Common tricks of lousy photographers in shanghai

I am not the best photographer in shanghai...I AM REALLY NOT.

There are really some really really good photographers in shanghai.

but as we all know, money makes the world, including shanghai, goes round.

Before I say what are the things that lousy photographers in shanghai do, let me define what is my version of a good photographer.

1) He is proud of his WORKS. As in photographs, concepts, ideas.
2) He knows in this industry, there is no REAL competition, because EVERY PHOTOGRAPHER HAS HIS OWN STYLE.
3) His works speaks for him as a person.

So...in shanghai, there are many photographers who are doing photography JUST FOR THE SAKE OF MONEY. Of coz, there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG with that. What is wrong is they try to make you think they are professional WHEN THEY ARE NOT.

If you ever need to hire a photographer, watch out for the following tricks. Sometimes, you already be conditioned somehow to think the following indicates how good a photographer is. So remember, in shanghai, the following are not good indicators.

What lousy photographers in shanghai do

1) Before showing you his works, he shows you his expensive Hasselblad camera.

The correct way to assess how good a photographer is, is to look at his works. How he light, WHY he light this way, WHY he shoots in a certain way, etc etc. However, more often than not, the clients DO NOT KNOW such stuff but its ok! Please ask someone who knows to go with you to see his works...and please DONT ASK HIM WHAT CAMERA HE USES!!! SOME OF THE TOP PROFESSIONALS IN NEW YORK USES POINT AND SHOOT CAMERA FOR FASHION SPREAD!

2) He brings all his equipment to a small shoot and make sure you see them.

The same thing as above. Shanghainese likes to impress people, like ordering a table of dishes for 2 person so that you can't finish.

3) Plays with his equipment for no good reason.

a) use his light meter to check the reading for many many times, because having the flash going blink blink looks impressive. and for a non photographer like you, you will probably be impressed.

b) put up many lights but only one flash is flashing when the actual shooting starts.

its easy to check, just see how many flash are not flashing when he clicks. buying flashes are cheap, and it helps impress the client

I will add on once I see more examples, I am writing this because i saw clients paying big budgets for these tricks.

Don't be fooled!!!