Say Cheese

Does anybody direct you to say “cheese” before taking your photo any longer? That used to be all of the rage when I was a kid, but now I rarely hear that word when linked to taking a photo. I can remember striking a cheesy pose, and holding that way, waiting for the photographer to snap his shutter, and blind me. I think the reason for this is that back in the day, when I was just a little tyke, you had to be careful with the pictures that you would take. You could only snap so many shots with the film that you had available to you. And that films was not cheap by any stretch of the imagination. And unless someone was paying you handsomely for those pictures, chances are that you really couldn’t afford to buy an enormous amount of film. And after you got that finite amount of film, you had to pay to print each one. It was no easy task to just pick and choose which pictures that you wanted to keep.

Welcome my friends to the new age. This is the age of faster cars, ATM cards, internet connections, Donald Trump as the United States President (another horrifying subject that I should probably stay away from here), and smart phones. Gone are the days of choosing your shots carefully. Gone are the days of having folks say “cheese”, so that you could get that perfect shot. 

We now live in a time of “point and click”. There’s no longer a need to choose your shots. Now you are afforded the luxury of taking as many pictures as your poor, tired SD card can hold, and just deleting those that don’t make the grade. You know, once your clicking finger has a chance to take a rest. Anybody can be a freelance photographer, with little to no previous experience. After all, how hard is it to just point your camera phone, and click? And finding one is just one Facebook post away. I’m willing to bet there are no fewer than three people on your friends list that are no “photographers”.

And so that brings us to the major problem here: with so many freelance photographers showing up, how many of them really took the time to hone their craft to perfection? How many of them spent hours setting up that perfect shot, before even clicking the shutter button? How many of them really pour their heart into their new “hobby”, or hopeful “career”? No longer do we need to hire a photographer for our weddings, bar mitzvahs, and backyard barbecues. There’s really no point, now that everyone and their cousin Cletus has a compact camera sitting in their pocket. And it’s just one sweaty hand away.

And what of the quality of these pictures? Well, that’s the thing, some of these camera phones take photos that rival the best cameras of the 80’s and 90’s. And you don’t necessarily have to be some trained photographer to take the pictures. When you can take literally hundreds of shots, there’s no need to be choosy about your shot. Just hit the shutter button on your phone to your hearts content, and pick and choose the best of the batch. Every wedding could have dozens of picture takers, getting their shots at any, and every angle. Any quick visit to the park can result in more pictures than you’ll ever have the time to look through. 

Everything in the world today is a lot easier than it was in the dark and distant 80’s. We can make a phone call, listen to stolen music, read a book, play a video game, and surf the internet with only one small, handheld device. And though this could be perceived as a curse, remember those photography bills of old. You can get some really amazing shots with those camera phones, and pay next to nothing to have some of your favorite shots printed up at your local Wal-Mart. 

So think for a  moment about this before paying an overpriced photographer to get the shots of your special event: consider Great Aunt Gertrude, and her brand new, “Galaxy” smart phone for the job. She comes at a much cheaper price, and she knows the best stories about you. And though she may have pictures in her photo reel that you would rather claw your eyes out than see, she makes the best potato salad. And that, my friends, is worth its weight in gold.