What kind of Photographer are You? Part 1

Every now and then I hear someone making the statement that they are a PROFESSIONAL photographer and shortly after that someone else gets in a huff about, “How can that person call themselves a Pro?” “They don’t have a studio”

used in store at K-Mart for jewelry display

“So and So bout that camera and now they think they are a Pro”

I would like to add my two cents in as what I think defines a Pro and what doesn’t

My teacher in college, Bob White, used to say there are three types of photographers in this world…
Professional: They know what they are doing and they make a living at it.
Amateur: They know what they are doing, they just don’t make money doing it
Picture Shooters: Everyone else

I always like this analogy

Some folks say that they have professional ethics so that makes them pro…but think about it. How many business people act unethically? Not all, but I think we can all think of a few (Banking comes to mind). Professional ethics are great,, but they are the icing on the Professional Cake and not line in the sand

I like to think that professionals without ethics/standards don’t earning a living for very long, but there are the occasional snake oil salesmen

If you are in business then you know to get references and to check them out, that’s part of your ethics/standards. Don’t expect less from a photographer/business then you would from yourself

Just because you have an expensive camera does not make you a pro or give you justification to try becoming a pro photographer. Same is you bought expensive golf clubs, you wouldn’t try to justify it by trying to get into the PGA. Would you?

Oh and here is a recent What the Duck comic strip I think is fitting.

What the Duck

Thank you Aaron Johnson for letting me posting your work

This entry was posted on Friday, August 28th, 2009 at 9:44 am. It is filed under Business and tagged with Business, career, genre, industry, photographer, style. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.