Hi, I am Mareen Fischinger, a 23-year-old female photographer from Germany.

This tumblelog started with a question I raised in my personal tumblelog.
The idea is:

I would like to know why people feel the need to compare me to "real" photographers. Comparing not in the sense of style or something, but as a different demographic (like, 35+ and male).

Just want to save the answers and think about it.

I have had several encounters where clients treated me like a child or thought I was the know-it-all intern of Mareen Fischinger.

So far, everyone here is stating the problem. Need to find a solution. Because letting your work speak for itself only works when the people you are supposed to deal with know it. But then it works really well! :)

More email or repost responses welcome. I will post them here. myfirstname.fischinger @ google’s email service
March 29

Email from Rociel

I know you pretty much since I got fast internet about 2 years ago, and I got to know you through your fotoblog. (Well, your pictures + your comments, but which were often no longer than 1-2 sentences. I like your tumblr now) I had pretty much no idea about photography or photographers; you gave me my first impression and thus make me compare other photographers to you. You could say, I’m kinda Mareen-biased.

At first I was amused when I read this post, but now I’ve realized there’s more to it than that. And when I saw this tumblr, I found it… really hilarious!! SORRY! I know the way people react must be super annoying to you, but just the thought of people seeing you as the know-it-all intern and thinking “What is this girl doing with the camera!?? Mrs. Fischinger should totally HIT her.” makes me lol so hard.
Maybe you just belong to this gang of cool young creatives, the new generation (wooo!).
In fact, in my mind photographers are casually dressed FH students who have iPhones and MacBooks and drink Starbucks Coffee; and when I read comments on your Flickr, I think “What are all these old geezers doing here!? PERVS.”
Also, the name “Mareen” must imply something weird or not serious to not-Germans.

Just let your portfolio speak for yourself! (or go buy a big fat gold chain with M.F. on it.)