What Makes Someone A "Photographer"?

I’ll be honest. Even though I love to take pictures and pretty much always have some sort of camera with me, I often don’t think of myself as a “photographer”.

• I don’t have the most fancy or expensive gear (the majority of pictures I take these days are with my Pixel phone).

• I don’t know all my camera settings (seriously, my Canon 80D lives in “aperture priority” mode, and “auto” ISO).

• I do have Lightroom, but I can’t remember the last time I took more than about 5 minutes to edit any single image (use a lot of presets and auto buttons).

• While I do get the occasional positive raves, most of the pictures I take (and even share) aren’t even all that (objectively) good.

• I would laugh and point them in a much better direction if anybody ever thought it was a good idea to try to pay me to take their picture.

But …

If there’s a case to be made that I might be a “photographer” after all, the picture above on the left would probably be a good exhibit to try to bolster the argument.

So how can we tell if someone is a photographer?

First, let’s start with what does NOT automatically make someone a photographer …

• Fancy Gear

• A Gallery Website

• A Watermark on every picture they ever share

• A business card that says “photographer”.

Don’t get me wrong, today’s modern cameras can produce some amazing images; sometimes just by pointing them in the right general direction.

But …

I remember reading about an experiment several years ago where a group of talented and accomplished photographers were giving old, cheap, low-quality android phone cameras, then turned loose in a city to see what type of images they could produce.

I bet you can guess the results.

So it’s not the camera.

This is one of my recent “Picture of the Day” posts.

Maybe a clue?

Here’s what I think could be the main differentiator …

A person who takes pictures, points their camera at what’s in front of them and clicks the shutter.

A Photographer …

• Has Intention

• Has Imagination

• Will do Whatever It Takes to get the shot

Of course, even if you’re a “photographer” things don’t always work out.

If I share a dozen pictures that I actually like, I probably took at least 200 (and most didn’t even get past the “should I edit this or not?” stage).

Maybe that’s another hint?

Actual photographers are often very critical of their own work.

For me, I think the #1 indicator of a photographer has nothing to do with their pictures or gear.

If I see someone:

• Climbing a tree

• Hanging over a balcony

or

• Laying on the ground contorting themselves into poses that would make a yoga teacher proud

… just to get the shot they’ve envisioned.

Yep, Probably a Real Photographer

I still don’t know.

Based on all of this, I might be a photographer.

But even if I am, I’m not even the best photographer in our house.

Last night we went down to the river to take some photographs.

My Picture of the Day was “okay”.

But then I saw Kelly’s favorite picture that she’d captured, and loved it so much!

… and the best part?

This is almost exactly the picture that she talked about wanting to take while we were still driving towards the river.

In other words, she “saw it in her mind” before she ever saw it through her lens.

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Your Turn:

What do you think makes someone a “real” photographer?

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Til next time,

Todd

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