10/29/2026
Yesterday I was listening to a Podcast....a photographer that was teaching other photographers how to be a "good photographer." That seems to have become a thing now....many photographers choose to "coach" for a price, rather than share their knowledge with those coming up behind them. But, I understand b/c our time is worth something too. Anyway...this photographer was coaching people on how to edit photos. She was talking about how quickly she is able to edit and turn around her galleries for her clients. This is why I was listening in the first place. But, I soon realized that the way she is able to do that is because she is literally doing less....less photos, less editing, less everything. When she was editing this seniors photo, she literally said...
"Don't zoom into the photo, then you'll just feel the need to edit out blemishes or retouch their skin and we don't do that." 🤯
I'm sorry, what? Is that literally not what you're getting paid for, to offer a professional product that clients can't achieve with their iPhones? She didn't touch the background. She didn't touch the sky. She didn't edit out the flyaways or the temporary imperfections like blemishes. No adjusting the light...no removing cars from the background...no smoothing wrinkles in clothes or hiding the lint on the black shirt. She just slapped her present on, edited a few things and moved on. This...this is why she is turning photos out so quickly, and this could never be me.
Also yesterday, I saw another "coaching photographer" running through raw photos deleting and culling them down to 75 photos. She culled them once, deleting what she wanted and still ended up with 95 photos. But, instead of spending a little extra time to edit those extra photos and sending them with the gallery, she went ahead and deleted 10 more photos so she would only have 75. And, this is how THIS photographer is able to coach others photographers on how to turn over galleries faster.
I say all of this to make a point and out of genuine disappointment that this industry seems to be on a path of forgetting there's passion behind the photos. I will never be the photographer that will not zoom into your photos retouch temporary imperfections. I will never be the photographer that will continue to delete great photos just to finish editing faster. I will never be a true to color or document style photographer. And, I will never be the photographer that is content putting out products that you can easily achieve with a best friend and an iPhone. I am a professional and you will receive a professional looking product from me every time. I care so much not only about how your photos look, but how they make you feel about yourself and how they showcase God's masterpieces in earthly form and human form. There's no chatgpt in my captions. There's no AI system culling through my raw photos. There's no quick preset or filter I through on your album. This is not just a business to me...it's an art. Yes, there are things that I can improve on like turn around time and I will continue to make changes ALWAYS to make that better and better, but not at the expense of giving my clients less and compromising my art.
I think I am getting to the part of my career where I am more seasoned than many of the people out there coaching other photographers. It's wild to me how the goal seems to be teaching newcomers to do as little as possible for their clients and move on to the next. I know my editing style is not for everyone and the way that I do things may not be how others do them. Not every photographer is going to edit out dirt or blemishes on the face. Not every photographer is going to whiten your teeth or the whites in your eyes. Not every photographer is going to lightly smoothen the under eye bags or micro wrinkles that a digital camera picks up that you can't see in person. Not every photographer is going to remove a tiny piece of tape on the turf or a fly on the horses face. Not every photographer is going to do so much. But, this is the way I choose to run my business and the only way I can be proud enough to call my photos art.
