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Which Camera Feature Makes You a REAL Photographer

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We all know what a real photographer is. It the heavy set guy with the battered fedora that has two bullet holes in it and a frayed photo vest bellying up to the bar trying to find a place for his thirty pound dumky bad which is so old it has not color left and his three bodies around his neck all scared and black taped, with a permanent back ache,

or the pro with a beret and four hunky buff assistants to carry his hassleblad and lighting stands so he can create the perfect glamour shot for the sears catalogue advertisement.

or the kid taking photos of the tourists getting on an excursion boat in Bangkok and supporting his family selling ash trays with the clients image on them

or the harassed looking guy trying to keep teenagers quiet long enough to get the class photo.

and the guy listing for the five hundredth time from the mother of the bride that his photo of her doesn't make her look as beautiful as mom wants.

pick up a camera and make an image that makes you a real photographer not necessarily a good photographer.
 
The FIRE button, what ever level of skills you if you don't hit the fire button....nothing!!
 
K E Hoffman said:
A professional photographer for the Seattle Times taught that in a college credit level photography course. He said if he got one shot worth printing out of a roll.. that was success..
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I saw a W. Eugene Smith exhibit last February in Tucson. One of his proof sheets was shown. There were 3 or 4 shots of absolute genius, and the rest were merely excellent :) I was so blown away by his work, that I left trembling, thinking it's hopeless, I'm wasting my time, I quit. Fortunately, I recovered by the time I got to the car, then 20 minutes later took my best shot of the year. The Ghost of Gene must have taken pity on me!








K E Hoffman said:
I have been to Paris once.. had 1.5 days.. I think I took over one hundred-fifty shots of the Eiffel Tower alone.. some like this were just experiments I love..

20071213-DSC01129-13-L.jpg
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What lighting! I like that too.
 
No, that makes you an old photographer. Or perhaps a young one with thick glasses.
 
Dennis said:
K E Hoffman said:
But I think you got the exact point of the post... Its taking the If you use/don't use list of "taboos" some people want to use to gate keep that activity and turning it around..
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Yes, and it's probably unfortunate when some poor souls are intimidated into thinking they need something better or can't be "good" if they can't afford something better, just because of some inconsiderate opinions like those.

I attended a nature photography workshop many years ago - I was shooting Minolta (but did have a piece of "big glass" for it). One guy had a Hasselblad MF camera. Pretty much everyone else had Canon (except the instructors who were all sponsored by Nikon). Middle-aged guys with L lenses. There was only one woman; maybe in her 20's. She was conspicuous for a few reasons. She only had a lowly "Rebel" and kit lens. She didn't use a tripod. And she was frequently shooting things nobody else was shooting. She wasn't a nature photographer in the sense of some of these other guys, who brought classic "Peggy's Cove at Dusk" slides along for critique. But her stuff was creative, artsy, and very good.

I love stumbling across a modest website by some really excellent photographer and seeing in the "About Me" section that he or she uses a 5-year old consumer grade DSLR with a couple modest zooms. There are people out there who are blissfully ignorant of all the gear dilemmas and debates.

I have my own biases as to what constitutes a "serious" (or "enthusiast") camera. But it's more about marketing-type delineations than it is about what any given photographer needs. An enthusiast camera serves a portion of the market and should have some certain features to compete well in that market. Doesn't mean that an enthusiast needs to have one to be serious :)

- Dennis
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K E Hoffman said:
All the forums have a thread where someone says.. Real Photographers don't
  • Use Live View
  • zooms
  • stabilization
  • EVF
  • Scene Modes
  • JPG
  • Etc.
Then of course there is the ubiquitous REAL PHOTOGRAPHERS shoot only [Insert Brand].

This question comes out of a thread in Nikon.. where the live view / exposure preview is not for REAL Photography... again.

My background.. I have shot manual Film. My first auto exposure SLR was a Canon A1 bought the first one my dealer got. I have shot Fuji, Canon, Nikon, Minolta and now Sony. At the time I shot them they were the BEST camera for the price at the time [for me]

I have taught photography to 5th and 6th graders and had to deal with all but one student walking in with P&S cameras. (Its a middle - lower middle class catholic school) Trust me there were 2-3 kids with a real talent.. that moved way past the camera they were using.

My contention is that there is one single feature that makes a REAL PHOTOGRAPHER..

Some way to record and share an image. So you need a pinhole or lens and film or a sensor.. that's it..

Pinhole gallery from 2013 "World Wide Pinhole Photography Day"
http://www.pinholeday.org/gallery/2...Country=&Province=&City=&groupname=&searchStr=

All the rest just gives you more options in how you express being a photographer.. or lets you add an adjective.. like "Sports Photographer" "Portrait Photographer" etc.

thoughts?

And if there are no disagreements... then I guess we can have discussions without the "real photographers use / don't use" rationalizations for our own preferences :)
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This whole website is built around it being your camera! Are you telling me all these smart people are wrong?
 
Being a 'real' photographer is overrated.
 
K E Hoffman said:
Lets define a couple of modifiers...

Professional - means paid for it, better yet it pays your bills.
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Getting paid for photography doesn't make you any more of a professional than flipping burgers at McDonalds makes you a chef. Professional is how you conduct yourself.
 
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