brandproductions wrote:Dave,
Ive seen some of your work and you perked my interest with your last post. Who would you consider to be a 'photographer?'
I would call myself a photographer because I take pictures both for fun and for a supplemental income from time to time. Dont get me wrong, I have a lot to learn about the art and I would consider myself at the bottom of the figurative ladder of photographic skill however, Im curious as to what your definition of the term would be. Especially after looking at some of your photos which I thought were pretty good.
~Kenny
You have to bear in mind that I tend to be self denigrating which makes me far more critical of what I do than maybe I should be. Personally I don't think that's a bad thing, because it means I always strive to improve and never get smug about my capabilities in anything I do. I see a lot of people calling themselves photographers and to be fair they see and take good pictures but when you look at the exif essentially the camera is doing the work to capture what they see, i.e. auto or P mode - not that there's anything wrong with that, but I wonder if they could do better relying on a little more knowledge and setting the camera up themselves? I believe the quality of a photographer is the passion they have for the subject, and my problem is I don't have any specific subjects I'll spend hours waiting to capture, so you could question whether that lack of passion results in mediocre 'make do' shots. If you want me to pick someone who immediately springs to mind on Pbase I'd say Ian Cameron (search Google for transient light), but there are numerous others, so apologies if anyone feels excluded. Please note that I do appreciate there are numerous forms of photography so the example I've given is probably something aspirational rather than a generality.
The google listed definition for photographer is;
"A journalist who takes photos.
Someone who takes photographs professionally "
and given that I don't make a dime taking pictures means I'm excluded by definition
You may like some of my shots (and I thank you) but you won't find a single shot of mine that draws you in and gives you that 'I wish I was there' feeling - in my opinion!