When can you legitimately call yourself a photograper?

[amlansanyal]

when u spend hours looking at your photos and get involved in it and start loving the moment captured from your heart, only then u know u are a photographer. people dont certify u, you certify yourself.

 

[ghache]

If you don't have the self confidence to call yourself a photographer, then you never will be one.

/end of thread.

 

[mwesley]

A professional photographer is simply someone who photographs as a profession. If you have been commissioned to capture and provide photographs to a client, you have photographed professionally.
A skilled photographer may or may not be operating as a professional; conversely, a photographer who lacks skill may still operate as a professional.
Clients look less at a photographer's technical skill, and more at the "feeling" present in a photograph. If a client is willing to pay you for your photographic services, you are a "professional."

 

[Stradawhovious]

I can haz photographer badge now?

I am a photographer because I photograph things. I'm no good, and my images suck which means that I'm a bad photographer........

But a photographer none the less.


So puhleeeze...... I can haz badge now?

 

[Drake]

Isn't it about the camera? Don't you become a photographer once you spend a certain amount of $ on equipment?

But seriously, if there was a definition of a photographer in a dictionary, it would probably state that a photographer is a person that takes pictures. Period. Of course such a definition is pretty wide and could be interpret in many ways, but I suppose that once you hold your camera and take a photo, you are a photographer. Doesn't mean if the photo is any good at all, but it is a photo and therefore you, as the person who took it, are a photographer.

Of course we can also assume that you become a photographer once you start thinking of yourself as one (assuming you also take photos, from time to time at least). I don't think that others have the right to decide whether someone is a photographer or not. Would one photographer's opinion be enough? Or would we need all of them positive? Is that even possible for most amateur/semi-amateur photographers?

 

[lyonsroar]

I've been thinking about this a lot lately.

I think it's when you start consciously thinking how you would go about photographing a certain object you see.

When you start photographing things that do not have personal emotional feelings attached to them by yourself. (kids, pets, etc)

When you start taking pictures to take pictures, not to merely document an event. (birthday party, graduation, etc)

Also;
I would not call everyone with an iPhone and the Instagram app a photographer...

 

[AtlPikMan]

You can't.

You have to wait for someone else to call you a Professional Photographer.

Was that the moment? Drats, wish i found this thread eariler...I didnt have time to savor that moment.

 

[KmH]

All it takes to qualify as a photographer is to release a shutter.

From Dictionary.com:
pho·tog·ra·pher
   http://app.dictionary.com/signup/po...lbackAction=addToFav&domaindest=reference.com/fəˈtɒg

rə

fər/ Show Spelled[fuh-tog-ruh-fer] Show IPA
–noun a person who takes photographs, especially one who practices photography professionally.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

So it's really that simple, eh?

The minute I change the air filter in my car, I am an auto mechanic?
If it is so simple, my resume could get quite long, quite fast!

I added numbers today, I am now both a mathmatician, AND an accountant.
I mixed pharmacutical grade chemicals today too, am I chemist and a pharmacist?

 

[vtf]

All it takes to qualify as a photographer is to release a shutter.

From Dictionary.com:
pho·tog·ra·pher
   /fəˈtɒg

rə

fər/ Show Spelled[fuh-tog-ruh-fer] Show IPA
–noun a person who takes photographs, especially one who practices photography professionally.

Whew!!! I barely made it.

 

[MichiganFarts]

Actually, also according to dictionary.com, a pharmacist has to be "licensed to prepare and dispense drugs".

Both mathematicians and chemists were described as an "expert" or "specialist".

And the mechanic,

me·chan·ic

   /məˈkæn

ɪk/ Show Spelled
1. a person who repairs and maintains machinery, motors, etc.: an automobile mechanic.

I don't know if changing the air filter could be called repairing, just maintaining. Seems like you have to do both to be a mechanic.



ac·count·ant

   /əˈkaʊn

tnt/ Show Spelled[uh-koun-tnt] Show IPA
–noun a person whose profession is inspecting and auditing personal or commercial accounts.

 

[inaka]

Labels and titles don't impress me at all.
They're irrelevant to me.

Quality photographs impress me. I personally don't care what anyone calls themselves, or what equipment was used to capture the shots. There are pinhole cameras that can yield a more impressive image then the best camera/device available, just like their a complete amateurs who may be lucky enough to capture an image that trumps what seasoned professionals may produce. Again, it's the quality of the work, not the labels or equipment.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

So it's not that simple then?

 

[MichiganFarts]

Labels and titles don't impress me at all.
They're irrelevant to me.

Quality photographs impress me. I personally don't care what anyone calls themselves, or what equipment was used to capture the shots. There are pinhole cameras that can yield a more impressive image then the best camera/device available, just like their a complete amateurs who may be lucky enough to capture an image that trumps what seasoned professionals may produce. Again, it's the quality of the work, not the labels or equipment.

Have you ever considered, then, that your ego is not big enough? You need to work on that more, to care about superficial titles.

 

[inaka]

So it's not that simple then?

Is it ever? :mrgreen: