The Unaware Photographer

It was shaping up to be another beautiful sunset in La Jolla.  Sensing that the stars would align and we would get one of those perfect October sunsets that paint the sky unbelievable colors, I headed down to WindanSea Beach to get some photos.

I Find my Shot and Wait

About 5 minutes after arriving, I found the sunset shot I wanted.  There was a couple sitting on a small bluff overlooking the surf and since the surf was breaking close enough to shore.

I thought I could capture a shot of them, watching surfers as the glorious sunset appeared behind them.

I like shots that have various things going on, particularly if they are framed by something spectacular like a super sunset.

For sunset shots I usually like to compose a shot and then wait it out until it all comes together.  It looked like it was all shaping up.  I was going to get that shot.

The Unaware Photographer

WindanSea is a very popular place for wedding and couple photography so its not unusual for you to see 2-3 photo shoots happening all over the beach.

Usually the photographers are good about not getting in each other shots or getting in front of other photographers as they try to take the sunset photos that WindanSea are known for.

At this moment however, I was not so lucky.  I heard him getting his camera ready and instructing his wife to pose for some pictures and pointed in my direction.

Just as my perfect shot appeared before my camera, he strided right in front blocking the complete view of what I was trying to capture.  He proceeded to take all sort of pictures of her as I watched all my waiting and my shot disappear.

Initially I was a little perturbed.  I don’t want to call him rude but some might.

I think he was just generally unaware that he was stepping right in front of me.  I didn’t say anything because I felt that he was going to get a really nice picture of his wife, and well, I could get a sunset picture anytime.

A Serendipity

I hopped off the bluff and started to walk away.  I turned to see what the sunset looked like and I suddenly realized that the photographer had not blown my shot of the night, he had actually created it.

I focused my camera, made and adjustment and snapped what was to be the best shot of the night.

This picture captured perfectly why photography is amazing.  You never know what you’re going to get.  You need to be flexible enough to let life happen all around you and you just might get something great.

I think this was the perfect shot for the night.  A photographer taking beautiful pictures of wife against an amazing sunset.   I would not have been able to get this shot if I didn’t open my eyes to the possibility of seeing something different than I had originally planned.

The Reader

Walking up Coast Boulevard at 8:30 am on a Saturday morning.  A man enjoys a cup of coffee and good book while he watches the morning fog lift off the coast.

Umbrella

No clouds in my stones
Let it rain, I hydroplane in the bank
Coming down with the Dow Jones
When the clouds come we gone, we Rocafella
We fly higher than weather

Photography – The Dangers of Paraphrasing

The Book Report is Due

Remember back in grade school when you had to write an essay or report?  You would go to the Encyclopedia, look up something interesting and then try to write your essay based on it.

You didn’t want to get caught so you would try to rewrite the article in your own words.  Teachers would tell you not to do it and today I found out a real world example of why they were probably right.

How to Save Big Money!

About a year ago I wrote an article.   “How to Save Big Money by Not Hiring a Professional Wedding Photographer”. The article first appeared here – PetaPixel.

I had written it basically to warn brides and grooms to avoid the pitfall of not really hiring a professional wedding photographer to do their weddings.

It was a tongue and cheek article. I mean I tried to make it completely obvious telling brides they could get awesome shots like this if they didn’t hire a wedding photographer.

When Paraphrasing Fails

SheBudges is a website to help people save money on their finances. For the most part there is some really great advice on there.  However today, I think they missed the mark.  I was tipped off that an article on the site looked eerily similar to the one I had written.

You can see the article here – Ditch your Wedding Photographer.   The only difference is that they translated my sarcastic recommendations into real recommendations for couples getting married!

Actual Recommendations by SheBudgets.com

Rent the same cameras and lenses that the professionals use. Just because you aren’t going with a professional doesn’t mean that all you will use for photos are other peoples’ iPhones!

Rent the equipment needed: tripods, soft boxes and memory cards. You can’t rent the cameras and lenses the pros use without also renting the major equipment used to make this happen.

Recruit two camera-proficient friends to take the photos. If you’re lucky and blessed to know people who actually know their way with a camera, they are the ones for the job!

Check out a few books and video tutorials. Books and video tutorials will set you back, but it’s a great investment.

Go for it and have them shoot away! Once you place your trust in your camera-wielding pals, have them run around and take as many photos as possible of the big day.

Have the photos Photoshopped. At least someone that you know – if not you – knows how to use Photoshop to enhance your photos.

Store and share the photos. There are a bunch of online store and share places that will treat your wedding photos like gold.

Go to a place like Wal-Mart or Costco to print out your wedding day photos for pennies .

From the looks of it – people hate the article, and I can’t really blame them.

The Dangers of Paraphrasing

I see this happen a lot in music and photography.  I would not call it plagiarism rather its more akin to “paraphrasing” where you take the idea and try to make it your own.  The way kids try to write their book reports.  It’s a short cut to get something done.

In this case the author got an article out .  It probably took a few minutes.  She was probably in a rush.  But she did so at the expense of giving people some really bad advice – Ditch your Wedding Photographer.  Some people will read this and make some bad decisions.

I don’t think SheBudgets intended to plagerize since they did try to change some words here and there.  But in the process of changing a few words here and there – the whole thing turned into something similar to those 4th Grade Book Reports that missed the point. Ah.. the dangers of paraphrasing.

Update – A Pleasant Surprise

I noticed the original author from SheBudgets posted an update and clarified that it was a satire.   It was a pleasant surprise that based on the comments, they changed the article to clarify that readers should not actually go out and do these things.

From the author

P.S. I am Patty, the original writer of this article and I want to own up that it had originally been a complete mistake.  The article has since been changed to focus on satire, the way it was supposed to be originally intended.

I take full responsibility and at least can laugh (and cry) about it now.  At least we can make fun of me and the article in the comments section!

Hopefully some of these points will make all of you realize that this stuff is just not a good idea.  At least not if you want to have a quality wedding album.

And seriously, good luck getting all of this done!  Just hire a professional and save yourself the grief.  Look for our follow up article on how to do this the right way.  You may spend a few more bucks but those memories will last forever.