What makes a Professional Photographer?

Perhaps this is a very subjective matter in photography. You can actually twist the words around and yet to get different meaning. You can think and compare of an amateur photographer and a professional photographer. You can think of how “professional” a photo is taken and how “amateur” the photo is.

To me, digital photography is my new hobby and I never really thought of turning it into a profession. I simply snap pictures of what I want, when and where I want. That certainly makes me an amateur photographer. But professional quality photos can be achieved because photography skills can be developed and yet you don’t need it to be a profession.

“If you want to photograph professionally you'll make less money, have to shoot the boring stuff in crappy locations for which you're hired, shoot it the way the client wants, and probably have to shoot everything as if it's some big emergency every time. You'll probably only be able to afford beat up old gear that's "good enough."” – kenrockwell (source: http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/go-pro.htm)

Photography can be profitable profession in the sense that you need to have a big name in the market. I think what he meant by making less money is because of the number of photographers out there. More professional photographers are able to cope with photography demands therefore affecting the profitability for photography business. Subjectively, it can also depend on where you are because of different demands.

“With a professional photographer, you'll only see one in ten of the pictures he takes, whereas an amateur will show you all of his” – Kevin Gilbert (source: http://www.wellho.net/mouth/97_What-makes-a-professional-photographer-.html)

I personally like this one as in you can get to display only the best shot or shots you took but not all photos. This is likely because it makes you have and strengthen the ability to differentiate qualities of photos taken. Showing all might reveal the mistakes you made although at times you won’t get it noticed until someone does. But on the bright side, for amateurs this can be useful as a method to improve through constructive criticisms.

My take is that to be a professional photographer may require you some years developing, mastering and perfecting your photography skills. It is a form of art that can also be taught and learn. Some say it’s the “how” not on the “what” you have to come out with professional looking photos but I kind of partially agree with this because for some photos you need to have some types of lens to achieve the desired results. Working with what you have might not be able to produce all results.

It all depends on whether you want to view photography as a job or hobby. You can be called a professional photographer with tons of equipments, but that doesn’t guarantee that you can take professional quality shots. Let’s practice on getting a great shot instead.