“Aristotle Tutoring Young Alexander the Great” engraving from Vies des Savants Illustres (1877)
Call it what you will, there is an element of gatekeeping among a certain fraction of photographers. The first ten years of the digital revolution looked much like the height of the Cold War arms race. Cameras were obsolete before you got home and unpacked them. The tech was moving so fast, driven by fierce competition between the big manufacturers. Some photographers needed to keep up with this evolution due to the necessities of the professional workplace, but some had to keep up just to feed their egos.
Years ago I was approached by a photographer that said I should go down to the local news agency’s office and apply for a photojournalist position. He said they were obviously desperate, because they had just hired some guy with a cheap Canon, probably from Walmart, and that he couldn’t possibly be any good. He didn’t mention they guy’s portfolio or experience, just his camera. What he didn’t realize was that I was shooting a cheap Canon, which was my gateway drug into the DSLR world.
I could have pulled out my old portfolio of images shot with “inferior” cameras, images that included an international magazine cover, a Soviet Russian fashion show, Mardi Gras reportage, and a host of advertising photos of everything from vitamins to water parks to helicopters. Yet, at that moment I was unworthy to shoot a local art festival or high school soccer game, because I didn’t have the latest camera. I kept my silence, and he kept his ego. I remember thinking that if his comment was indicative of the culture at the news agency, I would simply not fit in.
I have seen many instances of this type of gatekeeping in the photographic field, just as it exists in others. We all start somewhere, and there are those who seem to have forgotten that. Maybe they feel that the “amateurs” must pay their dues and learn everything the hard way. Others may feel threatened in some perverse way. They have apparently abandoned their own mentors, who sacrificed their time to pass the skills on to a new generation.
It seems this attitude now exists to a lesser degree in the film photography community. Perhaps it is because there is less of an “arms race” in the analog world, as most of our film cameras are wonderfully old and obsolete anyway. There are “elite” cameras out there, but plastic toy cameras seem equally celebrated for their aesthetic. I love that.
There are, however, those of my generation and older that feel their film photography experience is somehow superior to that of the younger generation. The irony is that the younger generation is largely responsible for film’s resurgence. This younger generation has the choice between analog and digital, and still chooses to spend money on film and developing. If anything, this merits respect from the analog oldsters.
The film photography community doesn’t need to be a “mutual admiration society”, but we should acknowledge that everybody is at a different place on their own trajectory. Interests and abilities vary and evolve, and our art is shaped by our experiences and circumstances. Constructive criticism can be offered when requested, as there is a place and time for that. Criticizing another’s self-expression, particularly in a denigrating way, drives people from this avocation.
Analog photography will only survive if we pass the knowledge and passion along. I would like to see more support for those starting out, without any sort of purity test. I was mentored in various disciplines and I am happy to do the same thirty-some-odd years later. There is more pontificating and criticism in online forums than I would like. Many will embrace the newcomer, but some will scare them off with overly technical tirades.
Nobody becomes a master overnight, nor does one need to. We all learned piece by piece, and our abilities grew incrementally as we experimented. Let us support and teach and build up those within our spheres of influence. We will all be better photographers and better people as a result. Generous mentors will be long remembered; caustic critics will be forgotten.
I suppose I want to live in a world where one could ride a donkey in the Preakness, and still hear cheering from the stands as it ambles from the gate.