Some large studios and old-guard photographers are feeling undercut; the backlash is apparent on many photography message boards, where "MWAC" means Mom With a Camera.
"It's the established portrait studio guy who is scared that moms are taking cool photographs and selling them for US$10 for an 8-by-10 [inches]," said Kirk Voclain, a portrait studio photographer in Louisiana who owns Pro4uM, a professional photographers message board that has been host for some battles between the old guard and moms new to the business.
"Lots of mom-with-a-camera businesses fail because they try to do it around the edges," said Brophy, who has a preschool-age daughter and two teenagers and works as director of external relations at the Warner School of the University of Rochester in addition to running her weekend photography business. "Plus, women face a business dilemma when they have to ask their husbands if they can buy a new camera."
Unlike some women who have a casual relationship with the business side of photography, Brophy has a marketing plan and has reinvested all her earnings in lenses, lights, backdrops for her home studio, brochures and her new BluDomain Web site. She also has her eye on a new Canon.
As new digital cameras come to market, with lower prices and more features than last year's models, new photographers cannot help yearning for the latest versions.
Still, many are quick to say that the photographer's eye matters much more than the camera, and that the ability to use technology and respond to light is what makes an image come to life.
That is why they smile when some owners of fancy SLRs put their camera on automatic settings and then complain that their pictures look like ordinary snapshots, albeit with very high resolution.
"Good photography is more about the photographer than the camera," said Dawson, who has just started her business in Boston. "It's about making people comfortable and finding the emotion in their faces. The camera is just a tool."
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