Are you a photographer?

[candidrachel]

I hate it when people ask me that. I tend to look really uncomfortable and shift from foot to foot. I usually answer the question with well I am an "aspiring" photographer who just wants to take nice photos. I don't want to look all high and mighty when the said person who asked the question is standing there with a point and shoot.

How do you deal with people who just because you have a dslr and big lens think you are a "photographer"?

[lputman]

I tell them yes. Why would there be discomfort in the question. Just because you don't make a living from photography, doesn't mean you are not a photographer. There are all types of photographers...amateur, hobbyist, advanced hobbyist, professional, etc. So, are you a photographer?

[douglas]

If they are carrying a P&S, I would say "Yes, just like you"

[SusanH1970]

Originally Posted by lputman

I tell them yes. Why would there be discomfort in the question. Just because you don't make a living from photography, doesn't mean you are not a photographer. There are all types of photographers...amateur, hobbyist, advanced hobbyist, professional, etc. So, are you a photographer?

Great answer, Lori.

[BEGM83]

Id look at them like they had two heads then simply say "je nes comprends pas" if they start speaking french at me i'll switch and say "ich weiss es nicht"

Seriously though everyone who can hold a camera is a photographer or is a photographer at the point of taking the picture.

[private]

Originally Posted by lputman

I tell them yes. Why would there be discomfort in the question. Just because you don't make a living from photography, doesn't mean you are not a photographer. There are all types of photographers...amateur, hobbyist, advanced hobbyist, professional, etc. So, are you a photographer?

what she said...

[Mike367]

"Well, I'm taking photographs, so yeah."

Or, ala W.C. Fields " Go away kid, ya bother me."

[Mike367]

OK, the above answer was pretty much tongue in cheek, because I'm really more polite than that. Generally, I'll just smile and say "working on it" or something similar and break off communication, walk away, look through viewfinder, etc.

I have no desire to waste my time talking to a fool, and the question indicates that the interrogator is a fool because by definition a photographer is one who makes photographs.

[dcclark]

When someone meets me with my camera, it's almost always in the middle of the woods, or around abandoned mine ruins, or some other strange place like that. Nobody hauls a heavy lens out to a place like that unless they really mean it, so not too many people bother to ask me.

But yes, I am a photographer. I don't just take snapshots, I think about the photo which I'm about to take. To me, that's the key change, and I recall noticing my own change from one to the other.

[jpel3500]

I don't know, I don't think I will ever consider myself a photographer. Just like to take pictures and have them come out nice. I am learning alot on this forum, it's great.

Going to make a long winded analogy here, most of it paraphrased and shortened except the last statement. The one in quotes. The one I think hits all on the head:

A M*A*S*H episode. A concert pianist loses his right hand in a battle. Charles orders him some written music for the left handed pianist and the guy is pissed. But Charles encourages him by saying this (and I thought it was the greatest thing I ever heard then) Don't give up, I play the piano too.... but.... "I can play the notes, But I cannot make the Music!"

The music here is when someone that really knows what they are doing, can COMPOSE the picture to make it move the heart.

And that is just my humble opinion. And the difference between a photographer and a picture taker like me. grin. And that is NOT to put down anyone that is aspiring and getting to that point. We all have a beginning point.

JDPelfrey