At What Point Can You Properly Call Yourself a Photographer?

[Canadian Mum]

Originally Posted by xxpinballxx

its not so cut and dry.
I think a photographer is someone who thoughtfully goes about taking photos. I think a person you takes the time to learn about its rules and implements them when they are shooting is a photographer.

This is a lot of what I thought when I first read the poll. It isn't nearly that cut and dried! I am learning, I am taking the time to learn the rules and the tools and the features of my camera. I have started to try implementing those rules. I don't feel I am a photographer. Do I take a lot of pictures... damn rights... a lot! I may be an aspiring photographer... but I am a long long way off from calling myself an outright photographer.

[xxpinballxx]

I'd say Im definitely a hobbyist photographer....would never introduce myself as a photographer but I do think I am one in my level qualifies me. I know quite a bit after this last year of reading and reading and more reading. I do consciously go through a process when shooting and try getting all those ducks in a row. I feel I shoot often enough to say photography is a large part of who I am at this time in my life.

[psykon99]

Originally Posted by Sime™

...If a kid picks up my DSLR and snaps off a shot that just happens to be brilliant, does that make him or her a photographer? Most would say not... Why then, if I had taken the shot, do I have any more right to be called a photographer just because I take a thousand shots a week?... i'd say anyone that has a certain level of competance... and, because photography is subjective [one persons art is anothers eyesore] then, we're all photographers... right...urm...

[chuckle]

More food for thought: if it depends on your level of competence - then at what level of competence can you be considered a photographer?

[Saralonde]

I just think the term photographer needs a qualifier as mentioned before. If someone were to ask what I am, I'd say, "An enthusiastic amateur photographer." If I swam for exercise each morning, I'd say I was an amateur swimmer. I wouldn't be at the level of an Olympic swimmer (Are there pro swimmers? I guess Olympians are, in a way.), no one pays me, but I'm not doggy-paddling, so I guess I'm a swimmer. I just don't think you can draw strict lines. So for me, a photographer is anyone that works at improving their skill level on a regular, somewhat measurable, basis.

[the_camera_poser]

A photographer is an artist. Buying a camera doesn't make you an artist.

[Nicole]

I couldn't vote, I don't think that any of these are what I consider a photographer, since it's kind of a feeling from within thing. You can call yourself a photographer when you feel that you are a photographer (very philosophical, right? ). But regardless, if you don't feel like a photographer, then you probably aren't really there yet. And if you do feel like you're a photographer, who is anyone to disagree with you. I don't think that the ownership of a camera or putting your pictures online makes you a photographer any more than owning a fast car makes you a race car driver.

But otherwise, what Pinball said

[Aia Adriano]

Originally Posted by the_camera_poser

A photographer is an artist. Buying a camera doesn't make you an artist.

exactly.

I think everyone could be a photographer. Just not in a professional sense. All people are artists, and photography is an art. I don't think there is a straight-cut line when defining a photographer from a snapshooter.

[ELAY]

I think there is a grammar thing happening here, in that some of us are getting tripped up on the article in front of photographer.

I wouldn't hesitate to identify myself as "the" photographer, as in "who's the photographer who took this shot?" I think I would pause for a while, though, if somebody asked me if I were "a" photographer, as in "who here considers him/herself a photographer?" Some days I might put up my hand, some not.

As for what goes into my determination of what "a" photographer is, I'm not sure I can pin it down. I think many of us (me included) make an unconscious assumption that anybody who pulls $1000s worth of gear out of a bag must be "a" photographer, and maybe that somebody who is holding their P&S out at arm's length and looking at the LCD is not -- but of course that is ridiculous snobbery and I fight it (and hey, lots of high-end camera folks probably don't think a D40 owner like me is "a" photographer). Is it a quality thing? Again, hard to say -- some people work hard at it and just may not have a very good eye (again, me included most days). Does this mean they are not photographers?

I wonder why we all want to draw a line, and put some people on one side and some on the other?

[Sime]

So, based on the replies so far, are we saying that there isn't really a answer to this question?... I sort of hope so...

More food for thought: if it depends on your level of competence - then at what level of competence can you be considered a photographer?

....Can you hold a camera and produce an image that someone likes? Does it make you want to take more?....

Sorry Sime, i have to disagree. I think the pictures you have posted, and the ones i have seen are quite exceptional. I just wish i had the same eye for those shots myself.

Regards Carl.

kind of you to say, but, see the photos I take are far from the quality of a pro, so, we've just proved that you don't need to be much good to consider yourself a photograher?... lol

Maybe another question could be "why do you consider yourself a photographer, or, why don't you?"....

A child hitting a button doesnt study his shots and read forums to get better.....there is the difference!

but, he might afterwards?... can you call yourself a photographer retrospectively?!... lol

[carl yeomans]

I dont consider myself a photographer. I think i would call myself a photographer once my work is reconized, and i very much dought that will ever happen. What iam struggling with these days, is to come up with somthing fresh and not seen before. I dont want to just emulate other peoples shots. Sorry iam off on a tangent again.

Originally Posted by Sime™

Maybe another question could be "why do you consider yourself a photographer, or, why don't you?"...