"Everyone with a camera calls themself a photographer..."

[Battou]

y'know what happens to people that carry a knife? they get shot. lol.

As a swordsman, I take offence to that.

 

[notelliot]

As a swordsman, I take offence to that.

charge with your sword at a guy with a shotgun. we'll have to ask the guy with the shotgun what happened.

 

[Battou]

charge with your sword at a guy with a shotgun. we'll have to ask the guy with the shotgun what happened.

I have...and lived to tell about with out any extra orfaces...but that is off topic

 

[notelliot]

 

[Edward Crim]

If you lived in St. Louis, dressed nicely, and abided by my rules (though you are kinda young).
Keep at it Valerie, keep asking until you find someone nicer than the person who dismissed you with such a tirade. Call on photographers - be neat, professional and persistent, read all you can about photography (the library is a good place; books are easier on the eyes than a computer screen), look at different photographers' styles, take lots of pictures, subsist on ramen noodles for the next 5 years or so (so you can invest your money in photography), and don't give up. The field of photography, just like every other field, needs new talent. Good luck!

Sincerely,

 

[notelliot]

subsist on ramen noodles for the next 5 years or so (so you can invest your money in photography)...

+1

i'm actually eating a bowl of ramen noodles RIGHT now haha

 

[chrisburke]

i haven't read through this forum... I have no idea what other people have said, so I may just e repeating others.. or not... I'm going to liken this topic to music... simply because music is something I know a lot about. I'm 23 years old... I've been studying music since i was 3.... I know almost everything there is theory wise about music... I am accomplished in 13 different instruments, and I play them all fluently. I play in bands, I've released 4 CD's, I've been on TV (because of music) I've been on radios, I've played THOUSANDS of shows, I've opened for some big names, and I've been the big name who was opened for... I am a musician. What makes me a musician? is it the fact that I have studied for 20 years? is it the fact that I have CD's... is it the fact that I am paid to play music? NO I am a musician simply because I play music... does it make me more of a musician than my friend who started playing guitar last year, NO.. it does make me a BETTER musician, but he is still a musician....

I take pictures... I happen to make money at it.. I've had photos published, I've had photography gigs... I am a photographer... does it make me more of a photographer than the guy who started taking pictures last week... NO, it just makes me better (I would hope) the dictionary defines photographer as a person who takes photos, therefore, YES everyone with a camera is a photographer... HOWEVER there are professional photographers, and hobby photographers... where you fit is up to you, and when you cross over to the other side is up to you, not some dick on a forum who says "all you people with dslrs think your photographers"

 

[mrodgers]

i haven't read through this forum... I have no idea what other people have said, so I may just e repeating others.. or not... I'm going to liken this topic to music...

<snipped to shorten it>

Ok, I have a guitar. I've had it for several years now. I started out on the internet at forums and lesson sites. I began with interest with online free lesson sites, but soon lost interest since it is a very cheap guitar and very difficult to play (talking VERY high action on the strings, it's a VERY cheap guitar). I do still pick up that guitar now and then because I have been able to do stuff such as play Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here. I also have some intros to some songs that I learned from tab and would like to learn further.

I have the guitar. But I probably haven't picked it up for 2 years. I can't play anything except for what I stated above, some intro stuff that I haven't even learned the entire intros. Does that make me a musician? The fact that I may know one or 2 scales and a few notes to the intro for a few songs?

Me with my guitar calling myself a musician is the same as some "soccer mom" with a camera taking snapshots being called a photographer. I am certainly not a musician just because I have a guitar and sometimes strum a pick across it. As is, the soccer mom is certainly not a photographer because she has a camera and is taking snapshots of her son playing soccer.

Chrisburke, the analogy you have expressed is absolutely correct as you've stated it. Your friend who shows the interest in playing a musical instrument and is learning it is every bit of a musician as you are. It is because he is actively pursuing the learning process, or has some knowledge and is actually using that knowledge. I am not pursuing learning the guitar, nor do I have any knowledge. I just pick it up now and then and mess around with it without knowing anything about it. The spread between your friend and you is correct in that you are both musicians. But when you spread it further apart to include me because I have a guitar and pick it up now and then to mess around, the statement becomes false. I am not a musician just because I own a guitar. Just as the soccer mom is not a photographer just because she shoots snapshots of her son playing soccer.

 

[abraxas]

Ok, I have a guitar.

... the same as some "soccer mom"

... As is, the soccer mom is certainly not a photographer because she has a camera and is taking snapshots of her son playing soccer.

...

Just as the soccer mom ...

... her son playing soccer.

(edited for entertainment purposes)

Not too far ot, but does a soccer mom have to either have a kid playing soccer, or be a mom and play soccer herself to be a soccer mom?

 

[mrodgers]

Not too far ot, but does a soccer mom have to either have a kid playing soccer, or be a mom and play soccer herself to be a soccer mom?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soccer_mom

"In North American social, cultural and political discourse, soccer mom broadly refers to a middle or upper-middle class woman who spends a significant amount of her time transporting her school-age children to activities such as soccer practice."

My appoligies. I shouldn't have specifically stated that she was snapshooting her son playing soccer, but should have stated "doing activities such as playing soccer....

 

[abraxas]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soccer_mom

"In North American social, cultural and political discourse, soccer mom broadly refers to a middle or upper-middle class woman who spends a significant amount of her time transporting her school-age children to activities such as soccer practice."

My appoligies. I shouldn't have specifically stated that she was snapshooting her son playing soccer, but should have stated "doing activities such as playing soccer....

So, if she has nothing to do with playing soccer and neither does the kid, but the kid takes photos, and she drops the little creep off at the zoo, she's still a soccer mom and not a photographer mom?

 

[someguy5]

soccer mom is just a term. All she needs is a minivan and she's a soccer mom, even if her kid plays baseball.

 

[caspertodd]

Well Luna, did you ever think that your thread would end up being a discussion on soccer moms?

As someone else stated on another thread over the same topic... photographers create a photograph using a camera rather than just taking a picture. Just as musicians create music rather than just playing a guitar.

 

[Stillsky]

Well Luna, did you ever think that your thread would end up being a discussion on soccer moms?

As someone else stated on another thread over the same topic... photographers create a photograph using a camera rather than just taking a picture. Just as musicians create music rather than just playing a guitar.

Not all musicians create music though.

 

[caspertodd]

Yeah, yeah, I know...you get the idea though...