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The photography community is, on the whole, the most antagonistic, abusive, and destructive (on the Internet). OK, most people in the community are wonderful – but a small number of the community are making it a really toxic environment. We talk about the different types of toxicity we encounter, with the hope that identifying it will make it easier to handle. We talk about why people might be toxic, including mental illness and poor social skills. We also talk about how to make sure you’re a supportive member of the community.
So true! and thank you for making this video! Indeed it's a mined territory when you venture in this field and it shouldn't. Why to focus your energy envying someone attacking in any way possible instead of learning something and go out there creating something beautiful in completely beyond me. These negative words can have a devastating effect on both parts, and most certainly towards the one who initiate them by stopping them achieving what the hack they envy, and on the other side, the recipient, even if they have thick skin, they still think about those rude attacks.
First time I saw Tony's content I wrote some insulting things about him. Now, watching this video and his other videos years later, I am sorry and wish I didn't.
I keep on coming back to this video again and again… I live in Germany where toxic people are in the vast majority. The forums here are incredibly aggressive. I recently get attacked very hard for each comment that I am writing. Only a few days ago I had to ask an admin to delete an offensive comment in a German forum. Please don´t get me wrong, I am into photography since 2010, I am not a "noob" and the attacks are always a try to harm me as a person, they never attack my photos. Often toxic photographers have no good pictures or are successfull at all – That is another point nobody seems to talk about, in my opinion that is the reason for their hate.
I just think that giving attention to people that give negative comments fuels their purpose, keep talking photography and ignore the rest. Your podcast are informative and interesting.
"…the Linux people are kinder than the photography world." No. They're not.
Thank you for a great show (always) and thanks for bringing this up. I see a lot of it.
I think that there is, or should be one hard and fast rule in photograpy. In real estate, you can't Photoshop out trees or imperfections simply because "they can fix it if they buy it." It's a lie that they'll hopefully discover before they purchase, but can cost people money.
You guys are great !! Keep up the great content ! There is a lot more people that love you than people that don't, that's for sure !!
Another question is also why photographers are trying to sabotage other photographers rep or are so rude to to other colleagues. As an example. Take the temperature between photographers in a media room for a sports event. It’s cut throat. Why the hostilely? If you ask a simple question like “is the line up released?” to the colleague sitting next to you they normally just don’t answer or if you are lucky they answer with something like “get it yourself”. I have also been accused for trying to sell invitations for manufacturer events when I was haggling for the price of equipment that I was trying to buy I told him my last price. During the conversation I found out that he also was a professional I then asked him if he was interested to go to an event.The only thing I did was trying to be friendly as I was asked by the manufacturer to find others to invite. When he said that he already was invited I reminded him that the last day for application was the next day. Next morning I get a phone call from the the manufacturer saying that they had Blacklisted me as I was trying to sell seats to the event.
I tried to call the guy whom I had the call with the day before but he had already blocked my number. I confronted him calling from another phone and his answer was just. “ I don’t care what you say I am sure what you did” and then he hanged up. I got all sorted out with the manufacturer but Iam still pissed up on how long other colleagues will go in order to sabotage for other photographers.
Photography is definitely one of the most toxic communities out there. I'm not a photographer myself, even though I know a great deal about it (a few cinematographers in my family + the fact that I have background in physics and computer science) and I recently bought a camera to help me with some photo/video work, so decided to catch up and boy was I in for a shock. It's unbelievable really. As the result I spent half a day on getting rid of all youtube suggestions related to photography. Both the general immaturity of a lot of photo youtube channels and the comment sections are just too much.
Luckiest dog ever!
Technical skills don't cause people to become socially awkward. People who don't interact with others well, gravitate towards tech because it is something to do that doesn't involve those pesky humans.
Soooo True. It's not just Photography websites. Look at politics in social media right now. It's very scary.
Immediately after getting my semi-pro gear I noticed some serious elitism in the photographic community. I quickly found a handful of great folks (you two included). I'm an illustrator/Graphic artist so photography is really fun so far. I can't wait to get a few years under my belt. Thanks Guys!
OMG, after 10 minutes i realized there is a dog on Tony's thigh. I thought he waved his hand to support what Chelsea was talking about.
It's not just the photography world where these insults fly. The political world is far worse. I'm sure you're right, the anonymity of the internet acts like a catalyst to bring out the nastiness of the human heart. That nastiness though has to be there in the first place. It's much more informative about the person making the comment than the one receiving it.
