What is professional?

A friend of mine and I were talking the other day and he said that, just for the heck of it,  he Googled the term Fort Wayne photographers. He said there were around 11 pages of photographers. He asked how there could be that many photography studios in a city the size of Fort Wayne. I told him was surprised there were that many. He said he looked at the websites of many of them and said there were wide variety of images in the sites he visited. He wondered if all these people were full time photographers.

I think the answer is that there are lot of people that shoot on a part time basis. For instance, a wedding photographer would shoot mostly on weekends and would be an ideal part time job to supplement a weekday job. Then, my friend asked me what the criteria is for calling yourself a “professional” photographer? He kinda stumped me on that one.

If you look up the word there’s a bunch of definitions there someone can use. It’s very open to interpretation. So, I’m gonna give you my opinion on the definition of a “Professional Photographer”. First all, to me a Pro derives the majority of his/her income from photography. Next, a Pro must be able to produce high quality images in a consistant and dependable manner. A lot of photographers can create a great photo, but can they recreate it on a regular basis? This brings us to the third point, a Pro must have knowledge of his/her craft. Without this, the previous point is unobtainable. And the fourth (and last point) is a Pro behaves in a professional manner. This means he/she puts his/her client’s interests first.

Now you can argue any of these points, especially the first one. Let me tell you how I see it. If someone is a banker during the week, but spends weekends shooting portraits. His/her professional is a banker and he/she makes a few bucks as part time photographer. Just same as if he/she did some roofing on the weekends. I wouldn’t call them a profession roofer.

Well anyway, that’s what I believe for what it’s worth. 🙂