I transferred this old post from my Tumblr and something that I love thinking about.
There was a conversation about an engagement shoot a few months back where my cousin, James, said something a long the lines of choosing the better photographer out of myself and our other cousin, Gabriel. It was for an engagement shoot. James didn’t mean it seriously and was only jokingly pitting is against each other. It did get me thinking about choosing one photographer over the other.
A little background on Gabriel. I have many influences that I look up to in photography, but he is the one sole person that got me into photography. I owe everything to him. He actually sold me my first and only camera. So I think the world of him(not just in photography either). His work speaks for itself, so check his IG at the bottom of the page.
Even though I think highly of him, he’s not my favorite photographer. My favorite “famous” photographer is Karl Shakur, and my favorite friend photographer is Frankie(IG’s at the bottom). Why did I mention this? Well they’ve all been in the game for years, and I wouldn’t say one is better than the other. I mean you can gauge it based on photography specifics, but when the average person looks at a photo it becomes subjective.
That person isn’t grading based on composition, lighting, settings, what should’ve been done, etc. Photographers might not even be grading on that either. A person will like a photo because it appeals to them. To generalize it, they like the artistic style portrayed by the photographer.
A photographer can be in the game 10 months or 10 years, but progression and experience differs. With that progression/experience, they develop their own unique style that sets them apart.
So to bring it all back, people aren’t really choosing the “best photographer” when booking. They are choosing the style they want to be portrayed in. They’re choosing the best photographer for them.
Gabriel: @gbrl.dz
Karl Shakur: @karl_shakur
Frankie: @frankieluisgarcia
