Photography by Jack
Your Photos are YOUR Photos
Here's my philosophy of PHOTOGRAPHY. And something I too often find annoying: PHOTOGRAPHERS.
I started taking photos when I was about 11 years old when I claimed an old Kodak Instamatic camera my family had and taught myself composition and lighting and just how to catch good photos. So I'm not just a layman who just doesn't get it. So it is with some authority that I can say that there's a certain species of photographer that annoys the bejeezus out of me. I'm talking about the "artsy photo snob" who copyrights portraits of their customers.
You all have dealt with them and gleefully paid a preposterous amount of money to be able to use the photos you already paid to have done in the first place. The big photography chains do it. Many photographers who make a living doing weddings and portraits do it. You pay them a hefty sum for photos of YOU or your kid, then you have to pay for the right to reproduce or publish them- IF they LET you in the first place. And even then, they often have a big-assed copyright noticed printed on it somewhere. I saw some the other day from a photographer who puts his own name RIGHT ACROSS THE PERSON in the photo proofs! I know it's very necessary to protect one's own work and not get ripped off by a customer who won't buy a "package" and just takes the proofs and reproduces them. But I don't deal in "packages" and taking ownership of a customer's photos rubs me the wrong way.
When I'm commissioned to take photos for someone, you will not see my name anywhere in those photos. If you hire me to take photos of you and your loved ones, they belong to you. You paid for them. I don't advertise
on them and I don't copyright them. I merely use what equipment and talent I have to produce them for your use. If you take a photo you paid me to produce and make a million copies of it and sell them and get rich, that's your right. I do expect a very nice thank you and
some job referrals, but I'm not narcissistic or greedy enough to claim that photo as MINE as a lot of photographers would do. The only time you will see my name or a copyright notice is on my own artistic work- my nature photos, for example. Steal those and there will be blood.
I can already sense my fellow shutterbugs who may be reading this and yelling at the monitor that it's time-consuming and hard work capturing those photos what with all the creative posing and props and costume changes and working the squeaky toys and hand puppets and coming up with witty banter to make people smile. OK, you got me there. I know it takes a certain kind of talent to take posed portraits and sure, it's fun playing dress-up and taking novelty photos. I do it with my cats all the time. But I really don't do that kind of photography when it comes to people. I like to capture people as they are in real moments. There's usually a memory attached to them and those are the photos the subject and pretty much anyone who sees it connects with in some way. So, not to minimalize or trivialize constructed portrait photography, but I just can't get into it and you can have that market.
To summarize- If you commission me to do your photography or videography, you'll get the best natural depiction of you or your loved ones possible. If you want to wear funny hats and pose with your favorite plush toys and sports gear, I'm game. But when it's all done, those photos are YOURS.
- Jack Bennett
Need professional photos of your vehicle? Good photos SELL. Go to the More pages at the top of the screen and visit the Commercial/Automotive page for a sample of my automotive photography.