I was just reading what some bullshit unlearned Photographer said about photo art. "Für mich ist Fotografieren Kunst und in der Kunst gibt es kein Richtig oder Falsch"  translation: "For me, photographing is art and in art there is no right or wrong." (Theoretically I should have to give her name as a quote, but lets not embarrass her further.) What does that mean, there is no right or wrong? Of course there is a right and wrong otherwise there would be no art schools and aesthetics wouldn't matter.
 More about our subject.... Her photo studio was a gift from Daddy and she just quit her real job to become a photographer. Her husband naturally wants her to follow her dreams and make a business of the whole. She even lists on her site which photo optics she has for her Cannon 7d and says she hopes to have more optics. She has no real training, but states her love as a child of photographing pets as her background.
 For some reason Germans in general all follow the exact same trends. Now everyone wants to be a Photographer. I kid you not, here in Paderborn there an overnight explosion of photo studios. Most of them are people who just dream of making themselves wealthy without having to really work. It might also be a sign of how desperate people here are for lateral mobility in this society filled with social class constructs. Artists here at least are more favorably looked upon than a salesman at the local store.
 Just because someone buys an expensive camera does not make them a Photographer or Artist. Wait, I seem to recall that I have a paint brush somewhere... Fuck! I am a painter! The mentioned photographer said that a cook with a good spoon doesn't make a good dish. Shit, that burst my painter bubble. But wait, she also says that the tool "camera" is helpful, but the "photographer takes the picture"- OK I am a painter!!!
 I remember once I took an art class with Michael Kelly- the class was his idea and the artist that taught it was a bit nuts, but it was free for us. Mike had really great ideas and I could even call what he did back then art. I had no ideas of art other than that I love art and have an eye for aesthetics. The instruction that was given by the artist was to not remove the hand from the paper till an image took shape with no sharp edges. This should be subconscious. In no time Mike had a cool image that was about connections with the people that were important to him and that some of the ties were simply dropped or cut others held for dear life.  My picture was a frustrated charcoal cloud! Angry I took a finger and drew a stickman breaking out of the cloud with part of his body and a raised fist!!! The artist came by and saw what I did exclaiming "oh, John! I love this!" Mike later laughed about it saying that the artist got wood over my art. Should I ever become an artist/painter then I know that the world has no taste for art anymore.
 Back to the real subject here, bad photography. Like I said, Paderborn has too many self-styled photographers. Some of them just use it to see women naked. I am sure of this, as the photos are not done with any taste and placed on the websites of the artists where all are free to see it. Here is a great example of what I mean. Caution Art in Europe normally means erotic. this page is PG-13 but others may be R or X in other words art. http://www.benjimueller.de/html/art_and_fun.html The crazy part is that the subjects have given permission for these photos to be published on his website. Even crazier is that some of them I see on a daily basis when they change my money at the store.  Quite honestly there isn't a quality photo in the collection. Tasteless. There are enough really great photographers here in Paderborn like Thomas Schmidt and Kirsten Gottesmann  or Michael Austermeier that the other hobby photographers should really quit trying to make a lazy buck. And for pete's sake ladies think about it when you let a man take photos of you don't let him put them in the Net where your neighbors are going to see bad quality shots of yourselves.
 People should really stop pretending that they are so supertalented and simply have fun. Dont sell yourself before American Idol, don't try to be a superstar, dont try to be a professional photographer. Just be yourself and have some fun.