Comic Sans Gets You Laughed At

And generally not in a fun way - this type font seems to bring out the critic in every graphic designer. If you use it you are seen at best as a rank amateur and at worst as an unranked amateur. Yet, Voltaire set in Comic Sans would still be readable. A dignified page of sophomoric gibberish in an elegant font - or worse: a page of graphic designer in-speak - would wrap fish. The medium is not always the message. Can you get the same derision in photography? You bet you can - take the portrait subjects out into the back yard. pose them under the Hills Hoist with the sun at your back, and see what gets said about you. Or take a trip to Fiji and have a slide night on the patio with 108 35mm colour slides plus mosquitoes. The only way you can get away with these clichés is to make them into parodies - if you're good at it people will suffer but not know why. How many more things can we do that risk the risible? Some wedding photography can come close but it is interesting that the troubles come when the conventions are either too rigidly adhered to or flouted in too wild a manner. Art and science at a wedding are fine, but they need to be tempered with sociability and some sympathy for the bride and groom. Hint: be on their side as they battle their friends and loved ones. You may be the only person in the place that knows what's going on... Do we take trite travel pictures? Do we ever. Every beach from here to Meekatharra has been on a screen at some stage of the game - the lucky ones have been horizontal. Likewise the sunsets - as far as travel photographers are concerned they might as well be happening every day. You don't see quite so many stale sunrises, as that involves getting up early and being sober. How about the stars and planets and comets, and such? Well, comets are a frost - I have been promised them for years and bitterly disappointed every time. Not falling for that Halley nonsense again, I can tell you. If you can find a nice big observatory and a hot drink you might do alright, however, as the new digital sensors can see a lot further than you can. Take a course on astrophotography from an expert or join a society. Or just go where they have stars and get up close to them. I don't think you can take bad animal portraits. All the professional ones I've seen by A Certain Photographer have been delightful. Even the creepy crawlies have been photogenic - and the fact they are sometimes creepy bities lends a cachet, too. Follow her lead or set out on your own. Even the family pet will make a good subject until they have had enough of it all and are sick on the rug. I have been guilty of trite car photos - but in my defence, some of the venues at which the hot rods and such are shown do not permit much leeway. If you get a chance to shoot vehicles, and can choose your time and place, the sky is the limit with the effects that can be achieved. While I don't generally tell people to copy others' vision, you can do good for yourself with an armload of car mags from the news agent. There is generally a lot more art and lighting in the coverage of individual cars than you first think. To get some results you need a heavy equipment input, but some are as simple as the right place at the right time of day. And don't lean on the cars. You will need to get good fast with shots of commercial aircraft. They are expensive to run and the pilots are frowned on for doing three or four repeats of the landing just to please the people on the viewing platform. Even more if they are all on the same landing...and Crosswind Day is value for all concerned.