I would say the polite thing, and mentally cross them off the list of people I share that kind of stuff with if I want real feedback. And also mentally probably grumble quite a bit.

I'll quote from noted eclipse-photographer, cartographer, and composer Wendy Carlos:

"If you find that a worthwhile task requires much more work to do really well than you ever dreamed, you're probably doing it correctly. If you make it look easy, you're definitely doing it correctly."

Sounds like you're making it look easy.

Edited at 2008-07-10 03:40 pm (UTC)

Ditto on the "experts make it look easy" comment. I voted for the polite thing rather than I am cos because it covered 75% of my reaction. But I am cos-like. If a friend or someone who takes suggestion well says it, I'd point out it's not all the camera. To just about anyone you could say "There are some other tricks involved that I'd be happy to show you."

Could also be someone who is a photo snob saying "Wow, nice camera. Too bad you don't know how to use it, but hey, good taste in hardware."

As much as I practice my photography, I browse other photos, the really good stuff, and I'm reminded again that I am a rank amateur. And so are you. Was the speaker a pro? If so, take it like the insult it was. :-)

Another possibility is that it was neither compliment nor insult. They couldn't care less about YOUR photo, or your photography skills, they are just envious that you have a several hundred/thousand dollar photo setup and they don't.

Heck, I think that all the time, although I don't voice it. I see someone with a fancy-schmancy camera and, frankly, they are a stranger, I don't care how well they use it, I wish they'd accidentally leave it in the cab I'm about to take so I can have theirs!

Like moominmolly. I keep following her around hoping she'll forget her camera bag in a taxi but she never does. Damn her.

Some day, I will. I've done it before!

Giving me even more reason than I already had to follow you around.

After reading comments, I'm going to swing back from an opinion of "oh, they just don't realize it's just as much skill as equipment" (from the average uneducated non-photographer) and move towards a "it wasn't a compliment, it was a statement."

It's like when someone comes up to me and says, "Wow, your hair is really long!" Uhh... well, yeah, it is. They -might- mean it as a compliment on my genes, my care regimen, or my styling, or they might just be shocked that I pay so little attention to fashion, but I'd have to get further information from context, tone, and other language that doesn't come across in words. So the safest and most boundary-wise thing I can do (IMO) is to just accept it face value as a statement of fact, not of feeling, then get more data if I want it.

I.e., a better response than any of the above might be, "It sure is! So what do you think of these pictures?" :)

This should have been my response. I think I'll have that made into a patch to put on the outside of my camerabag.

Probably only wise if you actually want to know what they think of the pictures. :-)

I default to saying "thank you" for anything that sounds even vaguely like a compliment. This is useful because, a) it's generally good behavior to be polite, and b) gratitude seems to make the stoopid go away faster.

but hey, good taste in hardware.

*laugh* Fair. I've complimented people's cameras before when I really was just complimenting their camera. I don't think I've ever meant to imply anything like "but it's a shame you suck!", though.

Nah, see comment to molly below. It was in fact a very young fellow who I'm sure meant no malice. But I've had it happen more than once, and I'm trying to order my own mindset around it.

I hate that comment, but I get it a whole fucking lot from people who sound sincere and earnest and who seem to INTEND for it to be "praise for my work". So I just say "thanks, I love using it" and then complain to dilletante later. :) The real end result is that I don't pay much attention to what most people think of my photos until I see them offer a thoughtful comment about some aspect of something that I care about.

Edited at 2008-07-10 03:48 pm (UTC)

That's pretty much dead on where I am. I can internally translate that into "They like the picture, that's what's important". I'm terrible at that sort of internal constructive rationalization :)

The incident that triggered this particular exchange was due to a very young person noting my shots. I think there's an element of younger folks being very used to seeing digital images -everywhere-, and when things look nicer, they associate it (in many cases correctly) with better hardware.

I'm positive this was not a deliberate dissing of my photography skills. I'm mostly wondering how other photographers take this sort of comment.

So, now that I've told you how I perceive it -- it's also important to not underestimate the actual value of good hardware, and to try and figure out where the person was coming from. How young was this person? Is it possible that they were actually reacting to the depth of color and dynamic range captured by an expensive camera versus their shitty pocket camera? and so on.

The fellow was 24 - i'm tryign not to focus on this particular exchange, really. Much of my initial curiosity is satisfied... "yes, other photographers do react to this comment similarly- with all the caveats" - which helps me out a lot.

(me? self analyzing? nahhh)

Do you know he liked the photo? I'll be honest, I am largely neutral on other people's photography, with a few rare exceptions. But i'm a hardware geek. I'm totally inclined to talk geek with other photographers, and a camera compliment is a good way to start such a conversation. Young people are also often hardware geeks.

And of COURSE there's the assumption that HIS photos would be that good too if HE had that camera. That's just wishful thinking. We all think our output would improve if we just had this, that or the other fancy tool for doing it.

I think in this case he also knows you're something of a gadget hound, and he may have thought that "nice camera" was what was important to *you* :-)

Or, what dbang said :-)

"They like the picture, that's what's important".

Is that what's important to you? As one poster noted, " It's not necessarily about you, and it's not clear that it should be, unless the only reason you do photography is for validation."

Maybe you might look into why you take photos? What sort of feedback do you want when you show someone your work? If you don't get the response you are looking for, do you try to get it.

"Thanks, but what do you think about the photo"?

