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As a freelance photographer I have the great luxury of accepting whatever jobs I want. Reasons why I might not want the job are numerous. Maybe the budget isn’t big enough. Maybe I’m already booked. Maybe I don’t want to travel that far. Maybe I don’t have a babysitter. Or maybe I have a personal reason.
But usually the truth that I tell my inquirer is, “Unfortunately, I am unable to shoot on that day. Here is a list of other photographers that I recommend. “
This isn’t the case for everyone. Some photographers will tell you exactly why they will not be shooting for you. Receiving a lot of publicity now are the vendors who are not “Gay and Lesbian Friendly.”
Recently, NPR did a story highlighting Vanessa Willock v. Elaine Photography. When Elaine received an email inquiry about shooting a wedding she replied, “We do not photograph same-sex weddings. But thanks for checking out our site! Have a great day!”
Now, I think this is a rather tacky response. But I don’t think it should have cost her $6000. The lesbian couple won the court case on the grounds of discrimination.
Personally, I am Pro Happy. I don’t care who you fall in love with. I care that you love. I care that you’re happy and I am honored when anyone enjoys my talent enough to have me present at any ceremony as eternally important as a wedding ceremony.
But it seems that as we ask for tolerance from the world for our different beliefs, perhaps we should also try practicing it ourselves.
Suing a photographer because they don’t want to shoot your wedding is pompous and trying to pose an answer without a question. I think photographers should be allowed to take whatever jobs they want, regardless of the reason. I think people should be able to marry whoever they fall in love with, regardless of their gender.
And I wait on time to bring ease and clarity and peace for those who are uneasy. You should know though, Gay is not going to go away.
Can you remember those construction zone signs that announced that a flagman was ahead? Well, now they say “flagger” in deference to the flag wavers of the female persuasion who have moved into the profession.
As for me, I think it’s high time that all those signs marking the presence of round openings to underground spaces be changed to simply HOLE. Let’s get rid of sexism in all aspects of life here in the USofA.
Polaroid
Grapevine, Texas 9/26/2009
Guy Reynolds
photopol.us guest blogger
When I was commissioned to do this baby portrait I spent some time talking them out of doing it in the studio. Then I spent some time talking them out of going to the Arboretum or any other gardenish places. All are fine and typical locations to take a family photograph but they can also be so overused that everything starts to look and feel alike. And 20 years from now no one in the photo even remembers where they were.
I like going into the subject’s environment for a portrait. Seeing “their world” lends so much more to the story than any seamless paper and softbox. I feel a real sense of success when I’m able to go into that world and shoot it “as is.” I might manipulate the available light or put in or remove an object from the frame, but by and large it’s their home where their memories are made and where their life is lived. So much more important than any “location.”
Often a client says something along the lines of, “But my house isn’t pretty enough. There are no flowers.”
My response is, “That’s okay, you’re not hiring me to take pictures of flowers.”
When I asked this family to crawl into their bed for a shot they really couldn’t imagine why. They had never heard of “Lifestyle Photography.” I’m not really fond of that vocabulary word once it’s let loose into the mainstream world, but it’s what we have to work with at the moment and certainly my style probably falls a bit into this category.
I like the advice given on this blog by Amy Horlwitz.
www.photopolus.etsy.com
