Being Taken Seriously

Had a conversation today with my friend Isaac. He's just getting into this photo chimping thing and was showing me the newest camera that Pentax has released which, interestingly, is white. Yeah, you heard me...white...See? Have a look for yourself!

So our general consensus was that we're not liking the white so much, and more specifically the white with the little black accents...it's just...well...all wrong. Isaac wanted to know if other camera companies had gone white with their DSLRs ...I didn't think they had because - I reasoned - most of the other camera companies have people who want their cameras to look pro and unfortunately in this industry that means just black.

From there we got on to the conversation of looking professional and what that means ie: showing up looking like you can handle a photographic situation competently, being able to impress and please the client etc.

Now I'm just going on pure reasoning and logic here, but it seems like an industry full of creative types who have an insatiable desire to be remembered and differentiated from the others in the pack would want to have a camera that looked different from everyone else.

If Nikon offerred a bright red camera body tomorrow...I think I'd be out there trying to trade in my D80 body for the red one. Don't get me wrong, I love the blackness of my Nikon gear but it'd be fun to have something that made my camera and in turn myself stand out from the crowd.

Think of it this way. You meet a client you do a great shoot, you're personable, warm and friendly, you're efficient and they love the results you've churned out of your camera. In short, they're pleased with the entire photographic experience and by some miracle you've managed to turn it out without a hitch.

Yeah, totally unrealistic, but it's my scenario.

Lets say now that you did that entire shoot with a blood red camera. They could get their pictures done by some other photographer who has the same old boring black camera but what will they mention when they're trying to remember your name to ring you back?

"Hey Billy Bob, what was the name of that photographer with that crazy red camera?!" Yeah that's right, it's called differentiation and recall... just thought I'd toss in some marketing type buzzwords for y'all.

So seriously now, why does an industry of creative types insist on having boring black cameras? Nikon, if you're listening, it's my idea, you can have it, but the least you can do for me in payment is send me a blood red D3x, really...how hard is that.

More soon...