Enjoying this like I do of so many of your videos. Let me pick up on one of your points the "No rules in Photography". I would say I am an "Advanced Amateur" and have been doing serious photography for the better part of 45 years. In the 'real world' I am a professional biologist and occasionally do photography for my work. But my passion as an advanced amateur is nature photography. I live in North America and there are 'rules' that have been setup to define the parameters which are generally different from those in Europe, specifically the "No Hand of Man" in an image. Those rules have been developed so that the images we see actually reflect the natural world. I have been to photo salons where so much as an obviously moved piece of grass disqualified a entry. That is a bit sever, but I generally try to follow this philosophy. In Europe seeing an image of a bird on a fence post is still considered an acceptable natural image, while it is generally not in North America. I will be honest, as a person from North America, when I see images that have obvious enhancements (unnatural sharpness, cloned out areas, obvious enhanced contrast) and they win those contests it gets to my sense of fair play. Photography generally has become the wild west where anything goes, but I do still think that it is necessary to include some boundaries otherwise we serious begin to wonder if the images we see truly exist and express a possible existence in nature and are not a fantasy created out of a computer.
My first job in photography I worked for a large portrait and wedding studio that had 5 different yearbook contracts and I did all their event photos and managed the darkroom. It was a husband and wife team and the wife was the more talented of the two but neither were overly technical. The husband shot some of the events that I couldn't shoot due too overlaps, when I batch processed all the like film rolls many of his exposures were wildly off and as much as 4-8 stops overexposed and many so thin I couldn't get an image out of. One day he complained to his wife and production staff that I had to be doing something to his film (I heard this second hand from a production gal there) because my shots were consistently well exposed and he couldn't understand why his weren't. I guess that he didn't realize that you can't develop a 24 or 36 exp. roll of Tri-X film for individual frames to be dead on and many frames to be nearly transparent and others being opaque. I never said anything to him, it was too ridiculous.
Aacchh…. There are shitheads everywhere….
Not just recently and online. Nastiness from other photographers goes back (for me anyway) to the late 1980s. Petty jealousy. I had one guy who would call models I've worked with to trash talk about me, hoping the models would stop working with me.
Most were the types I'd call "GWCs" who thought they were professional just because they bought a camera that wasn't already loaded with film.
Actually i think that the white haired guy (dont know his name, sorry) seems like he is very arrogant as a person. I dont wanna attack him personally but i get this vibe off of him
I have a theory that camera equipment and arguing about it is pulling the worst out of people. To say that only toxic people go to photography or at least comment about it is just an easy assumption and not really verified in any way. You're not going to get polite comments on war videos or nationality no matter which kind of person you are. Just like when you're driving a car and you're mad all the time. Studies show that, and you probably know that from your personal experience even though you probably think you're not the one. And now to my theory and I really think it's correct. I think that every single person see some sort of beauty and value in what they see in front of them and in most cases it is not the same for the another person. You can never explain it to another person and even if you find someone similar to you he's not exactly the same. And you will go from this world never succeeded to explain the gravity and specificity you felt when you saw (it) with your eyes. And with camera you want to recreate that and you're so pissed off because nobody sees what you see. And how the hell not to going to get frustrated. It's inside of you and to use the corny phrase, nobody will understand it. Your photos will be judged buy some general aesthetic rules and not on the most important thing ever in your life and that is send nudes.
I used to rent an upstairs apartment in the Photography Community but my landlord evicted me. ( She got mad at me for calling "Full Frame" a small format! )
My advice to the Northrup couple is: do what you are doing; you obviously love photography! Ignore all the negative wanabees ( laugh all the way to the bank! ).
Oh, and by the way, Full Frame IS a small format 🙂
What the heck? Film? Lightroom is the new darkroom but without toxic chemicals and sacrificing space for it. And when I press the shutter button, whether or not it looks right to me is all that matters.
I always believe that I can win in the 4th quarter. Thanks for reminding me Tony,
One of the best so far. I have been suffering from people trying to bring me down since I can remember.
Tony….Your awesome..Chelsea …make sure he doesn't drop the ball. lol Piet H. Aerotech Drones.org
Lol! Don’t talk about my camera!!
I really like Tony and Chelsea.
You smile 😃 just the right amount don’t listen to them
Oh my god… It took me 6 mins to notice you had a dog asleep on your lap!! So cute.
You guys are nice, real, sincere people.