doesnt mean that they need to be making money at that activity to be called professional.
In the ideal world both meanings would reside in the same person. In the real world, maybe yes, and maybe no. Caveat emptor.
They dont need to be paid in order to exude professionalism, but if they want to accurately call themselves a photographic professional, they do. Whether its working for jcpenney photo studio, national geo, or shooting weddings. Skill is not the difference between PROFESSION and HOBBY, COLD HARD CASH IS.
I chose this quote because I want to challenge anyone who supports this theory to find me ONE example of this in the real world. I mean where a large amount of people consider a person a professional who has never gotten paid from their profession and are not aspiring to ( ie. Business owner who has yet to make his first profit.). I have listed several of factual, real world examples, so either put up or shutup. I will list another just for good measure. A housewife bakes pies at home for family gatherings. This is a hobby, a labor of love if you will. She takes that SAME exact pie and skills, and sells them mail order, or opens a shop to sell them, and she is now a professional pie maker/baker etc. . Keep in mind " I consider him professional" and " I consider him A professional" are two different things. That "A" can really mess you up.
There's a chance you've missed what he's trying to say. Maybe you didn't. This is a debate over semantics. When someone says, "He's a professional basketball player," the first thing most people think of is, "Wow, he must be really good!" Not, "He makes money playing a sport!" Yes, he makes money playing basketball. Yes, he is good at it. The term invokes images of both.
Now, I tend to agree with you, that a professional, in the strictest sense, is someone who is paid to do whatever he's a professional at. BUT, for most people, the term professional invokes images of skill, not money. I do agree, there are plenty of examples where a professional has subpar skills, and there's few, if any, 'professionals' who make no money doing what they do. But this is all semantics. Because of how our language works, we have no word for people who are very good, but don't make money doing what they do. The word amateur is inadequate because it simply means, "does not make money doing this." In this case, the word professional, although not perfect, at least invokes the image of someone with skill. Until we have a better word for it, professional might just be the right word for the job.
I think I'm at the point of rambling now, but I hope it all makes sense. Basically, this is an argument over semantics. The word means both, and can (and will!) be used interchangably with regards to skill and getting paid.
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