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In the age when everyone is taking photos, what makes a photographer?

by 23 Comments

“Everyone’s a photographer nowadays.” How many times have you heard this phrase? This video from Erik Wahlstrom addresses it, and deals with one question I’ve been thinking a lot – in this era when photography’s so available, what makes a photographer? If “everyone is a photographer,” is anyone?

This question has been on my mind a lot, and I never came up with a straightforward answer. I’m sure I’m a person some photographers would scoff at and say the phrase above. On the other hand, I think the same for some camera owners who present themselves as photographers. Everyone’s taking photos today, that’s for sure. But who, among all these people, can call themselves a photographer?

 

Joe Edelman addressed a similar issue in his excellent video “What does it mean to be a professional photographer.” While he focuses on professionals, Erik goes wider and focuses on photographers in general. As a hobbyist, this is what concerns me more and this is what I tend to think about more often.

The fact is that photography has become more available than ever. On the one hand, the very gear has become more easily accessible to everyone, considering that even phones can take photos of pretty good quality. On the other hand, it’s easier than ever to share your work, find the like-minded people and attract the audience. All this results in a vast amount of photos and those who take them. And in this sea of photos and people with cameras, does the word “photographer” still mean something?

As Erik says, he feels in his guts that it does. For example, you won’t call your aunt with her cat snapshots a photographer. Or a friend who shares stylish shots of his dinners on Instagram. But these are the extremes, and in reality – the line between a photographer and a camera owner is sometomes blurred.

So, is it a skill that makes you a photographer? Your knowledge of the craft, the willingness to learn, artistic expression, or something else? I believe it’s all of these things and more. I think it’s also the love you feel for the process of taking (creating) photos, rather than a need to shoot something just so you can post it on Instagram.

The bottom line is, according to Erik, that it all boils down to the perception. If you think of yourself as a photographer, it probably means you are one. Maybe it sounds simplified, but really, it all comes down to this. This sentence got me the closest to the answer I’ve been looking for.

I studied the English language. I make a living from one of the things I love most – writing. As for photography, I don’t live from it. There’s a ton of things I still haven’t tried in this field, and I still make rookie mistakes from time to time, even after all these years. But do I see myself as a photographer? Yes, I do.

With all my mistakes and slow learning, it’s one of the things that I believe defines me as a person. It’s something I couldn’t imagine my life without, no matter how cliché it may sound. In my case, I believe it’s the love for photography, constant learning and the artistic vision that make me a photographer (although I don’t see myself as a great one).

And what do you think? What separates a camera owner from a photographer? And what do you think makes you a photographer? Share your thoughts in the comments.

[What Makes a Photographer? | Erik Wahlstrom]

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  • Buying a Ferrari doesn’t make you a race car driver. Being able to push a button doesn’t mean you’re a master of composition and lighting.

  • Low Hanging Fruit

    Perhaps the making of images was misnamed by Fox Talbot at the outset when he came up with the two root words, which are roughly, Photo (light) and Graph (drawing), drawing with light?

    This would suggest that people that do that, rather than attempting to record stories and events in pictures, are actually quite rare. Suffice to say that many of them are involved with landscape, architecture and abstraction, rather than the former, they are never happier than when planning the creation of a future photo-graph.

    The rest of the people on the planet, those NOT reading blogs like this are more attracted to the idea that recording family, personal and newsworthy events in pictures adds an awful lot to their story.

    But for the photographer, where to go, where to stand or set the tripod, where to point your most appropriate tool and all of the choices (or overrides) that one has to make. There are decisions to be made about the season for weather, and the time of day, for the light, and many more. It could take months…

    …far too long. After all, it only takes a second to get a good snap of your dinner!

    Oh and Stephen King is right, the difference between an amateur and a pro, is mostly to do with being paid or not. Being a pro does not necessarily make you better, indeed some professionals have been known to submit work that they knew to be inferior (they had a bad day), but still had to give it to their sponsor and receive payment. A pro has to consider issues around the business and then fit the making of pictures into the remaining framework.

