Kodak Max Film and Wal-Mart developing are photography too!

As a photography idealist, I always thought that companies like Kodak and Fuji made their money from selling to fine art and commercial photographers. It made my world more perfect knowing that the consumer market was nothing to laugh at, but it wasn't that big in the greater scheme of things. Well it was quite a shock to find out that I had it all wrong. It was the consumer market that was really big for these companies when it came to film and printing materials. Then during our January NCPS board meeting, Ed Andrews, who leads the member share, asked why there are so few portraits and other forms of people photography at the member share. We talked it over and there were two main reasons given. The first is that most of the professionals photograph people all day long and don’t like to do it for their fine art work. The other reason was that portraits require more time and skill because they are more complicated than landscape and nature photographs, so hobbyists don’t do them as much. This reminded me of when I decided to take photography seriously. I chose to stop doing the stuff that I had always done. No more snapshots for fun and no more landscape and nature shots. Not because they were beneath me but simply because they were what I did before and what I had seen around me. So Portraits, People and Nudes are what I decided to do. They forced me to re-learn photography because I was doing something that I did not have any experience in. So what is my point? Well it is simple. Don’t let anyone tell you that Kodak Max or Wal-Mart are bad. Don’t let anyone tell you that Landscape, Nature, Portraits or Nudes are bad.  Try to challenge your self. Every time you release the shutter you capture a moment in time. You also interpret the world around you and learn about it too. Challenge yourself. Do something you have never done. Photograph something you have never considered before. Boundaries are a photographers enemy. So don’t set any. When you are done, show them to people whose options you respect. You will not be judged by the people who comment on it because you will be giving them a gift. That gift is your image. They will appreciate it, and you will both learn from it and become better photographers because of it.