T.O. Lee Consultants Ltd - Photography Column 301

The Life Cycle of a Photographer

PART I

(August 1994 Issue, Photo Asia Magazine, Singapore)

The writer is one of those few photo enthusiasts who have been involved in almost all the different strata in the photographic field, for example, the amateur, the serious amateur, the professional, the commercial, the importing, the retails, the trading, the China Trade, the publishing, the adjudicating and the critic.
With these broader contacts, I have observed some interesting phenomenon which I would like to share with our readers in the next few articles.
I have seen some photographers getting more and more successful and some getting worse and worse. People often intend to seek an easy answer and hence claim that luck is the main factor. From my observation, there is one more important factor other than luck and it has always been neglected by most people.
First let us look at the marketing executives, such as my good friend Alex Tsang Tak Wai from Tiger Beer in Singapore. They often spend a lot of time studying the life cycles of their products to ensure that they can manage the changes time has brought to their products to ensure that their products are always successful.
If we adopt this same concept and try to look at the life cycle of a photographer, we might have some very interesting findings which can determine his later success or failure.
The life cycle of a photographer can be split into five different phases.

Phase 1: The Beginner

Often he steps into the photographic circle simply because he is attracted by the beautiful photographic works of his friends or from an exhibition which he accidentally drops in, accompanying a friend. At this time he knows nothing about the art. He is very humble, open, enthusiastic and friendly. He is not afraid to expose his weaknesses and asks a lot of questions when he meets someone who can provide the answers. He may look for a master who can be his teacher as well as his mentor. At this stage he is very happy and finds that photography is really an exciting art as he has so many things to learn.
When he sees a contemporary photo appearing quite strange to him, he blames himself for not having the competence needed to understand the photo. He would try to adopt different approaches to understand the value of the photo. Or he would ask someone who knows.
He never argues with anyone, even if what he has heard from his master is quite different from what he had heard months ago from another master.
In short, he is very lovable at this stage and everybody likes to make friends with him. And he is making fast progress.

Phase 2: The Amateur

After one or two years, he leaves the Beginner phase and steps into the Amateur phase gradually.
He replaces his fully automatic lens shutter camera with a single lens reflex camera. He is satisfied with three lenses, a 35mm, a 50mm, and a 85mm, plus one automatic flash unit. He is strongly influenced by his mentor and often uses the same brand his mentor uses or has recommended. He listens to the teachings of his mentor without reservation.
At this stage he often volunteers his service to his colleagues, his friends and relatives on occasions like weddings, birthdays, and other social gatherings. Of course his service is all free. What he expects is only a word of appreciation from the host. He really enjoys every minute of the assignment although in the eyes of a man in the street, he is a practical fool, trying to labour himself so much without any material reward. The commercial photographers do not like him because he has taken some of his market share.
At times the host would hire a commercial photographer for insurance purpose if the occasion is important, such as weddings, a once-in-a-lifetime occasion. The host would also welcome the Amateurs to impress the guests. That is why I have seen a wedding party with five Amateurs present, all trying to compete for the best position, hence interfering the work of the commercial photographer who can only smile as he does not want to offend the good friends of his client, particularly when they are from the bride's side as the bride is the supreme commander in most newly formed family.
After delivery of his 3R prints, the Amateurs may send some 8x10 enlargements to the host without charge if the host has shown great interest to some of his works.
At this stage, there is no such thing as costs in the head of the Amateur. If you like my work, it is all yours for the asking, all free. They can even frame them for you if you want to.
He is a very happy man if from time to time others ask for his pictures to be enlarged.
Landscape and portraiture are the most popular themes for Mr. Amateur as these subjects can gain appreciation or admiration from his friends more easily. If the landscape and the young lady in the picture are both beautiful (such as the Grand Canyon and Ms. Kong Li [a film star from China]), all you have to do in creating a beautiful picture is to frame and press the shutter. The rest is automatically handled by the automatic SLR.
At this stage he is still open, enthusiastic, humble and friendly. And of course the more pictures he sends out free, the more lovable he becomes amongst his friends and relatives.
He also makes great progress in the phase.
His relationship with his mentor is very close. A very happy man!

Phase 3: The Serious Amateur

At this stage he should know a lot about photography and starts to purchase more and more equipment. He may own three systems on the 35mm format alone, such as Canon EOS 500, Nikon F3 and Minolta 9000, and a battery of lenses and accessories. He may even step into the medium format such as 645 or 6X6. Haasselblad is the popular choice to enhance his personal image. He likes everything in black colour, the professional black, as heavily promoted in the advertisements.
He is very concerned about the new fancy features that new models can provide. Hence he changes his equipment practically every year to ride with the latest development in hardwares. It is the Serious Amateurs that have actually helped the camera makers reduce their production cost by economy of scale.
He collects all the equipment catalogues and tries to compare the functions and features of different makes. When he meets another serious amateur, the popular subject is often the latest equipments.
He must be the first one to use the newly launched model. If a new model already announced in Japan is not yet available in Hong Kong, he would often ask the parallel (grey market) importers to ship him one, regardless of costs. He also collects memorial models or the limited production models which have also become a mainstream business for Leica these days. The World Cup Official Memorial Model, the Olympic Model, the 50 years anniversary model are made for this kind of photographers.
He begins to shape his own ideas and becomes less receptive of the opinions of others. He is less open, becoming more enthusiastic to hardware and features than the art itself. He begins to work in isolation. When he has discovered a photogenic spot or a fresh amateur model, he is not so ready in sharing with his friends in order to make his pictures more unique. Some of them do not want to share his little secrets of special effects in order to win more prizes in the salon competitions.
He is very active in the salon clubs and joins the executive committee as a treasurer or secretary. He is still very enthusiastic and happy.

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