As the title says. I feel like getting professional photos done for the big events in your life has become ubiquitous and is more of a “keeping up with the Joneses” thing rather than actually valuing that moment.
One clarification: I’m not complaining about taking pictures of those moments at all, it’s specifically the pre-planned, contrived professional photos that I find cheap and fake. It’d be hard to argue that candid photos taken in the moment when everyone isn’t looking at their absolute best mean less than ones where everyone is dressed up and posed in “artsy” styles.
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This opinion isn’t unpopular.
What if you’re doing it because you genuinely enjoy having pictures to look back on?
Professional photos for weddings is the only one that still makes sense to me. If I ever have a wedding I’ll have no phones or cameras other than the Professional photographer (some exceptions may apply), and I would want those photos to be high quality
It’s always felt cringe
It’s always been that way
Yes!
I’m sure everyone’s smartphone is likely good enough for most events aside from a Wedding.
I think significant life events for you are worth remembering. I think new children is a little weird, but engagement, graduation (college imo), weddings, are all acceptable because there things you’ll look back on and want to remember as accurately as possible.
Eh, in many cases it’s so that people in the group (oftentimes women/mothers) can get out from behind the camera and actually be in the picture.
I paid for a photographer for one hour of my bridal shower so that I didn’t have to run around and ask people for pictures. I think family pictures are great because the mother spends so much time coordinating outfits and making everyone look presentable to commemorate the chapter in everyone’s lives. I did it post-engagement so I had beautiful and professional photos of us to use for invitations, save the date, wedding decorations, bridal shower decor etc..
High school graduation and wedding
It’s so tacky and fake, especially if all the clothes are coordinated. Super cringe and gothardy.
I think professional photos actually make it cringey to look back on the moment. Natural or candid photos are great memories to revisit.
“for every big event”
Lists the 3 biggest events of people’s lives.
People want to capture a time in their lives. My wife is an “insta-wife” and constantly makes me takes pictures. I hate it, but I also know when I’m 70, I’ll be really happy that we captured so many moments and memories.
Some people feel this way and that’s cool but I’m just sharing my opinion that I think photoshoots, especially ones with props are a fun way to experience and remember the moment.
I’m a millennial so this was not a thing when I was young. I wish my parents did photo shoots. I would love photos of us together.
It’s both things and it always has been. As long as I’ve been paying attention which is quite a few decades now. And it was the same before that according to those that came before us, going back to when film was invented.
It’s all vanity. Paying someone to take pictures of you is vanity. It is literally vain.
But it is also socially expected. We are expected to be vain for certain occasions … and to pay for that privilege.
You know who’s winning? Me neither, but it ain’t us.
I didn’t walk the stage at graduation bc I wasn’t going to be on my moms Facebook
Everyone says this but their [Inset life event] is different which is why despite being against it they are the exception
Lot of miserable people here lmao
Professional divorce photos are a thing now too.
let’s see how you feel when photos of someone is all you have left.
When have photoshoots for life events not been a thing?
Never had a professional one. Always too broke. Even the professional options in the hospital for my kids when they were born was too much.
Maybe there was coupons for JC Penny family portraits for cheap but just not my thing
Ok but it’s not really about you.
People get them done because they can afford it and because it offers them previous memories on a more high quality, professional and beautiful form than what they can usually get themselves.
The point is to have those pictures for themselves and their loved ones to enjoy for generations, and sure that might also include sharing to your friends and family on social media because you are proud of that milestone / or your beautiful family.
My biggest regret is not doing more photoshoots with my family. Ever seen a home that has walls full lovely family moments including many beautiful professional family photos taken over the years? It’s an absolute life goal for many and for good reason.
I think it’s cringe for a proposal which imo is an intimate moment, not a show. Every time I see a video of someone making a big production out of it, I wonder why they need an audience.
I think people VASTLY overestimate their ability to take a good photograph using their phone compared to an actual photographer and camera.
I agree. I hate taking pictures in general of myself anyways
My personal opinion is that the photo shoot is just another means of extracting more cash from anyone gullible enough to believe the social media hype .
