Surely a photographer (like any other "grapher") is someone skilled?
I am a man with a camera but no skill (yet
) and when i become skilled, i will be a photographer.
No qualification, no fancy pants lenses etc. just skill earned from study and practice and also trial and error.
Whether or not you get paid should be irrellevent.
I may be way off the mark but, this is what i think and also what the "grapher" part of the term means.