These Mockstars may not be very good teachers at all, but it really doesn’t matter, if what they are selling is really themselves (which is what I think they are really selling – most of the “secrets” and techniques they show are readily available in lots of good books on the subject). Their fans will lap it up. Their haters will continue to hate. And they… well, at the end of the day, they will take their money and go home. Good for them. “A fool and his money are soon parted”. Yep. That’s how some businesses stay in business. It’s not illegal. It’s America.

Personally, if I’m going to pay 16K to one person for one day’s worth of training, it had better be flying around the world in a private jet getting shots of at least 5 of the 7 wonders of the world – but that’s just me. (Again, see above reference about fools.)

People who don’t have real credentials who are offering up training may be wrong, but it’s not uncommon, nor is it illegal in our profession. To quote from Obi Wan – who is the bigger fool – the fool, or the fool who follows him?

So the armchair coaches sit back and say. “Heck that’s not that special, I could do that”. and then start typing their attacks. Where they fall off the rails is. They don’t finish the sentence. “I could do that, if I only had the energy to get off the sofa. To learn the techniques. To dream up the creative ways to get myself visible in this cluttered marketplace” and so on. It’s pure jealousy of how hard these creative people work to get their message out and as a result of that hard work, the profile they have built and the clients they get.

These critics are the lottery players. They don’t want to work to build a business that could provide them a comfortable life. That takes ingenuity, drive and to risk trying things that just might make them rise above the rest. They sit back and complain, knowing in their minds that they are just as good if only life would drop the money and opportunities in their laps. Then they go buy lottery tickets to have the same “success” without the work because, damn it! I’m just as good, I just don’t want to do the work.

Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do. -Benjamin Franklin

* on a personal note, I’ve never pay Jesh or anyone that kind of money for a one on one. But I thought, more power to him. If people want that type of tutoring and are willing to pay his fee, then go get them. He was thinking outside the box and that’s what changes the norm. What Jesh did is spawn a new idea that could create an industry.

Consider this (what I learned from Jesh’s program). Why should a pro wedding photographer give away years of skill and experience to a second shooter who wants to break into the market? We pay for school, we pay to apprentice in almost any other industry. Why shouldn’t a novice pay the pro for the education they are about to receive? You want to shoot 12 weddings with me and learn what I know to jump-start your career? Fine, my teaching fee is $xxxx. Otherwise you can go spend the next 10 years to learn what I learned the hard way. It shouldn’t be free.