Real Photographers Don’t Wear Sunglasses
Nov 13, 2025
David Prochnow
Our resident “how-to” project editor, David Prochnow, lives on the Gulf Coast of the United States in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. He brings his expertise at making our photography projects accessible to everyone, from a lengthy stint acting as the Contributing How-To Editor with Popular Science magazine. While you don’t have to actually build each of his projects, reading about these adventures will contribute to your continued overall appreciation of do-it-yourself photography. A collection of David’s best Popular Science projects can be found in the book, “The Big Book of Hacks,” Edited by Doug Cantor.
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[Please note: all of the pictures used in this article are fake AI-generated images.]
You’ve seen them out there…everywhere. The smartphone photographer holding a glass slab at arm’s length smearing the screen with fingers attempting to grab a new viral hit while wearing a pair of sunglasses and thinking they are gonna be the next Ansel Adams.
It’s enough to make you want to cancel your Adobe Photoshop subscription. Or, start another hobby.
Let’s get one thing straight right now: real photographers don’t wear sunglasses! End of story. Why? Because the world is already dark enough through the viewfinder of a DSLR without slapping on an extra layer of tinted coolness. It’s like editing your shots with “blind mode” turned on. A photographer in sunglasses is like a chef wearing oven mitts while chopping onions—stylish, perhaps, but catastrophically impractical.
Imagine it: you’re standing at golden hour, that sacred, variably-timed window when the sun kisses everything with liquid gold. Your camera’s ready, your subject’s glowing—and you’re fumbling with exposure because your shades make you think it is high noon in the Sahara desert. Congratulations, you’ve just invented a new photographic genre: underexposed regret.
Shades of Photo Glory
Real photographers squint. It’s part of the art form. Those furrowed brows and crow’s feet? That’s not aging—that’s dedication, baby. The squint is how we measure light, focus our vision, and silently communicate to a passersby, “Yes, I’m creating something profound here. No, I don’t need a selfie stick.”
Besides, sunglasses interfere with that mystical connection between eye and camera. How can you “feel” the scene if there’s polarized plastic separating you from reality? A true photographer welcomes the blinding glare, the teary eyes, the sunburned nose. That’s the price of passion—and possibly early cataracts, but hey, art demands sacrifice.
Sure, sunglasses might make you look like a rockstar, but photography isn’t about looking cool—it’s about making things look cool. So next time you see someone with a camera and shades, give them a sympathetic nod. They’re probably just a tourist. The real photographer is the one beside them, squinting heroically into the light, muttering about ISO, and seeing the world exactly as it is—no sunglasses required.
Enjoy.
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David Prochnow
Our resident “how-to” project editor, David Prochnow, lives on the Gulf Coast of the United States in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. He brings his expertise at making our photography projects accessible to everyone, from a lengthy stint acting as the Contributing How-To Editor with Popular Science magazine. While you don’t have to actually build each of his projects, reading about these adventures will contribute to your continued overall appreciation of do-it-yourself photography. A collection of David’s best Popular Science projects can be found in the book, “The Big Book of Hacks,” Edited by Doug Cantor.
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3 responses to “Real Photographers Don’t Wear Sunglasses”
😉👍☀️
Hi David,
I get the urge to roll one’s eyes at so called “influencers” (I call them “Influenzas” as the phenomena you described seems to be spreading). That said, if someone manages to say or achieve something interesting, I don’t care how they did it. That said… in most cases, the key word there is “if”.
Is this some sort of “rage bait” or rant?…. “End of story?” Really? Photography is often about nuanced story telling and you cut it short… That’s somewhat ironic.
So let’s discuss this, but we have to unpack your statement a bit in order to start.
What is a “real” photographer? If I’m out on the snow, or at the beach, you can bet I’m wearing goggles/sunglasses. Yes, I take them off when actually shooting, and I have a UV filter on my lenses. Eye protection for people living near that pesky ozone hole, so sunglasses are not an optional extra if you want to keep taking photos. If you’re in the northern hemisphere, perhaps in the UK or near the Arctic circle, I can see your logic, but your viewpoint is NOT universally true by any means.
Is this more about the sunglasses, or the phone thing?
It’s true, phones are catching up in image-capturing capability… not necessarily control… (and let’s ignore the whole AI added moon controversy) and yes there’s a lot of people are riding their auto-corrected, auto face-focussed, automatically sharpened and enhanced images to accomplish their photography goals. But that’s where a lot of photographers start these days. I don’t want to disparage beginners by any means. We all started somewhere.. some of us before the phone era… others during.
Pros are using their phone cameras for basic photo location reconnaissance, 3d virtual tours, using apps like Photopills, Matterport, Sun Seeker, Wind Seeker, and other augmented reality (AR) apps…. Does it matter if they are wearing sunglasses in these situations? Depending on the screen orientation to the polarised sunglass lenses, the sunglasses may pose no issue at all.
Now yes, everyone’s hoping to get a shot worthy of Ansel Adams… but I doubt they want to actually be Ansell Adams. His life wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, and I kinda prefer to be living photographer than a dead one. :-)
I freely admit that I’m being a little cheeky… and I mean no offence. Yes, I get what you mean.. just be careful with your generalities, ok?
As someone who shoots a lot in the desert, I can assure you that plenty of pro photographers shoot with sunglasses on.
“you’re fumbling with exposure” – you know cameras can calculate this for you, right? There’s a good chance your body can do so better and faster than you can in most situations.