When I first started doing photography, I was so impressed with the number of stunning photos of celebrities, especially during the golden years of the ‘80s. I loved them because they represented the kind of person that was not always reflected in the media. I was thrilled to see that there continued to be such a great demand for such beautiful photos.
I was actually quite horrified to see how many photographers were not taking photos of people in their heyday. In the 80s and 90s, when the cameras were still relatively inexpensive and the celebrities were still able to afford the expensive cameras, there was a demand for photos of people who were still beautiful and alive. It was a trend that was never going to die.
It’s sad that the trend that’s continued to this day, that photographers of celebrities and famous people have stopped taking photos of them, is the same that continues to plague the art world. The internet is filled with still images of pretty girls in their early 20s posing with their handbags and phones. And these images are always very similar to the photos we take of famous people in their late 20s, both with the same general poses and the same general lighting.
Well, we live in a time where images of pretty girls and their handbags are all the rage. There’s nothing wrong with that, but there’s a difference between a celebrity and a famous person. Celebrities have a public persona, a way that we can identify them, and that is what makes them famous. Famous people, on the other hand, have their own image, and that’s what makes them famous. Not all celebrities are the same.
In the case of craig gum, he has a photo of himself that he has taken on the beach, with his dad’s camera, and he’s wearing a pair of glasses with his dad’s picture on the front. He’s not a celebrity for nothing, he’s the guy that everybody is talking about. This is the kind of thing that gets him the media spotlight. People see a pretty girl walking on the street and think, “hey that girl’s got a nice pair of shoes.
The only problem is that craig gum has become a bit of a meme. Even though he has a pretty good face, no one really pays attention to it, and no one else wants to be the star of a picture. Because he is a celebrity, it’s all about him. People will post about him for all the right reasons, but they will always be thinking about him, not about his parents. And that makes him a bit of a victim.
As a photographer I often feel like I’m just a bystander. I don’t have a camera, and I’m not in the business of photographing women. My goal is to document how some people feel while they are going through life, and that means taking pictures of people while they are just walking along the street in their regular, everyday clothes.
It’s probably impossible to take a picture of a person while they’re walking down the street, but there are some good resources for doing just that. If you’re on a public street, look at the people coming and going as they walk to and from their normal places of business. Look them up and recognize their faces. If they’re walking at their usual pace, that will probably be it. If they’re walking a bit faster, they might be carrying a shopping bag or something.
The same goes for craig gum. While you may not be able to take a picture of a person, you can take a photograph of a craig gum. It might just be a few seconds of a person, but that would go a long way towards making it clear you were photographing a craig gum.
This is all too easy, but I think more people need to be aware of this. A lot of people I work with are unaware that craig gum photos are a thing, and I don’t blame them. They should be aware of this and take a second look at their own photos. Also, more people need to learn about the craig gum phenomenon. It’s not something you just find in random places and snap away at random, but it can be a beautiful thing.