What constitutes a 'Professional' photographer?

[Bear Dale]

Saw this question somewhere else.

What does the word 'Professional' before the word 'Photographer' mean to you?

Does it add anything or is it just an upsell? Is it redundant adding it?

[I @ M]

Good kwestchun, I rekun it is a photogrepehr who can speek english and dont knead spell chk on their fone.

[ricktas]

*Approach
*Skill
*Attitude
*Results
*Professionalism
*Adaptability
*Business acumen
*Marketing skills
*Communication skills

and probably more, that I cannot think of right now. Note this doesn't just apply to photography, any business person in any industry should have the above as well. There is not a unique thing about photography that makes it any different to a professional in any other role/industry/career path

[Rattus79]

*Approach
*Skill
*Attitude
*Results
*Professionalism
*Adaptability
*Business acumen
*Marketing skills
*Communication skills

Well .... That counts me out then!

Technically, a Professional Photographer is a person with Pro level gear, an ABN number and a Registered Business name who sells his experience and/or photos for cash.

[jjphoto]

If you look up the definition of 'photographer' in reputable dictionaries ( http://www.onelook.com/?w=photographer&ls=a looks up a bunch of dictionaries at once) you will find that the word includes everyone who partakes in photography and NOT exclusively those who make a living from it, even if there is a bias towards the later. See a few examples below from well known dictionaries. Therefore it is not superfluous to use terms such as 'amateur' or 'professional' (in general usage or when it's not clear from the context) because being a 'photographer' does not automatically and exclusively define a person as a 'professional'.

http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dic...h/photographer
a person who takes photographs, either as a hobby or a profession

http://www.macmillandictionary.com/d...n/photographer
someone who takes photographs, especially as their job

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/photographer
: one who practices photography; especially : one who makes a business of taking photographs

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dict...h/photographer
a person who takes photographs, either as a job or hobby:

[arthurking83]

For years, I always thought that being a professional photographer meant you uploaded every one of your images to Facebook ten seconds before you took them!

obviously I was wrong.


But now I see that all you need to achieve this lofty status is that you need to accidentally drop your iPhone, where your outstretched fingertip only manages to operate the touch sensitive shutter during the camera's spiraling motion of doom .... but where the camera is then saved by the fortuitous location of your shoe, being in the right place at the right time .. and hence the exposure of a whirly shaped blurry vaguely shoe like pattern against the backdrop of a hard pavement is created ..... all posted on Facebook of course and processed with the latest greatest Instagram filter.

That's the actual definition of a professional photographer .....


.... otherwise you're wasting your time.

[ameerat42]

AK. But you are obviously missing the IMPORTANT point of the CREATIVITY that such uncoordinated and random acts of mediocrity engender.
Why, statistically, "Professional Photographer" should include those people who have no idea at all about photography and don't even own a camera.

(I was eating while I wrote this, so it is said ingest, amongst other moods.)
Am.

[mortalitas]

One would assume that it encompasses any individual whose profession relies heavily on the art of photography. Skill, talent and ability are negligible, simply relying on photography as your profession satisfies the claim of professional.

[Granville]

Professional - It is their profession. They can be good at it or bad at it like most professions, but it is what they do for, or to contribute to, a living.

[ameerat42]

Well, the consensus certainly does imply that "photographer" must be preceded by "professional".
The rest is open to Q.

The benefit of such a Q is that it gives the participants a good deal of aerobic exercise from the copious amounts of
arm waving that it generates.