I've been known to ask about or comment on the camera (or other technical issues) when the work doesn't do it for me but I'm expected to have a reaction and it's an environment where someone is looking for pettin's instead of a real critique.

Anyway, it's probably a positive reaction, especially phrased like that. The unsophisticated viewer may not have any real way of expressing that other than "nice camera". Who cares, you made them happy.

I'm very much in favor of creating art which is accesible to just about everybody, not just those who are sophisticated enough to get it. The latter set are more likely to provide useful detail in their feedback, while the former will, despite technical excellence, point out that it just doesn't work.

Who's your audience?

I take photos for me. Pretty much like all of my skills, I do them for my own satisfaction. The process and the product make me happy.

In other words, not a gadget geek. Just a photographer. I agree that this kid was probably more interested in the equipment than the product.

I see a million other options:

Assume they meant 'nice cameraWORK' but left out a word

Assume they do know what they are talking about, understand the skill and know how carefully you calibrated things to make sure you had the right equipment for the job.

By 'a million' I evidently meant 'two'.

I still say take it as a compliment. I mean, why not?

In this case, I think it was mostly a young-ism. The fellow making the comment in this particular case is 24. And a techno-geek, so the assumption that "anyone with a couple grand to throw at equipment will take pictures just like that" isn't completely off base - but is mostly due to youth and inexperience.

O K another answer ( I should think more before I answer)
because someone did say that to me a while back.
I don't think much about my camera ( it was a gift from Ted). It's a tool. I don't really know much about the current incarnations of cameras, I just want a high quality lens on a machine I know how to use. I really didn't know what to say to the comment because it's not really about the equipment for me. I think I just said thanks and that it was a Xmas present and thought no more. Now that I have a camera that I like and works for me, I really don't even think about it, it's just a nice clean window.

Proper reaction is "thanks", if in fact it's a nice camera. It's not necessarily about you, and it's not clear that it should be, unless the only reason you do photography is for validation.

They're trying. They just don't understand what it is that makes it hard to do photography, or even that there *is* something that makes photography. After all, don't you just point and click?

You might go with "It's not just the camera," if you want to open a longer conversation...

Back in ancient times when I was a photo retail sales drone, someone came in and asked for the most expensive camera we had. It was a Leica SLR, which I showed him and he wanted immediately without touching it or learning how to use it. Then he wanted "the biggest lens" that will fit. I asked him if he meant focal length and he said no, the biggest. I pulled out some weird ass Leica zoom from hell and he wanted that too. He pulled out hundreds and paid for the set up. I asked him if he would like me to show him how to use it, and he said no, just put it together, put film in it and let him leave. Penis now enhanced, he put the camera around his neck and exited the store.

My manager was completely floored, as was I, especially when I got my commission check.

What he didn't tell you is that he didn't actually want a camera. He was going undercover as a photographer, while actually stealing data out of the company mainframe. He just wanted something to fancy and ostentatious that no one would think to question his presence in the photographers' office space.

Later, when police came to question the other photographers, they asked what the interloper looked like. Not a one could tell them if he had brown, black or blonde hair, or if he was tall or short, because everyone of them had been too busy drooling over his camera setup. "OMG, yeah, he had a 500-1000mm image stabilized macro zoom, it was AMAZING".

He made off with $50M worth of corporate data, skipped off to Grand Cayman and left the camera on the sidewalk. (After wiping his prints, of course)

Edited at 2008-07-10 04:08 pm (UTC)

*snicker* Yes, that was definitely it :-)

Well it isn't like, when you asked him what his goal for his camera was, he could reasonably answer "costume prop"!

I was imagining something along these lines as well, if not as elaborate.

I can't choose an option, since they all assume that the guy either actually does like my work, is an idiot or is rude. Seems perfectly possible that, even if I am pleased with my progress, I still may not seem all that good to a specific other person. Maybe he was just being polite and giving me a compliment that he thought would please me *and* that he could say honestly.

What isn't clear to me from your post and comments is whether he actually SAW the camera. Or perhaps the camera model listed next to the photo if it was online. Because if he didn't even know what camera you were using, then it seems far more likely he was really commenting on the quality of the photos overall, not on the hardware.

Having just (finally!) laid down some serious bucks for a camera I wouldn't feel limited by, I've already gotten more comments on the camera than I've gotten over the pictures I've taken so far. But I'd like to think that's because few people have even seen photos from it yet. :)
::goes off to download photos::

He had, actually, he was there for most of the picturetaking :)

I'm not answering because all of these seem to have taken it as an insult. I don't take it as an insult. I also don't take it as an insult when someone compliments my wood chisels. They ARE good wood chisels. They are DAMN good chisels, and I keep them sharp like an atom razor. This has no relevance to what they think of my carpentry skill set.

So it's a great camera. Why, yes, it IS a damn fine camera. Damn fine lens on it too. Wanna geek equipment? I'll geek equipment. Doesn't mean you know how to use it any more than you know how to use my damn fine wood chisel. Different conversation entirely.

Now, if all you can say when looking at a set of photos or a piece of woodwork is "nice tools" that's just sort of sad and strange, and probably means they lack the ability to see the point.

http://www.jmg-galleries.com/blog/2007/05/01/philosophy-of-photography-photograph-versus-a-snapshot/

An interesting article on the difference between a photograph and a snapshot. I might add that a photograph could be a snapshot that has had some post production editing; cropping, etc.