Amateurs vs Pros (Interesting Quote!)

[Alex_B]

So Im guessing you are like my brother-in-law and, when you walk into someones house, the first thing you do is look in the refridgerator.

i do not raid other peoples fridges, usually.

 

[RacePhoto]

Have you guys read this great page? Seven levels of photographers

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/7.htm

Amateur is level 5, while pro is level 3

Very funny, excellent satire, self centered, personal piece. Loads of truth but a bit too high on the spiritual level for my taste.

He's nuts on for Level six however, and it could be said the same for any form of artistic expression.

It's almost as if someone could be multiple levels. I mean I could be a 2-4-5 (anyone do Type Types and personalities? like MMPI?) Some days I take snapshots (with a P&S), sometimes I think my equipment is better than I need to own, I make less than 50% of my income from photography.

2) Those who can, DO. Those who can't, TEACH. I don't really have much of a comment to this one other than many of the teaches/professors at the art school in our closest big city are total buffoons.

Sometimes generalizations are based on facts and true. :lmao:

I was a teachers assistant for a photography course. I guess that makes me a buffoon, not just a village idiot? The teacher was one of the exceptions, highest standards and wonderful person.

 

[JIP]

Not sure if this has been posted here before, but thought it was worth sharing something I came across...

Quote from David Hemmings:



Interesting!

I don't know it sounds interesting but it's pretty much crap. I mean if you look at just a couple of pros that get talked about here alot like The Strobist site, David Tejada and, Chase Jarvis who are all pretty much top professionals they all pretty much seem to have a reverence and high level of respect and concern for their gear even going so far as to post videos on the web showing the expensive cases they have to protet the gear they have such respect for and going through the various items they use on a daily basis.

 

[The Phototron]

I don't know it sounds interesting but it's pretty much crap. I mean if you look at just a couple of pros that get talked about here alot like The Strobist site, David Tejada and, Chase Jarvis who are all pretty much top professionals they all pretty much seem to have a reverence and high level of respect and concern for their gear even going so far as to post videos on the web showing the expensive cases they have to protet the gear they have such respect for and going through the various items they use on a daily basis.

Not necessarily so, the fascination over a camera and photo gears of an amateur is much greater than for a pro. The pros used the gears often enough to treat them just as such. Of course they still take care of their gears.

Also pros already have the gears they need to get the job done, amateurs are always looking for more or better gears to get better pictures.

The difference is qualitative, but a matter of degree.

 

[slickhare]

Even if you can produce fabulous shots, if you show up to shoot a wedding with a P&S camera, you're not going to garner the same respect as someone with a shiny, new DSLR with a long lens, even if the guy doesn't know what f/ is.

 

[JIP]

Not necessarily so, the fascination over a camera and photo gears of an amateur is much greater than for a pro. The pros used the gears often enough to treat them just as such. Of course they still take care of their gears.

Also pros already have the gears they need to get the job done, amateurs are always looking for more or better gears to get better pictures.

The difference is qualitative, but a matter of degree.

I'm not sure I understand what you are talking about here but do you mean to say a pro's gear just appears out of thin air so they don't really have to worry about it.

 

[The Phototron]

I'm not sure I understand what you are talking about here but do you mean to say a pro's gear just appears out of thin air so they don't really have to worry about it.

No. In essence, I mean to say pros have more exposure to the equipments, so they are less fascinated by them. That allows them to automate the equipment preparation part. Amateurs let the equipments take the lead. And as I said the difference is not a sudden transition, but a matter of degree. The quote just refers to the two polar extremes of this spectrum.

If that explains anything the rest of my previous post should fall in place.

 

[usayit]

Equipment and photographer must coexist for anything useful to happen.

Whether or not a professional or an amateur drools over their equipment more is irrelevant. The one that makes money is the professional and the one that doesn't is the amateur. Quality of the photos created and the business success of a photographer is an entirely different equation.

The more I read that quote the more I agree with JIP.... a lot of words that mean nothing.

 

[BAB]

I would say a good basic working definition of a professional photographer is one that earns 50% or more of his/her income from photography. The quote that was presented at the start of this thread IMHO is a broad generalization, that is probably true in some cases, but certainly not all.

 

[jotan82]

gotta agree with this 100%.

although amateur photogs are the one who really care what their status is in the photog world.

 

[Iron Flatline]

I'm so please someone has finally taken time out to comment on the Pro/Am differences/commonalities with a context of equipment/attitude. It's brand-new out-of-the-reply-box thinking that really sheds unique light on the question.

Good stuff, keep it coming.

No, really, I'm not being sarcastic at all.

Not even a little, I swear.

 

[monkeykoder]

An interesting side note is that this attitude often breeds another type of "amateur" that this thread talks about. The one that thinks because they use a holga they are a better photographer.

 

[Sideburns]

How bout this one?
Pros shoot photos.
Amateurs argue about who's a pro and who's an amateur on forums while the pros are shooting.

ahahaa...

Just joking guys.

 

[skieur]

I don't think that you can characterize or generalize amateurs, professionals, or teachers for that matter.

Pros do it for money. Amateurs do it for fun. There is a great range in teachers. Some are simply poor business types who can do good photography but can't handle marketing or other aspects of running a business. Some simply have no idea how to start a photography business.
In some colleges, high schools, and even arts schools, less than talented administrators may assign almost anyone available to teach photography in a particular time slot.

As to pros, there is quite a range from those who deal with the general public and may not require a high degree of either skill or talent through to those whose position or work is dependent upon maintaining extremely high standards. There are the specialists who only do sports, portraits, models, fashion, weddings, events, etc. through to generalists working for a large organization that may be doing public relations and photojournalism one day, and sports, fashion or business portraits the next. All pros are not necessarily great photographers but most do retain their artistic flair, if they had any in the first place.

There is quite a range of amateurs as well. At the low end are those who think they can simply point and shoot and create terrific artistic photos without any knowledge, learning, effort, experience, or practice. At the top end are those with background and experience equal to that of most pros with the only difference being that they have seldom if ever been paid for their work. Some amateurs without an artistic bone in their body, think that they are artistic photographers and a few actually have considerable talent.

skieur

 

[miguelcandela]

Interesting quote.

It´s true amateurs think about the camera as their most precious thing..with "certain amount of reverence". Well, that might be true. However, it´s also true that professional photographers always work with the best equipment and all the facilities that they have. What happens if a pro suffers an accident and the camera breaks? they get a new one or his agency will let him another camera. What would happen if the same unfortunetely event suffers the amateur? he will probably not take photographs whatsoever until he can afford a new one (months or even years).

Another issue is that the amateur does not earn any money with his picture while the pro does. So the pro can stop worryng about his equipment because he can afford to replace it at any moment...

And the last thing. Every single professional photographer has been an amateur at a time in his life...no one borns being a pro.

Take care everyone.