Pixiq

I think that if you really love taking photos, you want to learn more and more and you have a minimun sense of art and you express something in your photos (beauty, happiness... wathever while it has a ''soul'') you can call yourself a photographer and you are not anymore a ''family and friends shooter''.

And, about the amateur and professional thing... I think that only each one can say that. I saw a lof of professional's photos that seem to be taken by an amateur and vice versa.

By the way, sorry about my bad english and good post.

For me, a photographer is someone who is taking pictures with a camera. A Photographer (capital 'p') is someone who is *always* taking pictures ... or, put another way, someone who other people consider to be a photographer even when he/she isn't holding a camera.

What a nice, thought provoking piece. By your definition (and my own) I definitely am a photographer, though I suspect from the point of view of the elite I may not be!

In my opinion, everyone who takes photographs with the intention to create something of beauty is a photographer. And as we all know, everyone has a different idea of beauty, meaning you are the only one that can decide if you're a photographer or not.

A nice start point for thinking about what a photographer is or is not.

I miss some points I'll consider key, photography is far more than just a craft you can master with technique, it also implies responsibility on the messages your images gave. I cannot think of a person who just takes pictures and exhibits them (on the web or in a Gallery) as a photographer if that person is not aware of what she is taking pictures of, if she has no care of the environment while taking the picture, if she doesn't care about anything but taking a nice picture to show.

I'm a photographer as far as I use photography accordingly to my beliefs and ethics as a medium to create the pictures I use to communicate to other people, even if my income comes from other sources.

I couldn't agree more. I see so many pages on Facebook cropping up marking them Photography. I, myself, have such a page, but as of now I am a photography student enrolled at a college to obtain my Bachelor's degree in Photography. The people that like my page know this. But I am always researching tips and tricks to make my work better than it has been even outside of school. If you don't have a real passion for it, and take the time to make it better then to me you might as well be a 10 year old with a point and shoot simply snapping pictures, not a photographer taking photographs. I don't earn much from what I do right now, but ask any of my friends and family and they will refer to me as a photographer, even if only in training at this point.

Totally agree. I believe that I own a camera but I'm not photographer. I take the occasional good shot, I can sometimes turn an average shot into a good shot with Lightroom but that's about the limit of it.

My favourite memory of a so-called photographer was at a wedding. The "Photographer" was wearing a skin-tight black t-shirt with his company name and phone number across the back. He stood behind the couple after the vows, leaning against the wall, scrolling through his images to see what he had just taken. Having shot weddings on film for a few years I was ready to through him out the window.

Nice article.

Daniela,

Its interesting that you kept this article to are you a photographer, and not are you a professional photographer. In reading your article, it borders on the age old question of what is a professional photographer and are you one. No one really cares if you call yourself a photographer, but calling yourself a professional photographer is a totally different animal.

Anyone that has a camera is a photographer by defintion. Whether they are good at it or not they are photographers. Its a far different matter to call one's self a professional photographer, and a great deal of those individuals that consider themselves professional Photographers are far from it.

The debate has been ongoing for as long as I can remember and almost everyone has their own definition of what makes you a professional.

The people that are truely professionals could care less what they are called, and rarely will you hear them say, "I'm a Professional Photographer", the majority of us let our work speak for itself. Your work is what defines your talent and experience, and after 35 years of travelling the world with my camera gear in hand and being published more times than I can remember, It doesn't matter to me what others think about my status, its more about what I think about my work that matters.

Keith

My father (who I consider one of the best photographers I've ever known) told me when I was very young that there's a difference between a picture and a photograph. He compared a "picture" to a snapshot and described it as an uncomposed shot with little to no care or thought put into it. A "photograph" he would explain, was something created out of love and skill. How much skill doesn't qualify it, just that you were trying to apply something to the effort. It may not make the most sense, but it always stuck with me.

I've always considered myself a photographer because I don't just take pictures, I create photographs.