I don’t understand how they afford it. I understand weddings, graduation, newborn etc but folks have to have them for engagement announcements and gender reveal and their cat’s third birthday and those cringey ass beach pics with everyone in a white shirt. I understand documenting that stuff, but not PROFESSIONAL shoots for every minor event. Guess I’m just cheap.
Weird, hot take.
When I was a kid, we did Sears professional photos yearly. I remember when Walmarts had photo studios. They don’t anymore. It seems like professional photography in malls or shopping centers has fallen off greatly. Though of course there are still independent photographers.
One of the few things my father’s second wife did right, though, was skip all that. She was an amateur photographer, but she was quite good. I wish she’d pursued it more. She had a talent for it. And she’d drive us way out to the middle of nowhere and shoot us in natural environments, she was very picky about where she shot. The adventure was fun and the photos were ten billion percent better than what we got at Sears. I never loved that woman, but that was one of a handful of things I did admire about her.
These days, we have better cameras on our phones than she had in fairly expensive SLRs, or at least it’s close enough to not matter. You don’t have to drape a sheet over some boxes and hang a sheet behind you and have stage lighting and pay hundreds of dollars while wearing a cheap rented suit to look good in photos. Just find a nice place, wear decent clothes, strike a pose, and learn some basic framing and shooting. I take great photos all the time, with minimal effort and no formal education on the subject. Pictures I could print to 8×10 and have framed for a fraction of what a pro would charge. My lighting isn’t quite as good (iPhones can emulate this… maybe Android as well but I’m less familiar with those) but it’s good enough for a portrait.
If you don’t like all the members of your family in a clear photo where you can see all their faces in good lighting, then you do you. It’s like two hours of your life to have a keepsake from that time period.
I was very laidback about professional new baby photos. I was very chill about his first birthday.
So now I don’t have any happy memory professional photos of my son. I don’t have a single good perfect photo of him in nice clothes on a happy day before he got sick.
And I never will.
Candids are great but they do a different thing and often have other people, weird expressions, messed up scenery. They’re really nice as a way to add depth and personality to albums but mixed with good photos – here’s what someone looks like dressed up, here’s them all smudged up.
I don’t really think want one set of good baby photos or one good set of wedding photos is overdoing it. And sometimes it’s terrifying to not be able to have that one perfect shot to remember and be able to show people. Yeah it’s nice to have spontaneous but actually being able to remember the doing the pro photography is it’s own memory to make.
People will hate this, but I agree with you. My initial reaction is to always think they are lame and tacky
People used to go to Sears and do this.
People used to go to studios before that.
Prior to photos, people would get their paintings done.
I enjoy having photos of my other half and now my kid, because life goes by too quickly and I want that shoe box of photos to look at, if I have the privilege of growing older.
Also, the photoshoots can catch great, really sweet moments. I did a shoot when my kiddo was an infant, and the photographer caught a photo of me breastfeeding my kid while I played tug of war with my dog. It’s a snippet of what my life was like for a whole year. I’m glad I have it, along with the more posed photos.
If you’re only doing it for social media, that’s when I take issue.
Excellent unpopular opinion.
I have never got a professional photo shoot and I don’t know anyone that’s had a professional photo shoot and I doubt I ever will. Where are you finding these people? This is bizarre.
Sometimes it’s hard to tell profiles apart because every millennial woman has made their profile pic on Facebook a professional photo of them gazing into their spouse’s eyes. Their husband, who didn’t try half as hard, will have the same pro pic from 2016. I know people like to look at their wedding photos, but honestly, they all look the same and very fake to me.
I agree, tho the ones you listed are important, there are plenty that are overdone like baby bump pics, baby showers baby moons etc
Completely agree. I never had professional photos before, but my fiancé and I really wanted to do something fun for our engagement. We went to JCPenny and did super awkward photos and spent 90$ all said and done. It was a blast.
“This thing people have been doing since the invention of the camera feels overdone and cheap now” ok?
The sexy pregnant photo shoot always weirds me out
I think it made more sense before everyone had a high quality camera in their pocket. I don’t think it feels cheap, but maybe just less crucial.
Have to admit, some of it is very mad. Maternity shoots are the one I don’t get. Don’t get me wrong I’m happy you’re pregnant but why do I need to see you naked and cradling your stomach on my social media?