See something interesting? Yeah...its gold. Look closer. Yeah...UEFA Champions League. Closer. Is that???
Yes. It is.
They released an image of their new phone, shot by an Iphone. Look at the reflection.
As a professional photographer, this bothers me on so many levels. First, any photographer worth their weight in camera gear would not have a reflection like that in such a shiny object, because as professional photographers, we take great care in our craft to make sure reflections aren't distracting. It happens more often than not. Ever seen those NBA finals photographs of the players posing for photographs with the trophy? Joe Blow is in the background, unshaven, drinking his mocha, and it is visible in the reflections.
More importantly, the larger issue is that some AD or Marketing exec actually convinced someone at HTC that it would be a good idea to just take a snap pic of their brand new phone, and release it, instead of hiring a photographer that would make sure this wouldn't happen. As a photographer this hits home with me more than it probably does for most, but here's why it should matter to you:
Education.
Arts have been under assault in our education system for years now. Whether it be Photography, music, drama, or the like. Despite the fact that study after study has shown that students engaged in some sort of art education are more successful, and have a more well rounded education, scores of students are forced to go with defunded art education in their schools.
If we, as artist, or by larger part, we, as a society, are to make the case to our politicians and legislators that the arts are important on more than just a paycheck level, we have to not only lobby them for continued or increased funding, we also have to strike at these companies who consider it acceptable to devalue our work as artist by not hiring professionals in favor of snapshots from a cell phone.
It is much more than our jobs we are fighting for. It is the valuation of the arts in our society. It is the proper education of our children. We should not allow companies like HTC to take that away from us. We've got too much riding on this.
****Information for this blog post was gathered from this article: Oops! HTC mishap
