Want To Be A Cameraman?

As a young man growing up, “I want to be a Cameraman” was never heard around our house. Too difficult. Is there any professional value in that dream today? Ironically, the possibility of becoming a photographer was a goal I never considered, though I was gifted my first camera at eleven years old.  It was considered a difficult arcane art form reserved for those practiced in the chemical arts though it did pay a decent living for the time, as most things difficult to learn usually did.  A future in photography is a goal of far more young people.  This raises the question: Does any future professional value exist in that dream today?

Sadly, in the hustle and bustle of today’s instant communication age the perception of what it takes to become a competent working professional photographer – as opposed to a “cameraman” – has changed the very definition of the term.  And not for the better.  I listen to and read of many professionals lamenting not only loss of their income, but an even greater loss of their profession.  In a world of public over saturation  with free or nearly free “cameramen” quality images, too few want to pay for professional photography.

The loss to the public of consistently “Professional” photographic Art is one of those intangible things in life, hard to describe in terms of value to the public welfare. Being the very definition of the stuff that dreams are made of, the appreciation for the Arts is always very personal.  It is by design intended to be.  Well told and expertly crafted stories are especially gripping or riveting in some way.  Just as it takes most people 10,000+ hours to learn to craft consistently good photographs, it also takes time to educate a population to what good photography looks like and  what good stories feel like in the telling.

These are basics of Art appreciation, basics that are only communicated through exposure to and experience of the Art itself.  All of us are artists inside.  Art is language that connects us Socially.  Art is the measure of Civilization.  As surely as we use Art to judge ancient Greek works or those of the Roman Civilization, future Civilizations will use Art as the ultimate measure of the value in our own Civilization.  By direct participation in creation of Art, formal lectures, and simple trial and error, each of us has the chance to participate further in a Civilized World.  Now how great is that?

In this, the second “stupid photography-related parody music video” that Irwin Wong has made, he and sidekick Mijonju created a quite clever parody of an ultimately sad historical fact.  Want to be a Cameraman?  The value of the 10,000+ hours it used to take to perfect a professional set of craft skills, necessary to craft consistently professional quality images, have nearly been reduced to the value of the latest model of Smartphone.

In forums, “public domain” or shareware type licenses, Pinterest, Facebook posts and all the rest, we the public are bombarded by the ultimate subliminal hard sell marketing message – “Need Photography?  Oh, yea, my camera can do that job!” which leads to “I Want To Be A Cameraman!” which, of course,  naturally progresses to “I want to be your cameraman!”  It isn’t about learning the Art baby; it’s all about the $, honey.

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