Here ya go
a lot of you guys idolize this guy. I for one do not. But on the topic of who is a professional photographer and who is not...... Ken Rockwell is 100% right. So I copy pasted from his site for you to read.......Just because you have good gear and make a few bucks from a relatives wedding doesn't mean you are a pro. It means your a weekend warrior out making a few extra bucks with your fancy camera.....Plain and simple...Dont let your egos override reality 101. Professionals make the majority, if not all of their income, by pushing the shutter button year end and year out. This is not a hobby or side job for them.
Full-Time Career Pro
A Full-Time Career Professional Photographer is a person who has been a full-time photographer for his entire career.
He works all day, every day, ever since he graduated college.
These guys buy whatever gear they need, since the cost of gear is trivial compared to how much they use it. If something saves them 5 minutes a day or has a clearer viewfinder to peer through 12 hours a day, it doesn't matter if it costs $8,000. For these guys, even very little things, like AF sensors that don't clutter the viewfinder, are very important.
Full-Time Photographer
A full-time pro works the same as the Full-Time Career Professional Photographer, but failed at some other career and fell back on his hobby to try to make money.
If he hasn't been doing it very long, he may still worry about gear costs since he's not sure how long it will be until he'll get another real job. These worries come from back when he had a real job, and his boss tried to get cheap with the tools. The Career Pro doesn't worry: if a new tool saves him more time over its life than the cost of ownership, it's a no-brainer to buy it.
Professional Photographer
A professional photographer is a photographer who earns 100% of his income from photography. This is the definition required for entrance into the secret Nikon and Canon factory support organizations.
Amateur Photographer
People who earn less than 50% of their income from photography are amateurs.
People who shoot weddings every single weekend while holding down another job aren't professional photographers. People who sell prints at art fairs, but still have real jobs, are still amateurs.
Different people and organizations will argue over what income percentage defines professional. I won't get into that here, but these numbers vary wildly.
These weekend amateurs are all about the cash, and will shoot great pictures, but use the cheapest gear they can. That's OK, and the way to run a part-time business. Rich amateurs will buy any gear they want.
Your homeowners' insurance company probably will define you as a commercial enterprise even if you've sold just one photo, ever. Ask before you make that first print for a friend; you may invalidate all your equipment coverage!
For decades I avoided selling even one print. The jump in my insurance rates would have made the sale of a few prints pointless.
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