Sweetheart, you sound like real pleasure to work with.
As do you.
It is honest feedback. There is a reason why they are bypassing you for others. I have no idea what it is but there is something there that they do not like. Send a tape out. By the way... I do get along with all the females in the newsroom.
Again, you are insulting. They are not "bypassing" me. Why do you insist they do not like me? My ND and I have a good relationship. The reporters like to work with me. I get along with the other shop photog and my chief who are great shooters, far more experienced than I. No one here knows any more about this story than what I have written. More than one person has responded harping on about the "filter 2 with shutter on" example. Okay. How about this? For three weeks, every single thing he shot beyond a tight shot was utterly out of focus. Everything. He had no concept of the backfocus. We told him, he did not listen. Everything we teach him goes in one ear and out the other. I'm freaked that he's gonna kill himself the first time he attempts a live because he listens so poorly. Look. He's a nice enough kid. We get along. But he has broken equipment since he started. He disappears for hours at a time and he doesn't even know how to shoot properly yet. It just baffled me that ALL of this was overlooked for so long. Much of it came to a head when a fellow photographer exploded at this kid and this fellow photog gets angry MAYBE once a year. It takes a LOT to make him mad and he went off. Our ND finally took notice. I have to share gear with this kid and when I went out to the truck and opened the back end, the camera bag had tipped over and the camera had slid completely out and had been sliding around in the back end of the truck. I went to get my ND before I touched anything so that he could see how the kid treats equipment. Again, the kid is nice enough. He just doesn't respect the equipment or take care of it, doesn't respect or appreciate his job. I was out at a chase the other night and the photogs from the other station and the newspaper told me stories about him, saying he was complaining loudly to both the police PIO and the Air Force base PIO (on two separate occasions, at two different locations) about his pay and was wearing flip-flops at one of these shoots.
Tightshot,
You mention that you have there for three years? Did you burn some bridges with the Chief? Or with anyone else? You could be doing a very good job, but someone doesn't like that?...Have you spoken to your Chief about getting a raise, or why the other males are getting more money that you are?
I have been shooting for three years. I have been at this station for two. My chief had no say in hiring this kid or he wouldn't have hired him, those are his words. He DID have say in hiring me. My chief and I are a lot a like, hot-headed and quick-tempered. I respect him immensely and hope he still appreciates me as a photographer. As I said, he DID recruit me along with the Assignment Editor at the time. My chief has no say in our pay rate, either. That's our ND.
Stop comparing yourself to others. You are you in your situation. Nobody should know what you are making and you shouldn't know what any one else is earning.
I was referring to a single "other" shooter and if you see by my above response to OldHuskie, there's a good reason why it baffled me to learn that he made more than me, however little. And I didn't intentionally try to learn what he made. We share a vehicle and equipment. He left his pay stub in the truck. I picked it up to see if it was mine. I didn't intentionally find out what his pay was. Believe me, I would rather be blissfully ignorant of that fact.
If the situation is exactly what you say it is then the higher ups need to give you a valid excuse or you have a reason to be ticked off. You need to go in to your boss with a good attitude and under no circumstances attack them but demand some answers. I still don't understand why you are attacking fellow photogs for shooting in filter 2 with the shutter on. I've been doing that for years and never had a problem with how the picture came out but to each their own.
I tried talking to my ND. I could have done it better, but I was insulted. I had two days to cool off before I saw him and spoke with him about it.
As for the reference to shooting on filter 2 with the shutter on--that kid doesn't even know how to focus. He doesn't know what the shutter is for. And the gain was on in addition to the shutter being on. He didn't even know the shutter EXISTED. He doesn't know what it does. That's why it irritated me. There was a little exclamation point lit up in red inside the viewfinder and he didn't even question why. This was the least of the things I could have mentioned. I regret mentioning it. I should have elaborated. I should have said he couldn't focus for three weeks. That's a bit of an issue. Also, when he shoots things for reporters, they have to be re-shot by other photogs. Utterly un-useable.
Especially if you are that much better then the other photogs you shouldn't have that hard of a time sticking it to the man.
I ABSOLUTELY did NOT say that! I don't know why you guys are putting words in my mouth. There is ONE other person who earns money under the title "photog" who has no experience or any real knowledge and no interest in learning who is lax in his performance, lazy, and unappreciative who I do not respect as a photographer and who I am sure that I am more experienced than and a harder worker than. But I am sure that not one of you has ever met a lax shooter of whom you thought--when you saw their work--"how do they stay employed?"
Being confident in my own ability to shoot is not a fault. I am less experienced than two of the shooters in my newsroom and I respect their talents and learn from them daily. This kid isn't one of those. I am a better shooter than he. No matter how much I am attacked on here for being certain of this fact, I stand by that statement.
As for future action, I have likely prospects elsewhere. But I love my shop and my co-workers, even this inexperienced lax kid. I don't want to leave, but the other option offers quite a bit more per hour. Learning that this kid made more money than me was just the tipping point shove that's made me really have to consider leaving. And that hurts.
But having such a positive response from you all helps a lot.