The ROCK STAR phenomenon…

I remember when I first became a photographer, or at least when I decided I wanted to go pro.

I spent hours on the www, searching, looking, admiring. I bookmarked a lot of websites of photographers that seemed popular and at the top of their games.

I spent $49-$79 a pop attending their 4 hour infomercial photography tours when they hit a city within 2 hours of me.

Oh… did that strike a nerve?

Let me explain….

There’s a phenomenon I refer to as the “ROCK STAR” phenomenon. There’s a large number of photographers that are in a fashionable groove. Maybe they’re good speakers, maybe they have a unique style of shooting. Maybe they’re just good-looking. Whatever the appeal is, we want to be just like them.

Some of them go across the USA, speaking at one city after another. Generally the price is $49-$79 to come listen to them speak for 4 hours in an evening. These speaking gigs are generally held in ballrooms of large hotels.

Now, the price is atttractive, that’s for sure. “Gosh,” you think, “where else can I go and get some education from a hot photographer (ie ROCK STAR) for this kind of money?”

That thinking is somewhat accurate, but let me point out…

• You are stuffed into a ballroom with 400 other people. There is NO opportunity for asking questions
• Ditto. There is no opportunity for hands-on shooting
• There is generally a restriction against recording the class or taking any photographs to help you remember any posing concepts.
• The same restriction prohibits you from taking any photos of any slideshows used for presentation
• There are very few techniques shown that you will be able to replicate without the purchase of special software or equipment
• Lots of time is given to mentioning the products used by the photographer that will be for sale at the conclusion of the presentation

I’m sure this sounds negative, so I will now list what you ARE allowed to do:

• You have the opportunity to purchase a copy of the presentation on CD/DVD. The lowest price I’ve seen this offered is $150
• You have the opportunity to purchase Photoshop actions and effects used by the photographer to achieve the same look. The last event I went to offered this at over $400

Yep, this sounds jaded. It is what it is. I spent so much time and money attending these kinds of presentations when I first started out, not knowing that I was going to walk away feeling gypped. I remember one of the first classes I ever attended. I drove 2 hours to attend the class, and I spent 4 hours madly scribbling notes in my notebook. I was drawing stick figures to illustrate the different posing concepts being demonstrated, but I was drawing them so fast with the barest of time to take notes, that to this day, I have no clue what those diagrams meant. The instructor let us know that the full instructions would be available afterwards for sale in the lobby, but I later discovered that these were over $200. I didn’t have that kind of money.

Now, I “get it” that instructors are leaving their studios and giving up that income to go on tour to teach, so they need to supplement the $49 tuition with some sales, but seriously???

I have a distaste for photographers who have decided that selling to other photographers is a better income stream that actually doing photography for clients.

Now, all classes are not like this. Any class that has anything to do with the PPA will not be like this, as the PPA has rules against “selling from the podium.”

I do encourage you to look into reviews of any class you want to attend and see what the general consensus is.

Before you start admiring a photographer, make sure you are doing so for the right reasons. Are they truly talented, or did they just latch on to a cool style in the beginning and are riding that train full speed ahead for the time being?

Just remember, I told you so.