me their clients.

    #40543
    fluffybunny
    Participant

    ennuipoet I’m guessing that the people didn’t take their camera out of auto either.

    I don’t know, its seems to me those were pretty good pictures for not getting out of the car. Personally, I like to get out and stretch my legs a bit when I photograph a subject using my camera. Oh yeah, and I’ve never used that mode dial setting that has the “green box” icon, whatever that’s called.

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