    An amateur is free to preserve personal integrity should s/he wish to.

  • Attitude.

  • Main difference between make a photography, and take a photography.

    Though, it’s quite shocking to see the whole difference between one letter only :o

  • Making money doing it. That’s it.

    • Trey Villarreal

      I made a few bucks shooting my 18 yr old cousin’s party once. Well that was easy!

  • Anyone who has ever taken a photograph was a photographer at the time they took it regardless of what medium they took it on. Just like anyone who had driven a car can call themselves a driver or anybody who has ever written a story can call themselves a writer.

  • passion that shows in the final print.

  • can I say I’m a “demiphotografer” :P?

  • Bokeh

  • If you are using a camera to take a photo, you are a photographer.
    Doesn’t mean you’re any good at it.
    If you in turn are able to convince people to part with their money for the photo’s you take, then good for you.
    The real difference, are those that take photos, and those that create images. But they are both photographers.

  • It’s almost like those that consider themselves to be pro’s, suffer from either some kind of elitism, or insecurity, and can’t handle the fact that photography has become more accessible to more people.
    I think it’s fantastic. Photography gave me the gift of really being able to SEE. I wish everyone could have this opportunity

  • Jimmy Harris

    Does it matter? It’s a name. It’s meaning only carries as much weight as it is allowed to by the individual exposed to the word. Everyone IS a photographer. There’s no special license or certification you need to call yourself one. You don’t even need to own a camera! Not everyone is a good photographer, however. And a bad photographer can still take a great photograph.

    It’s best not to get bogged down in semantics and labeling and trying to divide the world up into meaningless categories that serve only your own ego. That kind of behavior is self destructive. Reserving the label of “photographer” for a select few doesn’t improve your skills any, but rather just reflects your own insecurity. Your work should speak for itself, regardless of whom you share a title with.

    Besides, it doesn’t matter if you’re the greatest photographer of all time if you’ve never sniffed the limits of your own potential. Your time is better spent focusing on your own creative journey rather than worrying about how many people you are allowed to feel superior to.

  • I think the moment when I started considering the background in photos, and not just the subject, is when I became a photographer. Basically, when I started considering the image as a whole.

    • Does that then mean if I’m removing a sliver, I’m a nurse or a surgeon? How about changing my cars air filter then I’m a mechanic? Using a camera does not make you a photographer. Sorry, not directed at you.

  • your audience. at the bare minimum, you can be your own audience.

  • Really I think it’s the intention. Do you photograph for fun/hobby? Then you’re a photographer. Do you have a camera and only use it to document events? Then you’re a camera owner.

  • It’s an interesting question, which I can only answer with my own experience. I’ve owned various levels of cameras throughout my life, and finally got a DSLR two years ago. But that wasn’t the moment I became a photographer, in my own eyes. That moment came gradually over the next year when I began paying as much attention to the background of a photo as the subject. In other words – when I had interest in the entire image. That definition might not work for everybody, but there’s a clear before and after for me.

  • Albin

    When I was young my mother read me a joke from Reader’s Digest that stuck, something like this: The successful son knocks on his mother’s door, and she opens it to see him in a braided yaching cap and blue blazer with brass buttons. He says, “Hi Mom, I got my boat, now I’m a Captain!”

    Mom says, “Son, to you you’re a Captain. To me, know that you will always be a Captain. But, to the Captains are you a Captain?”

  • A photographer is a person taking a photograph.

    Unless you’re referring to what’s the difference between a hobbyist and a professional.

  • TO BE ABLE TO SEE A IMAGE BEFORE TAKING IT.

  • To be paid for taking photo.

  • Jakub Janiszewski

    Cool article. Photography is an art form isn’t it? Would the difference ultimately be that you treat taking photos as an art (whether that’s documentary or artistic photography), rather than purely recording what goes on around you, to show to friends/post on social media? I guess this was mentioned as well in the article.

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