No, it isn't a problem. The point about logos is that they don't actually need to be legible. If it were merely a shape, it wouldn't be legible at all but it would still be a logo. Wherever this logo is used, there'll always be other text near by which makes it quite clear that the name of the firm is note photography. It doesn't require a lot of imagination to "see" the letters in the logo after that. I think this is distinctive enough to be memorable too so after a while, no other associated text would be even necessary.
I like this newer one a lot and I hope your photographer friend does too.