Do you consider yourself to be a photographer?

[Sirius Glass]

Yes

 

[Wayne]

I do when I'm photographing a lot.

 

[Dave Martiny]

adelorenzo, I like your answer, and it's the one I give most often.

I'd rather back peddle a bit about what I'm doing, and let those who see my work decide what they want to call what I do.

I avoid words like "images", "art", "artist" and usually "photographer", and sometimes even "photographs", so as to not run the risk of overstating what I do.

I think the whole idea of photography is to let the pictures do the talking.

Regards,

Dave

 

[removed account4]

i can barely play chopsticks on the piano, am i a pianist ?

 

[darkosaric]

For professionals there is no doubt. For hobbyist: I would say that person who has photography as No.1 hobby - is photographer. How many of you here have more important hobby (to you) than photography?

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Oxford Dictionary Online definition of 'photographer':

A person who takes photographs, especially as a job.

Very ambiguous. Either you are a photographer or you are not a photographer. You don't 'sort of' take photographs. You either do or you don't. If you do take photographs, you are a photographer.

 

[Vaughn]

Yes I am a photographer, but I don't worry much about the title. I am what I am...

It was great fun hanging out in the Ansel Adams Gallery this past Saturday for the opening of our show...then hanging out behind the gallery for a bar-b-que, whiskey and beer. The topic if we were photographers or not never came up.

Alan Ross was having a great time with his IR Leica Digital -- we did not worry about whether or not they were really photographs or not, either.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Yes I am a photographer, but I don't worry much about the title. I am what I am...

It was great fun hanging out in the Ansel Adams Gallery this past Saturday for the opening of our show...then hanging out behind the gallery for a bar-b-que, whiskey and beer. The topic if we were photographers or not never came up.

Alan Ross was having a great time with his IR Leica Digital -- we did not worry about whether or not they were really photographs or not, either.

I love how you keep things grounded.

After I posted the definition above I felt kind of snarky, but it was an effort to just end a conversation that is 'much ado about nothing'.

I don't even understand why it would be important.

Personally I don't ever think about what I am. I just 'am'. I let others worry about what they think of me.

 

[eddie]

Sometimes, I'm a photographer. Sometimes, I'm an image-maker. I do use the same materials to create both.

 

[Cheryl Jacobs]

Yes, I'm a photographer. I'm also a musician and a writer. I always find it interesting that people who have no trouble saying, "I'm an engineer," or "I'm a lawyer," have trouble saying "I'm a photographer" because it somehow sounds like bragging. I don't know why that is, only that it is.

I always tell the aspiring photographers I work with to practice saying "I'm a photographer" out loud and with a straight face. If you can't say it and believe it, why would anyone else?

 

[dehk]

I am just the guy with a camera.

 

[mauro35]

Yes, I'm a photographer. I'm also a musician and a writer. I always find it interesting that people who have no trouble saying, "I'm an engineer," or "I'm a lawyer," have trouble saying "I'm a photographer" because it somehow sounds like bragging. I don't know why that is, only that it is.

I always tell the aspiring photographers I work with to practice saying "I'm a photographer" out loud and with a straight face. If you can't say it and believe it, why would anyone else?

People have no trouble saying they are engineers or lawyers because they have a degree that state that. I have the hobby of taking photos for myself and have never studied photography or arts or anything related to it. I have the feeling that this forum includes many people who are enthusiasts and have a passion for photography which doesn´t make them any less skilled or competent than professional photographers, but I can´t buy the "if you don´t believe yourself" stuff. What we believe and what reality is are different stories. I will repeat myself and say that society decides what we can call ourself, based on some specific standards.

 

[darkosaric]

I always find it interesting that people who have no trouble saying, "I'm an engineer," or "I'm a lawyer," have trouble saying "I'm a photographer" because it somehow sounds like bragging. I don't know why that is, only that it is.

Agree.
Why calling yourself a photographer sounds like bragging, and calling yourself a writer or actor, or painter (even without formal education) is ok? This is the question.
Maybe it has something with overload of photography today in world?

 

[pdeeh]

I don't describe myself as "a photographer" because if I did, I would see that as implying to others that I do it for a living, which I don't. I don't see it as "bragging", I just see it as inaccurate. If I made any sort of income at all from my snaps, or perhaps had regular exhibitions, I'd see it as entirely an appropriate term to use.

Twenty or thirty years ago, when photography was still the preserve of those who had gone out and bought a camera especially to take photographs (as opposed to having all sorts of photographic devices available to them, by default almost), and I was someone who pursued taking photographs as an activity in itself, I probably had no problem with being called "a photographer".

But these usages are as much subject to personal taste, how we identify ourselves to the world and ourselves, let alone the vagaries of fashion and social usage, and subject to change over time too, as can be seen from the variety of answers to Arcturus' question in this thread.

 

[Roger Cole]

+1


I really don't see how a simple descriptive word could be ostentatious. I know many won't use the word "artist" for that reason either and I still think it's ludicrous to deny it. And it's possible, imo, to be an artist and a scientist, and still other things all at once.
Whether one is a photographer or not has nothing to do with whether they are a professional.

+2, including the "artist" part.

Dead Link Removed

 

[Terry Christian]

Without trying to sound bragging about it, yes, I do consider myself a photographer.
The alternative is to define myself by my job, which I hate and is simply a means to financially support myself. Why would I want to do that?

 

[NB23]

How do you make a photograph without being a photographer?

Photographer = person who practices photography

Yeah. And using a frying pan makes you a Chef.
And, of course, as soon as you run two consecutive steps you become a runner.
And when you write something, there you have become a writer.

