ARE you pro?

[OceanRider]

How does one in photoography tell what to call yourself? Pro, semi-pro, amature, hobbist etc... I can't even think of all the titles. Is there school that ID's us or can you call yourself anything?


Joel

[CaseyScofield]

Hey Joel,

Don't know if this will help, but here is a link to another thread on the same topic.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=56856&highlight=Pro

I can only speak for myself, but once I decided to charge people for my work, that's when I adopted the title "Pro". Up until then my title just kept growing (in my mind) from hobbist to amature to semi-pro to Pro...

hope it helps.

[PhotosGuy]

Is there school that ID's us or can you call yourself anything? Yes. The "School of Life"!
Years ago, there was a guy in the area calling himself the "Hillbilly Snapshooter". Aleays wore a ratty old straw hat & bib overalls. His wife shot, too. Didn't understand exposure so she would shoot a roll of 36 using every possible setting on the cam, as in f-1.4 to f-16, & 1/1000 on down to 1/30 sec. And I thought my 6-stop brackets were big!
Point is, she was a "Pro". ;-)

[Jesper]

I don't think that's such a difficult question:

Pro = photography is your main source of income
Semi-pro = you earn money with photography regularly, but it's not your main source of income
Amateur = you don't earn money (or just once in a while) with photography

[chtgrubbs]

A professional photographer is someone with six cameras and a working spouse.

[robertwgross]

You can call yourself a freelance photographer, which simply means that you do not have a single regular employer and you have a camera.

---Bob Gross---

[steven]

A professional photographer is someone with six cameras and a working spouse.
I alway get that backwards and go for the six wifes and a working camera:):twisted:

[defordphoto]

I alway get that backwards and go for the six wifes and a working camera:):twisted:

I hate when that happens... :shock:

[Avalonthas]

Personally I dont feel anyone in the world is a pro including myself. We all have areas for improvement, as we all have different disciplines of photography and no one can get that perfect shot without some post processing. So I think everyone who is good is Semi-Pro and then grade others accordingly below that. If any of you disagree, I want to see ur unedited perfect photo lol!

[ChadClancy]

Who ever said Pro=perfect

This isn't the case in any professional field.

[KennyG]

Do not confuse 'Pro' with 'Artist'. A pro is someone who gets reward for doing his/her work, simple as that. It does not matter if it is their only source of income or not, as long as they are being paid for their work, then they are professional photographers in the eyes of everyone except some 'art' snobs. Unfortunately, there are people who use the title 'pro' as a means of indicating that they have talent, which far too often they do not.

Whether someone is an 'artist' is a different question and in my opinion there is no right answer. For example, I think a lot of Adam's work wouldn't pass muster if it were submitted to these forums today and if we didn't know who he was. The pixel peepers would tear it to bits and other experts would criticise the composition, exposure and choice of subject.