Photo Rambles
By P.G. Ramblings
Individual Insecurities of the Photographic Industry

Am I alone or has anyone else noticed that over the years, the world of professional photography appears to have become infested with paranoid megalomaniacs hell-bent on dragging it down the nearest cesspit?

And it's not just 'professional' photographers being referred to here. The whole of the photographic industry has seemingly succumbed to this plague that threatens to destroy it. Photo labs, wholesalers and manufacturing companies from the very smallest independent to the out of control multinationals. These egoistical, lying, backstabbing crooks have invaded this industry from the shop floor to the head of the boardroom table. Perhaps before it's to late and this industry is completely overpowered by these parasites that appear to be breeding like rabbits, something like birth control or culling should be introduced and the sooner the better.

But what is it you might ask that turns a seemingly innocuous representative of the human race into a manifestation of the devil? Insecurity, that's what. Nothing more, nothing less. Whether they be a sales representative, photographer, lab technician, sole proprietor, manager or director, each and every one of them is simply trying to defend their own cosy little empire from any thing or any person that in their eyes resembles the remotest of threats whether real or imaginary. Like the Mexican peasants in the 'Magnificent Seven" they're afraid of every person and every thing but perhaps if they were direct their misused energies towards being more proficient in their chosen career, they wouldn't have these insecurities.

Perhaps if the sales person was more interested in his customers actual needs rather than sales targets, if the photographer learned his craft instead of relying on other factors like Photoshop to produce a decent end product, if lab technicians stopped blaming the equipment, the chemicals and Santa Clause instead of their own inadequacies and the sole proprietors, managers and directors took more interest in quality of service and customer satisfaction instead of the quick buck... what a wonderful industry this would be.

On the plus side though, it's not all gloomy. Over the years I've met a small number of people in this business that are decent, dependable, hardworking and unpretentious. People who are the salt of the earth. Friends you can depend on in a crisis. People who are secure in the knowledge that the niche little business they've built up over time is providing a service that customers both old and new will always support. Such a pity they're outnumbered by so many verbal thugs with delusional grandiose fantasies of omnipotence and omniscience.

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