Are you an hobbyist or artist?

[Thingy]

I take photographs purely for pleasure. I'm only really satisfied with a small number of my images and am increasingly becoming very particular about what I photograph using Quickload film. Hopefully this will instill a similar discipline when making smaller format images.... especially when using digital!

 

[nolanr66]

I am pretty busy with job, home and family. I suppose I am a part time hobbyist.

 

[(AL)]

Having been in photography as an amateur and professional for 45 years, I know enough to realize that I don't know much. At this point I am pleased to be known as a 'hobbyist'.

 

[fotch]

Hobart

 

[CD55]

I'm definitely a hobbyist with some artistry mixed in would be the way I call myself.

 

[paulie]

i like to experiment, never the same idea twice

 

[batwister]

I never call myself a photographer as I don't make a living from it and people would assume I do if I used that word. In the same vein, I wouldn't use the word artist. Hobbyist it is for now. I suppose I would prefer to be called an artist, as working with film is a craft.

 

[Valerie]

Artist. (others are welcome to see my work and think differently, but that is how I see myself).

 

[pcyco]

hallo

hobby artist ;-)

hobbyist

 

[mono]

Hobby artist, too...

 

[TSSPro]

After the long discussion I got in with one of my MFA professors yesterday....I havent got the foggiest idea of what I am. She tore into me like a starving man at a vegas buffet, it wasnt pretty.

 

[keithwms]

She tore into me like a starving man at a vegas buffet, it wasnt pretty.

Well at least you had the courage to put yourself on the table in the first place. Many never would.

 

[goros]

I'm a photography amateur.

Amateur, from latin amator= one who loves

Cheers

 

[Jim Chinn]

I consider myself an amateur in the true since of the word. On occasion I have produced work that I (and a few others) call art in the sense that they wanted to have it to hang on the wall or own. I suppose the term hobbyist applies in the sense that I really enjoy the whole process from making the decision on what camera/process/film to use, to deciding on the image, to the mundane such as mixing chemistry.

One thing I have noticed over the years is if I don't concern myself with making art but just photograph what I enjoy or find interesting with what ever camera or process I fancy that day I will come up with some gems and enjoy the whole process. The few times I have endeavored to concentrate on making "art" the whole thing eventually becomes drudgery. Maybe documentarian is a better word than artist. A lot of what I enjoy is working on projects such as photographing grain elevators, churches, industrial ruins, old tools and light and shadow abstractions and weather. From these projects a few art pieces emerge.

 

[benjiboy]

This is the third thread on this forum in as many weeks on this type subject, why are people so insecure that they need to keep asking it ?

 

[Barry S]

No group has greater insecurity or confusion about its position in the art world than photographers. I spend a lot of time with painters, sculptors, printmakers, and other artists. None of them have any issues with defining themselves as artists regardless of the amount of time they spend, or income they derive, from their art. Without exception, they consider photographers as fellow visual artists. Defining yourself as an artist is no act of braggadocio--it simply describes what you're doing. I am an artist. So are you.

 

[benjiboy]

I personally have never considered the question about myself, I do it because that's who I am, like singing in the shower, I don't worry what others think about it.

 

[Ian Leake]

I consider myself to be an artist when I'm making art but I'm a snapshooter when I'm on holiday.

 

[24x30]

I consider myself to be an artist when I'm making art but I'm a snapshooter when I'm on holiday.

I like this definition - it implies that I'm all the time on holiday.

rudi

 

[blockend]

If photography is an art form, it's a very difficult one. In 35 years of taking photographs, including many people tell me they like, I'd stand by no more than 5 or 6 as being 'art'. They just kind of happened, some magical confluence through the viewfinder when the Gods were being kind.

The rest are just photographs.So I'd admit to being an artist when I took that handful of shots and the rest of the time another guy hauling a camera bag and working up a sweat.

 

[benjiboy]

Photography is not art, photography is photography.

 

[Ian Leake]

Photography is not art, photography is photography.

With the greatest respect, I think you've made your point already. Some will agree and others won't, but this thread is about how people see themselves not whether you think photography is art or not.

 

[JBrunner]

I photograph for money. Sometimes it makes art. When there is no business, I photograph as a hobbyist. Sometimes it makes art. It's always a craft though. When is it art? When I or someone else says so. That is the only requirement for art, be it a design I found in my cornflakes bowl or a photograph.

 

[removed account4]

Photography is not art, photography is photography.

maybe to you, but not to everyone ..

 

[alexmacphee]

Photography is not art, photography is photography.

What does something have to be in order to be art?