swamiji Posted May 27, 2010 Share #41 Posted May 27, 2010 Advertisement (gone after registration) I like the term semi-pro. It's just vague enough to be meaningless. I get paid from time to time, I have some work displayed in various venues, but I still need a job.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted May 27, 2010 Posted May 27, 2010 Hi swamiji, Take a look here Hobby vs. Pro. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
pgk Posted May 27, 2010 Share #42 Posted May 27, 2010 Well. I'm a full-time 'pro' and in September I will celebrate 20 years as such. However..... Life is difficult to put badges on and I've been led into numerous 'associated' areas of work along the way, including publishing (last year - a technical, photographically illustrated book on identifying fish), tv work - because of my subject knowledge, commercial diving (don't ask - never again), and innumerable other little offshoots. Most involve photography somewhere or other. And I still shoot images for my own pleasure too - does this bit count as 'amateur' I wonder? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MPJMP Posted May 27, 2010 Share #43 Posted May 27, 2010 Pure amature. I have had some work published over the years and have accompanied working pros as their secondary, but never for pay. I've had offers from friends and co-workers to be their wedding or event photographer, but I always refer them to real working pros. According to the merry band of thieves who run the IRS, I'm a "hobbyist." According to the insurance company, I'm a "professional." Go figure. This is one reason I refuse any offers of payment for anything photography related. My insurance company says that if I use my camera equipment to earn income then I am a "professional" and have to buy a separate rider to cover theft or damage. Not worth it to me considering the opportunity to earn a few bucks only comes once in a blue moon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ndjambrose Posted May 27, 2010 Share #44 Posted May 27, 2010 I entirely agree. Sometimes the word "Professional" is equally strangely used. There is a magazine here in the UK called "Professional Photographer", but, personally, I don't think it seems to be aimed very precisely at professionals. Going slightly off-topic, but I agree. The market for that magazine is somewhere around 'aspiring neophyte'. People who actually take photographs for a living wouldn't bother with it. I actually think professional has become a bit of a pejorative term, at least in photography. After all, photography is one of the very few lines of work that requires no training, no skills, and where the only barrier to entry is finding a camera that works, and then finding a client who knows less than the photographer :-) Sadly, for many people, that's quite an easy ask. I class myself as an amateur in the true sense -- someone who pursues something because they love it. I happen to make money from it too, but that's incidental to the purpose, and it's always on my terms. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pgk Posted May 27, 2010 Share #45 Posted May 27, 2010 After all, photography is one of the very few lines of work that requires no training, no skills, and where the only barrier to entry is finding a camera that works, and then finding a client who knows less than the photographer :-) Sadly, for many people, that's quite an easy ask. Well wrong and right. There is still a belief amongst many that no training or skills are required. The tend to get what they pay for! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ndjambrose Posted May 27, 2010 Share #46 Posted May 27, 2010 Paul - exactly, but that was really the point I was making. The discerning person recognises that results are related to skills and experience. But there's nothing to prevent someone picking up a camera for the first time ever, and declaring themselves a professional ten minutes later. Hence the over use of the term, and magazines that market themselves specifically at people who may well have done just that.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
giordano Posted May 27, 2010 Share #47 Posted May 27, 2010 Advertisement (gone after registration) I feel uneasy describing myself as "a photographer" at all. (Quite right too, I can hear you say after looking at my pictures.). Photography has sometimes helped me earn a living - but as part of a salaried job, never by actually selling photographs. But really I just make pictures to please myself - so I'm definitely an amateur. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Markey Posted May 27, 2010 Share #48 Posted May 27, 2010 The term professional has been much degraded in the UK of late. It seems to attach itself to every job description and every kind of activity.I`m no longer sure what the term is meant to convey. I`ve been taking snaps of family and friends since about 1973. I still am. I have a better idea these days of some of the issues and ideas which surround the activity but I remain a snapper. Alas I`m no longer a whippersnapper Michael Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pop Posted May 27, 2010 Share #49 Posted May 27, 2010 Me Dilettante. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
