what counts as pro?

[julip]

Hello,

I've been wondering what you guys consider as "pro". I am a hobby photographer but I started out doing events for friends because it was fun. Photos were provided free with charges for prints which didn't bring in much but was nice that people were willing to pay for a print of mine.

Now myself and my partner are doing events fairly regularly and getting paid for turning up - BUT we can't give up the day jobs and just do photography.

I was wondering where the line between amateur and professional was? I don't have "professional kit" (60D) and wouldn'tnormally describe myself as that but we sell photos fairly regularly and people are starting to ask us back to do more so I was just wondering what you thought about it - are there other people labelled as pro who don't feel worthy of such accolade??

Ta for your thoughts!

Julia

[dan123]

How about Semi Pro? Its taking up more time than an amatuer and your being paid,

Imo thats the bridge between amatuer and pro, Doing it as a side line before you do it as a day job,

But if you wanna say your a pro no ones going to stop you, entirely up to you, Some one else might have a better definition, but thats what i think,,


Dan

[GeoffWessex]

It used to be simple - if you were making your living entirely from photography (or anything else) then you were considered a Pro. If you were making some extra cash from photography, even advertising your services, but still hanging on to another job..... you were an amateur. It's now a very fuzzy line.... I'm not sure we can re-draw that line.

What might upset any pro, though, is for those who don't rely entirely on photography to be paid - but avoid paying tax.

[rbarry]

Originally Posted by GeoffWessex

It used to be simple - if you were making your living entirely from photography (or anything else) then you were considered a Pro. If you were making some extra cash from photography, even advertising your services, but still hanging on to another job..... you were an amateur. It's now a very fuzzy line.... I'm not sure we can re-draw that line.

What might upset any pro, though, is for those who don't rely entirely on photography to be paid - but avoid paying tax.

I think Dan's use of the word semi-pro nails julip's situation. An amateur is assumed not to be financially renumerated for their services.

It's up to any individual to declare untaxed income, however they earn a living. This could just as easily be a pro photographer not declaring a cash transaction.

[silversnapper1]

As as been said above, there is a fuzzy line between pro, semi pro and amateur so how about calling yourselves freelance photographers? This makes no mention of any of the above terms and seems a little more vague.

[julip]

Hi,

Thanks very much for the replies, I think freelance is a good way of describing it, or semi-professional as they seems to encorporate everything about what I do...I will use them next time someone asks if I'm pro or just nosy

Tax-wise its all above board (sooo many forms!!!) so hopefully not incurring pro tog's wrath with that

Thanks again!

Julia

[KeithT]

I guess the word pro, or professional, can mean earning a living by applying one's craft, or it can mean taking care to produce the finest work. So, I guess a pro photographer is either doing it to bring home the bacon, or he/she is a bit of a perfectionist. Not all perfectionists earn their corn from photography, but could be seen and regarded as pros, and some photographers who earn stacks of corn from the business are not always as good as some who don't. If you are confused by this I'm not surprised, because most of us are too.

[julip]

Thanks Keith, I'm glad its not just me getting confused!

[messyhead]

I think it is quite clear cut. Maybe that comes from my experience of building websites.

To me, Professional means you make your living from it. Semi-pro, you make some money but don't do it as a 'day job'. Amateur is doing it for fun, but not to make money.

Freelance has different meanings to me. I would say there's a difference between a freelance photographer and a professional photographer. Both are classed a professional, but a freelancer would work for themselves and have to try to bid for photography work, where as a non-freelancer would work for a company.

The distinction of freelance I suppose does make sense to me. I've built some websites. The jobs I've had, have come through word of mouth. But it's not my main job, and I don't go actively looking for web design work. So I'm not a freelancer. But I have been paid for some of the sites I've made.

[rogersphotography]

Thanks for the interesting question.

I have a full time job, but when I can I make some money from my 7D and 350D. I would regard myself as 'semi pro'