It's so obvious, right?

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Yeah. And using a frying pan makes you a Chef.
And, of course, as soon as you run two consecutive steps you become a runner.
And when you write something, there you have become a writer.

It's so obvious, right?

There is more than one term to describe a person who uses a frying pan: cook and chef. You can be either depending on your training.

If you run you are indeed a runner. What else are you? Person who puts one leg in front of the other at a rapid rate? Come on.

And if you write you can be many things. You can be a blogger, novelist, reporter, note taker, etc.

In photography, what other terms are there to describe a person who makes photographs? It is VERY clear to me.

 

[removed account4]

Obviously, the answer is easy if you're a career photographer who makes a living by photography. For everyone else though, do you consider yourself to be a photographer? I personally do not, and don't like to be referred as one. I have a non-photography related career and while I do sell prints, they are not for profit but more I just like that someone would hang one of my prints in their home or establishment. I prefer "photography enthusiast" or "junk collector" at most. What does everyone think?

arcturus

while i get paid professionally to make photographs for people and it is a vocation/skill i am a camera operator more than i am a photographer in that sense.
i know how to use a view ( or mf or miniature format ) camera proficiently, how to compose, expose convert the film to negatives and print them ( or send to a lab and have them do it )
or post process files and submit to a lab as well, but i think there is more to being a photographer than using a camera and getting images ( with soul ) from it on the other end.

millions of people on this planet have cameras, whether they are on their phone, handheld with a sensor or use a light sensitive substrate ( film/paper/plates &c )
and probably 90% of those people consider themselves, or are called " photographer" by their friends and family ... and while i have had people call me that
and i have been happy to accept the title, and call myself that too, but in a way it is an empty title, compared to what it used to mean .
it wasn't too long ago that in order to be a photographer you had to have full command and contempt for the materials used.
you had to be a scientist, you had to know painting and how to compose an image ... and how to extract it from the substrate and convert it to something else.
and often times you had to put yourself in harms way ( nasty chemicals ) in order to create the photographic image ...
as much as i have tried in my spare time to become "a photographer" i have not ...
i will gladly be called a "photographer" by friends, family and strangers and by me as a professional title but i in my heart i know i am not one, im a tinkerer
and an image maker but i am not really a photographer..

 

[NB23]

There is more than one term to describe a person who uses a frying pan: cook and chef. You can be either depending on your training.

If you run you are indeed a runner. What else are you? Person who puts one leg in front of the other at a rapid rate? Come on.

And if you write you can be many things. You can be a blogger, novelist, reporter, note taker, etc.

In photography, what other terms are there to describe a person who makes photographs? It is VERY clear to me.

Well, there are more terms that describe someone taking a photograph.

Snapper, picture taker, hobbyist photographer, image capturer, button pusher, camera fondler, ansel-wannabe, hcb-wannabe, pinterest-plagiarator, leica-victim, assistant-photographer, tourist, girl-with-a-camera, camera user, photo-newbie...

And at last, while one is not using a camera, that obviously makes him an unphotographer, right?

So no, a person that takes a picture is not a photographer per se. Your grandma to whom you hand an iphone to take a photo of you and the cat, for example, is not a photographer... Unless you really want to argue.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Well, there are more terms that describe someone taking a photograph.

Snapper, picture taker, hobbyist photographer, image capturer, button pusher, camera fondler, ansel-wannabe, hcb-wannabe, pinterest-plagiarator, leica-victim, assistant-photographer, tourist, girl-with-a-camera, camera user, photo-newbie...

And at last, while one is not using a camera, that obviously makes him an unphotographer, right?

So no, a person that takes a picture is not a photographer per se. Your grandma to whom you hand an iphone to take a photo of you and the cat, for example, is not a photographer... Unless you really want to argue.

Well, you are the argument machine here. So carry on if you want to.

 

[Jim Jones]

People have no trouble saying they are engineers or lawyers because they have a degree that state that. . . .

I've had to fix the mistakes some of those engineers made. It's better to judge someone by their ability, not by their credentials or the money they amass. If our photographs please others, then we are photographers in their eyes. Why deny it?

 

[mauro35]

There is more than one term to describe a person who uses a frying pan: cook and chef. You can be either depending on your training.

If you run you are indeed a runner. What else are you? Person who puts one leg in front of the other at a rapid rate? Come on.

And if you write you can be many things. You can be a blogger, novelist, reporter, note taker, etc.

In photography, what other terms are there to describe a person who makes photographs? It is VERY clear to me.

Thomas, while I completely agree with you and I believe it is very clear to us all what you are stating, I defend the fact that the OP asked wheter we CONSIDER ourself photographers. The simple definition of a word is different from being CONSIDERED something. I am a cook when I prepare my food and I am a photographer (person who take photgraphs) when I make photos. Am I CONSIDERED cook or photographer? I think that implies being accepted and defined as such by a group of people. That is my interpretation of it and I would turn the original question to "are we CONSIDERED photographers".

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

I don't know what the big deal is, guys. How can so much fuss be made over something so insignificant?

Sorry, but I'm putting this thread on ignore. If you really feel it's important to have this conversation and battle, then go ahead. I can't take another minute of it.

 

[winger]

When I've been out with a camera (or two or three), others who have talked to me have said, "Oh, you're a photographer. Are you a professional?" My answer has been that if you consider a professional to be someone who makes money at it, then no, I'm not. If you consider a professional to be someone who usually gets the result they expected, then yes, I am. I haven't gotten any pushback on that answer and all have started out by calling me a photographer. Which I agree with anyway.