If Only I Could Figure Out How to Make a Name for Myself
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Yesterday I was doing some photo research under the keyword ‘heart.’ After digging through several pages of pink, kitschy, Valentine’s Day themed photos, I came across one that abruptly stopped me in my tracks. It was a photo of the neon Erotic Museum sign in Amsterdam. I clicked on the thumbnail to get a better look, and upon further inspection, realized I had taken a better photo than some professional photographer out there was paid to do.
I dug up the one pictured above, scaled it to be the same size as the online version, sent it to a colleague and asked for a comparison without telling which was mine. The response I received was as follows, “I would like to believe that yours is the one that is shot at an angle, has good lighting and an actual composition.”
You are correct. So here is the other photograph (ID# 71497144 by Richard Nowitz on Getty - I assume I must give credit or else run the risk of being sued, but I’m really just trying to prove a point.):
The point I want to make here is either 1. Getty is accepting sub-par images and they need to up their game and be more selective or 2. that I take as good or better photos than some professional photographers (not to toot my own horn here, but I don’t think you need to be a photo critic to see the difference). I don’t actually know what the selection criteria is for choosing photos to add to their stock library, but I really can’t see why this particular image got into the collection.
As for Mr. Nowitz, I did check out more of his stuff on Getty and his personal website (linked above) and it’s safe to say that his collection is quite good. I’m going to assume this was a fluke.