I knew it would eventually come to this , but it doesn’t make it any easier to say…but, yes, there are some photos you need to stop taking! The art of photography is creating a piece of “art”…not cookie-cutter imitations of every favorite photo you’ve ever seen. Be original…it’s your photoblog…your blog to post your original photography…it’s your opportunity to create an audience for your work..so please..make the most of your exposure…and be an original.

Photographers are like any other group in society..be it artists, model, engineers, school teachers….you get the idea…Many view success as the ability to imitate other successful people, ideas, or concepts…While it’s true this is a safe strategy for not failing, to define success by copying others appears to be a stretch.

Take chances with your photography…take a chance on producing something new, fresh, creative, inventive…let it fly….If you’re looking to achieve greatness, it will not come from simple imitation…Do your own thing…Yes, there will be failures….and laughter…but laughter only from those too afraid to not always play it safe…

Without further delay….

Top 10 Photos You Can Stop Shooting Already

1.  Sunset  Sunrise Syndrome- There was no need to drag the drama out to the end of this post…Yes, sunset photos or sunrise photos, you pick…just stop it…enough already…unless you specialize in stock photography of sunsets or sunrises, you need to check yourself today…Learn from the warning signs…As the sky turns orange just around dusk, you start to get very anxious…blood pressure rises…must find camera…as if this is the last sunset mankind will ever witness…Trust me, if today marked the last sunset you ever photographed, you’d be a better photographer for it. What helped me overcome SSS (sunset/sunrise syndrome), was to learn to turn my back to the big orange ball and photograph the effects it’s soft light on other objects, the long shadows, the spilling of glowing light..It takes time to shake this addiction, but it can be done.

2. Homeless Dude – Now, someone please tell me who wrote the law that homeless dude was art! For Pete’s sake…”I’ve got no money, job, food, access to running water or a roof over my head..but I am photogenic”…What?…I understand Dorothea Lange…the Dust Bowl..I get that…but she was paid by the government to document their plight..to record the conditions…However, SUV geek with photo gear in hand, walking the city streets, looking for “art in a park”?…Maybe I’m being a tad cynical…but if I have any advice for this one, it’s “put photogear in bag, buy homeless dude lunch, and engage him/her with conversation”, not your DSLR…

3. Ansel Adams Clones – Anybody with just a little bit of formal photography training background, knows about Ansel Adams, each of his images, the Zone System, his passion for perfection, etc…These images have been done…done for a long time…they’re iconic, yes…cemented in history…However, being able to replicate these images with a prosumer digital camera and a bootleg copy of Photoshop does not put you in the same universe with this legend…Stop it…People immediately know what your intentions were the second to throw the image on the screen…Oh yeah, it does look a little like Moonrise…

4. Holy Macro – Modern photographic equipment is amazing….the capabilities for macro photography are mind-boggling..But I’ve never been able to understand Macro photography dude…who painfully toils over getting as close as possible to the lady bug on the picnic table, the Spring time flowers, the bees on the fresh blooms…Just don’t get it..Even if perfectly executed, these images look like they can straight out of Scientific American…Who cares about those images? How many relatives really want the framed flower pictures or the calendar you made again this year at Cafepress, for Christmas?…Let me just be honest with you…zero…I clearly understand this is an art form I under appreciate…this is obvious to all…but my post, my opinion…please take me off the Christmas list.

5.  The Wildlifer – Yes, you know him well…maybe a neighbor and surely a relative…the photog that stalks the yellow- bellied sapsucker through the backyard, complete with remote triggers, bait, selected background, fill-flash lighting set-up…with all the intensity of a lion chasing a gazelle on the Seranghetti…which leads me back to ..”what the hell do you do with these images?”..I see this dude every weekend on my way to the beach..knee-deep in sludge..wading through the marsh..for that perfect Blue Heron image..

6. My Kid’s So Cute Dude – I’ll keep this one short….keep your kid’s photos off the Internet, and leave them on your office desk, living room wall, or refrigerator…Sorry to break this to you, but no one wants to see photos of your kids…Hell, I don’t even know you..and, if someone did enjoy these images…that’s a whole other issue….Unless, you’re a professional photographer, specializing in children’s photography..Just say no.

7. The Backup Wedding Photographers – Got a soft spot in my heart for the wedding photographer…it isn’t pretty..and the money (regardless of the dollar figure) ain’t even close to being enough for spending an entire day with two dysfunctional families and a soon to be divorced couple…not to mention having “Cousin Willy” and “Uncle Larry” snipe every pose you set up…which took you months or years to develop…oh..and will have the prints available …for free… to the family..if not by the end of the day…definitely by breakfast the following morning..In a dying industry, these clowns can push you to the brink….

8. Erotic Eastern Europe Dude – Does every photographer in Eastern Europe shoot soft pron? (the spelling, yeah I know) Hey Erotic Eastern Europe dude, ever thought about shooting different for a change…like sunsets?

9. Model Hoo Hum – Yes, I feature my fair share of fashion and model photography..I “appreciate” the art form that is fashion and glamour photography(said with straight face)…but some of these modeling sites…please..Models, save your dad a few gray hairs and go back to medical school…Cheesy photography art is not a career path…it’s the penny stock of the Internet. Note to cheese-ball fashion photographers…we’re trying to sell the clothes here..not the model.

10. iSick of iPhone Photos- Cool…yes, iPhones are cool…and since I currently have a Verizon calling plan, I cannot have one, yet….but I have to be honest..the photos I ‘ve seen from these devices are pretty crappy…and not just the iPhone photos from the splashdown in the Hudson…in general, the images appear to be an overpriced digital Holga! I love my Holga..and the $29 price tag…but for 300+ bones, the photos should be much better.

There you have it…light me up..hope I didn’t step on too many toes…and trust me, there will be plenty more of each category I just blasted, posted on this very site….If I missed one of your pet peeves, please share!