WHY I DON'T LIKE STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHY

I don't like studio photography! Don't get me wrong, some of the best photographs are taken in a studio, and this is because studio's are a very controlled environment where you can produce perfect pictures all year round. Studio's are perfect for products, but for people I sort of both agree and disagree.

I'm sure many of you have something so share about irritating experiences with studios. Take some of my experiences as an example, about 5 years ago my father-in-law told everyone of us to meet at a famous studio inside a mall for a scheduled family portrait. We posed for less than a dozen shots, left, and a few days later picked up about 1 bond paper and 4 small wallet sized pictures. He placed it on a mantle in their home and there it stays even today. Anyway, 2 years later our son was born, and because of him being the first male "apo" on my wife's side, my father-in-law again told us to meet at the same studio, and again we did the deed, and after framing the picture a few days later and putting it on the same mantlepiece next to the older photo, one thing became obvious, the background was exactly the same. It was as if we had 2 pictures, done at the same time, but with all of us wearing different clothes, and of course added a child.

Don't you just wonder why many famous photographers have studios in their names, but the ones really taking the photographs are their employees? Sometimes I have doubts when the clerk who signs us in and collects our money is also the one who takes our photograph. Most of the time the results come out ok, but not all the time, and then it's too late because you've already spent your money on a bad deal and there's no turning back. Only once did I experience the actual owner of the studio taking the pictures, but that was only once, all my other experiences are either the clerk or a hired photographer takes the pictures.

I never understood why you have to pick only a few poses even if you paid for more. For example, there is this studio where when you pay for 5 printed pictures, but you get to choose only 2 poses, and your choice should be among only 5 photos taken of you. What if all 5 photos suck? What's up with the limit when it's digital anyway and won't cost anymore even if they took 1000 photos! Why the limit of only 2 poses for 5 pictures? Why not 5 poses for 5 pictures? Is that too difficult to do? Talking to studio personnel are like talking to machines where flexibility is virtually nil. I mean, I thought artists were more human than anyone else? Why do their studios treat us so in-humanly?

Another thing I don't understand is, why don't studios give us the digital files, or negatives for that matter? Didn't we just pay for them? What's the selfishness for? If they're greedy nobody will come back for a second round, unless absolutely necessary, like when updating passport or visa pictures, but never again for personal shots.