Photo Copyright Gary Gardiner - SmallTown Stock

Several discussions took place this week between myself and a few friends. Not all were professional photographers. Nor were they artists or designers. All called themselves photographers because they owned digital SLRs and had sold some of their photos which they thought placed them among those of us who make our livings from photography.

Scientific America, in a 2006 article, used a California State University, Fullerton professor’s anthropological study of chess to help explain how experts are created.

Chess has its own criteria for determining a player’s placement in the hierarchy of experts. A major factor in the rating system is assessing expertise on performance rather than reputation. The results are remarkably accurate according to the magazine with winners easily predetermined by comparing their rating scores. However, one player’s progress to a higher rating came from stronger structural knowledge of the game and less analysis of each possible move.

Owning a digital SLR instead of a film camera automatically removes barriers that prevented most people from acquiring more knowledge about photographic craft. Instant results viewable on a small LCD screen instead of waiting for processed slide film can accelerate the learning curve making it easier to gain the structural knowledge necessary for creative success. Failure becomes immediately measurable and correctable without additional monetary cost. On-screen analysis of technique and results quickly advances the body of skills necessary to advance to a better understanding of the craft. It doesn’t guarantee success, just more knowledge.

Photo Copyright Gary Gardiner - SmallTown Stock

Moore’s Law that computer power doubling every 18 months has proven quite accurate. Especially when each successive high-end computer-driven digital camera has faster processors, more memory, better ergonomics, and greater resolution. Just as stronger, faster, and cheaper computers has rapidly changed how society communicates, works, and learns, digital camera advancements will continue to make it easier for people to become photographers.

Precocity among this new group of “creatives” undercuts the value of photographic masters who’ve accumulated much greater structural knowledge of the skills and techniques required for creative and business success. Owning and using the greatest in technology doesn’t make one an expert or allow them to excel at the craft. My #2 pencil, among the lowest example of technological achievements, is nothing more than wood and charcoal in my hands. In the hands of David Meyer, an artist friend, it is a tool for artistic success.

Herbert A. Simon’s psychological law that it takes ten years of study to become expert in a field strengthens the argument. Studies of Mozart’s designation as a child prodigy indicate that his earliest works were heavily corrected by his father, himself a composer, and that even his earliest serious works were derivative, not original.

Determining success may be measured by a variety of factors from financial to artistic. For professional photographers, that measure has become financial as advanced amateurs and semi-pros gather extended knowledge and experience.

The challenge for pro photographers becomes how to separate themselves from this new group of talented, expressive, creative people who are quickly accumulating the skills to challenge our business.

“Without a demonstrably immense superiority in skill over the novice, there can be no true experts, only laypeople with imposing credentials. Such, alas, are all too common.” – Scientific America