This story is a little off topic, but totally makes my point.  As many of you may or may not know, Gregg and I teach a basics of photography class at the studio.  The 2-hour class covers everything, soup to nuts.  It’s great for those people who don’t know how to get the camera off “auto”.

We ran a Groupon last February for this very beginner course.  We sold 158.  We already had an idea that we might get a few people taking the class that were looking to break into the photography biz, but nothing we were teaching was anything a professional should not know.  There were no special techniques, just an explanation of ISO, shutter speed, and aperture.  All the things you need to know to take a good picture.

Well, we were right.  One of the very first classes included a girl who already had a website & facebook page.  Her website included special packages for maternity, boudoir and family portraits.  Here is where I am very shocked.  She knew NONE of the basics.  She always used auto.  She had no idea how to move her focus point, what an aperture or shutter speed even was.  Yikes.  And she claimed people were paying her.  If you look at her work, you might question her knowledge.  But if even one person paid her as a “professional” they got ripped off.

After taking our class many people tell us it was awesome, but they are overwhelmed.  They never realized how much goes into taking a picture.  It is much more than pushing a button.