Back to Basics - A Rant About a Few Photographers

© rnl

​I started blogging in 2009, and thanks to help from several very good friends we launched SCU in 2013. The blog has grown, but sadly so has my list of frustrations. While some of you are focused on the ingredients to build a successful business, there are some of you who still don't get it. 

Today I was reading through some of the posts on Facebook, and it was all I could do not to get involved in some of the discussions. I stayed clear, but it's obvious somewhere along life's path a bunch of people took wrong turns.

This is a back to basics kind of time in business when a hand-written thank you note is going to carry more weight than a new design for your home page. It's a time when sincerity tops technology and fulfilling a promise will be talked about long after that new lens you just bought. 

While many of you are motivated, passionate and doing everything you can to build your business, new relationships and your skill set, here are some of the knuckleheads who put me in rant mode:
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• Photographers who jump all over somebody because they don't like the photo they posted, but their writing is so weak, they can't criticize the image without sounding like Billy Bob Thornton in Sling Blade.  
• They preach about SEO, but their website is difficult to navigate, and their images haven't been updated in years.   
• They know how to focus their camera, but they haven't taken the time to focus on a marketing plan. They blame the competition for their business problems but do nothing to get people to know who they are.
• They've worked hard to have a great website, but they don't return phone calls quickly to their clients. In fact, their phone number isn't anywhere on their site.  
• They built a blog, but their heart just hasn't been into it lately, and the last post they wrote was back in December.
• They're always thinking about ways to reach new clients, but they make no eye contact when they're talking to somebody, and their handshake is flimsy. And, they've done nothing to nurture and build relationships with their past customers.
• They text at the speed of light, but they have a tough time carrying on a conversation.
• They're so proud of the thousand images in their galleries, but less than a hundred are better than Uncle Harry's.
• And they're arrogant, putting everybody down who doesn't think the way they do!

If these sound like anybody you know, let's all chip in and get them some professional help. 

The photographic industry is made up of some incredibly talented artists, and just like all those old westerns I watched as a kid, there's always going to be a faster gun. There's always going to be somebody out there pushing the edge of the envelope. These exceptional artists have a passion that drives them and a desire to shoot in a way nobody else would, and they keep many of us motivated by their creativity.

I found a great quote that seems to fit this post and since my grandfather was the one who taught me about a firm handshake and eye contact:

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"My grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of people: those who work and those who take the credit. 
He told me to try to be in the first group; there was less competition there." 
​Indira Gandhi
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Thanks for letting me rant - wishing everybody a troll-less finish to the week!