Commercial Photographer – a necessity these days

My friend is a commercial photographer. We grew up together. The most vivid memory of our childhood is the berating he used to get from his father for not doing “justice to his talents”. According to his folks (mine too) Edwin was another Einstein in the making, a refulgent talent who was going to set the world on fire. But it does not always work that way. Ed was more into an old analogue camera his uncle had gifted him on his tenth birthday.

And he was an absolute natural with it. To most, clicking a picture is as easy as pressing a button on the top of the camera or the side of it. To a commercial photographer, the same exercise is an art from, capturing a moment or “the” moment with one shot. People respond to some pictures more than the rest. It is not the camera that evokes that feeling but the hands that use the apparatus. Edwin took the best his folks had to give him and is now a successful commercial photographer. He deserves his status. He is admired. I just wish commercial photography as a career was treated with the same respect.