twittle Posted May 28, 2010 Share #50 Posted May 28, 2010 LoL! Not at all. It's just a label, after all. Actually, the term I find most pejorative is "expert" - I distrust anyone who styles themselves as an "expert" in anything Agreed. A self-styled expert need not be trusted. On the other hand, when others bestow that term on someone, I tend to be somewhat less skeptical. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hw9l Posted May 28, 2010 Share #51 Posted May 28, 2010 Another amateur here. I do sell something occasionally, but that is not even enough to pay for my gear, let alone make a living of it. I shoot happily in the times inspiration hits me, and I leave my gear in the office when it doesn't. A wedding or similar from time to time, some orders that force me to get a specific result, but nothing that really pays for my living. I love it that way. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
3rdtrick Posted May 28, 2010 Share #52 Posted May 28, 2010 I am a hobbyist, amateur and need my day job (lots of overtime) to pay for my Leica gear. Pete Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Misha Barsukoff Posted May 28, 2010 Share #53 Posted May 28, 2010 I'm pure ameture and proud of it:D Sometimes my prints are exibited,sometimes people buy them... But I dont get much from it:mad: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael-IIIf Posted May 28, 2010 Share #54 Posted May 28, 2010 I'm proud of my amateur status, and of going on trips and taking snaps, rather than embarking on journeys and capturing images A good friend told me his first lesson in journalism school was to avoid the French derived words if you don't want to sound poncey. Use Anglo-Saxon root ones instead. Trips, journeys; going, embarking - a perfect illustration. Me, I would have classed my self as an amateur a few years ago, now I just take family snaps and I'm very happy with that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
christoph_d Posted May 28, 2010 Share #55 Posted May 28, 2010 LoL! ... I'm proud of my amateur status, and of going on trips and taking snaps, rather than embarking on journeys and capturing images ... Bill, I understood that Alfred Stieglitz in his earliest writings concerned himself with two aspects of photography, amateurism and travel - can you see some similarities "By amateurism he meant serious dedication to photography for love, not for profit" (quote from "Stieglitz on Photography", Aperture, ISBN 0-89381-804-6) I can agree with that view... Wishing you all a good weekend with lots of nice photographic opportunities... Christoph Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maggie_O Posted May 28, 2010 Share #56 Posted May 28, 2010 A good friend told me his first lesson in journalism school was to avoid the French derived words if you don't want to sound poncey. Your friend should have skipped "journalism school" and gone to work as a reporter then. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
atournas Posted May 28, 2010 Share #57 Posted May 28, 2010 Two R's, two M's, plus nine lenses, plus pro MF and LF stuff (all analog), yet completely amateur for more than 17 years now. Paul Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pgk Posted May 29, 2010 Share #58 Posted May 29, 2010 "By amateurism he meant serious dedication to photography for love, not for profit" I can think of two amateur photographer friends. One refuses to sell images (although he will give someone a print for a charitable donation). He really enjoys his photography and produces some spectacularly good images. The other has 'dabbled' with selling and taking commissions and has found this to to be unnerving, as a result I suspect, it may well have spoilt his enjoyment of photography to some degree. Pro photography has a lot in common with wrecked gold-bearing galleons! Unlike the popular perception, wrecks are not sitting intact and upright on the seabed waiting for discovery and easy removal of the treasure. They are indistinct, broken up and buried and require substantial dedication to locate, uncover and extract what remains of any value. Many give up and become disillusioned trying to find them as do many would be pro photographers when the reality of making a business out of a hobby becomes apparent. Pro photography is not about taking stunningly beautiful images and being paid handsomely for them (at least very, very rarely) but about making a skill pay. Much of it is about finding clients who want your work, finding enough of them and then most important of all, delivering what they want, when they need it. Amateurs have the luxury of being able to take time over producing an image, with no deadlines and no worry about payment should the image fail to meet expectation. I have a great deal of respect for some amateur photographers who take breathtakingly good images. Personally, I try to shoot some material purely for myself simply to keep up my enthusiasm for photography. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lieberdavid Posted June 2, 2010 Share #59 Posted June 2, 2010 Hi Everyone, I'm an amateur. Cheers! David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert blu Posted June 2, 2010 Share #60 Posted June 2, 2010 Hallo to everybody, my first post here. I'm amateur and I like the freedom this gives me when I take pictures. I'm the only one to satisfy with my pictures. Ok, than there is my wife, there are the friends of my fotoclub and many others... robert Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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