Well, anyone can be a...

I was at a wedding this past weekend at Casa Real at Ruby Hill Winery in Pleasanton this past weekend.  We had such a great time catching up with our friends and seeing two of my very good friends share their vows in front of friends and family. 

Have you noticed lately at weddings, how EVERYONE and their mama busts out the DSLR?  A symphony of "click click click click" at stuttering speed simultaneously went off the moment the doors opened and the bride made her way down the aisle.  And while the bride and groom had hired a professional photographer to capture their special day, there was one particular wedding guest that took it upon himself to play "backup photog" for the day.  Wherever the professional was positioned, you would find the friend posted right next to him, taking the same shot.  It was as if the professional had a little puppy nipping at his toes and following him everywhere he went!  At one point, the friend photog seemed to actually get into and block a shot the professional was trying to set up.

With the number of friends that own one of these fancy contraptions, it was the reason why I chose NOT to bring a camera to the wedding.  I figure my friends will email their fancy photos, well-edited with some free editing program they have come across on the internet somewhere.  What was the point of bringing my silly point-and-shoot?

As the professional photographer, I'm sure he encounters this sort of thing more and more these days as more and more people are picking up this hobby. I think that some of the wedding guests even stopped to ask the photographer what sort of equipment he carries, comparing it to the one they had in their hand.  I think, after feeling kind of annoyed, the photographer did say "Well, anyone can be a photographer these days...".

Which leads me to think that you can use that one sentence to describe a lot of people these days.  And I'm not just talking about being a "professional" photographer.  With the development of Yelp and Chowhound, everyone's now a food critic.  But does putting a camera or a medium to vent your foodgasmic adventures, make you that?  I'm going to have to say no.

I don't know. I just thought it was unfair for the wedding guest to take away from what the professional was doing while on the job.  I don't think it's fair for novice bloggers and yelpers to pretend they are the savvy food critic.  Don't get me wrong, I am all for people expressing their opinions and creative expression through the lens, but I think there are definitely boundaries, and lately those boundaries seem to be blurred. 

And furthermore, I don't necessarily think it's fair for yelpers to dictate the success of a mom-and-pop business, but I'll save that one for a separate post.

OK.  /endrant