Don’t ask me that! Questions photographers hate being asked

 

 

An article by Alison Zavos on featureshoot.com discusses the questions that seventeen professional photographers hate being asked. Some of their responses are questions that I'm sure many of us have been asked at one point or another. Others are harder to relate to, such as Bruce Gilden's response, "Aren't you getting in a lot of fights when you photograph?" But if you're familiar with Bruce's work, this question shouldn't come as a surprise.

Tony Mendoza's most-hated question, "What camera do you use?" is surely a common one, but it's a question that some of us may actually enjoy answering. Similarly, Tealia Ellis Ritter hates being asked about the lenses she uses, as that would be like asking a painter what brush he or she uses. I, personally, love talking gear with other photographers, but Tony and Tealia were not alone among the responding photographers in saying that a question about gear was their most hated. For Ami Vitale, she'd prefer not to be asked what ISO she's using to capture wonderful images like the panda shot below.

On the other hand, Meryl Meisler and Andrea DiCenzo didn't have a most-hated question. Meisler likes being asked questions and is always up for talking about photography. DiCenzo doesn't believe that there are any stupid questions and simply doesn't have any that she hates being asked.  

(Seen via Feature Shoot. Index image from Flickr user Navaneeth KN. Image used under a Creative Commons CC-BY-2.0 license, and has been modified from the original.)