March 21, 2007 by angela.

I was recently asked by someone “What makes a photographer…a professional?” I had to give that a lot of thought to try to phrase it without sounding mean. I think most true professionals would agree with me. I thought I’d post my reply to her: 

“I believe some photography education is good because it can teach you the technical points of photography. But I think the biggest part of being a “pro” is having the photographer’s eye. When I drive down the street, 9 times out of 10, I see something through the camera’s perspective. Does that make sense? It could be a child playing, a leaf floating in the wind, or even trash on the side of the road. I actually see it as if it were a photo I had taken with the camera. My brain automatically zooms in, or converts it to b&w, or whatever.

As far as running it as a business, you do need marketing, management, accounting, and other knowledge. But you have to consider the competition in your area. If you’re in a city where there are lots of photographers, what makes you stand out? Is it just because you’re cheaper, do you have the formal education, do you have an awesome perspective, or do you just have a fancy camera and computer editing skills?

It is amazing to me how many “pros” there are out there, but they can’t actually take a proper photograph. They can take a photo and edit it to look more professional, but can’t actually take it that way! That’s where the education falls in. If you are taking photos in “automatic” mode even half the time, you’ve got a LOT to learn. It’s one thing to see something to take a pic of, but it’s another to actually take the pic and make it look like what you see.”

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March 21, 2007 by angela.

Well, I forgot yesterday’s photo also. Maybe I should call this the “Photo-Every-Other-Day” project. Oh well.

Today’s photo was taken in my home in Oklahoma.
It is a close-up of a wine glass.

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