To be or not to be known as a professional photographer

I have read with interest over the past few weeks, the arguments raging back and forth on discussions regarding the term ‘Professional Photographer’ and what it means and who can use it. Add to that, the parallel debate about the ongoing degrading of revenue for people who earn their crust from photography, seemingly by everyone and their monkey’s uncle who has a camera and claims to be a ‘professional’ – and you have the makings of an endless, pointless debate going nowhere and achieving . . . well I think, precisely ‘Zip’.

I am a photographer and designer who makes his living from these artifices and so the situation does involve me and affect me too, but I have seen this type of thing before I believe it does not matter how much we shout and scream our indignation at the situation, the point is, we will not affect the eventual outcome and new reality of things one iota. Things inevitably change and there is nothing we can do to prevent that or postpone it.

As an example, let’s go back a few years. Remember lead typesetting? Well this hit the dust big style when photo-typesetting developed – which hit the dust big style when desktop publishing hit the streets and became the new kid on the block. I remember several photo-typesetters screaming and shouting abuse at the unfairness of the situation and refusing to buy a ‘Mac’ because they thought they were ‘unprofessional’ or ‘mickey mouse’. What they were doing, was sticking their heads in the sand and refusing to accept what was inevitable and change accordingly.

Traditional graphic artists and designers were doing the same thing to some extent. All they wanted to do was use felt tip pens and stick bits of paper to artboard with glue which had the added benefit of giving you a ‘high’ whilst you were using it. I know this because I worked in a studio where, when the boss made the decision to buy an Apple Mac, nobody was interested in learning and using it apart from me. I knew that pasting artwork to boards was coming to and end and adapted accordingly, but a lot of others were very slow on the uptake because of what they perceived the industry to be and what it should (in their opinion) continue to be. What happened next of course was an inevitable explosion of everyone and their monkey’s uncle, buying the kit and doing their own company newsletters and the like, with the result that a lot of work dried up for design studios and a lot of crap ended up being printed and distributed.

Things came around eventually to a certain extent with some of that business coming back to the studios, but there is no doubt that things had fundamentally changed and there was no going back to the good old days.

Next came the ‘Photoshop Effect’ and how that would affect traditional illustration and photographic techniques. What a can of worms that was going to open up. I remember working for one design studio, that had a photographic studio attached. It was well set up with film kit and the photographer was obviously experienced, but also very set in his way of doing things. I got on the wrong side of him one day, when he had been trying to photograph a laser.

Now I believe that all laser light is invisible (I’m not a scientist) until it reflects on something and his problem was trying to get the laser to show up on the final tranny. What he decided to do was switch the laser on and track the beam with a little roundel of card on a stick, whilst shooting on a long exposure. He worked all afternoon (maybe longer) on this and ended up with a shot that looked like the laser had pulsed unevenly across the film. Little red dots of light appeared every now and again across the shot, if you follow me? Anyway, I was presented with the shot in my humble job as graphic artist and I made the mistake of commenting that if he had just taken the shot without the beam, I could have dropped the effect in afterwards, in Photoshop in about five minutes! (Photoshop was still fairly new at the time) You should have seen his face! I’m sure I made an enemy that day, but it serves to illustrate that people generally do not like change when it upsets their little ‘apple cart’ that is proceeding along, seemingly so nicely.

Then we come to our main concern. The rapid changes that technology, its availability and its relative ‘cheapness’ have bought to the photographic industry. It has certainly caused radical change in my life. Whereas at one point in my career, it was an impossibility to shoot my own images for design projects, due mainly to the processing time element involved, the contraction of the process entirely to the desktop has wrought a revolution that not all are happy about. When I went ‘professional’ as a photographer 6 years ago, I heard several comments circulating about me and ‘who did I think I was?’ and ‘what did I know about photography?’, etc, etc. You get the picture. The fact was that they were refusing to accept the new reality, the new world order, where anybody and everybody was potentially empowered with a new freedom to be whatever they wanted to be.

Even now I can guarantee you that if a young person wants to get into the graphic design industry, all they have to do is forget university, forget college – just buy themselves an Apple Mac, hack the industry standard software off the internet or borrow it, stay up till 2 in the morning for a couple of months learning said software and they can get a job freelancing at £500 quid a week. I can guarantee it!

So then you hear the moans and groans of the ‘traditionally’ trained designers about standards and skills and ‘professionalism’, etc, etc. Yawn Yawn! God I am so bored of listening to that kind of drivel. – I am not saying that it is not useful or desirable to get a degree in graphic design, but I can tell you many stories of people who have got said degree but no job, whereas people who are self taught artworkers have very, very busy careers.

I quote all the above as just some examples of how stuff has changed and how it will keep on changing. Stuff is changing now in the media and how newspapers sell content. Their world is changing and that is passed on down the line. Erosion of rates for press photographers for example. ‘Joe Public’ buying his own camera and uploading shite onto websites that pay him peanuts for usage, yet he is happy to ‘sell’ an image and be a published ‘professional’ photographer. Customers demanding all RAW files from a wedding shoot so that they can develop and print the images themselves. The list goes on. The changes go on and we have to adapt, adapt, adapt!

There is no point in complaining and harking back to the good old days when a photographer was a photographer and nobody encroached on his (or her) territory.

Anyway enough is enough! I have gone on long enough about what some of the problems are. Now we need some answers. Some encouragement. A solution!

Well, here’s a suggestion as a start.

I think we need a new vernacular. A new way of describing and referring to things as they exist now in the ‘new world order’. The thing is, if we continue to refer to the new realities with the old terminology, we will continue to remain locked in the ‘same old, same old’ way of thinking which will not allow us to think beyond the box and be able to operate effectively in this new environment.

So here we go . . . First let’s get rid of the term ‘Professional’ in our photographer jargon list. It means so many things to so many people and it’s such an easy term to hijack, that it basically means nothing anymore. When everybody is ‘special’, then nobody is ‘special’ – see what I mean? (If not, watch ‘The Incredibles’)

Let’s replace it with the following;

Elect Photographer, Super Elite Photographer, Elite Photographer, Serious Photographer, Dilettante Photographer, Peripheral Photographer, Perfunctory Photographer.

Maybe you could suggest more, but this is how I see them being described and split up.

An ‘Elect Photographer’ would be a photographer beyond any criticism or question of his/her abilities or standing in the world of photography. Generally Elect Photographers may actually be dead, but if not and if one has been perceived as reaching these dizzying heights of attainment, then their word would be beyond all question and their sage advice would be sought and valued as priceless. (They would obviously have all of the qualifications of the ‘Super Elite’ – See below.)

A ‘Super Elite Photographer’ would be a photographer who could pick and choose his own projects, working with the famous, for the famous at all the best events and countries, for the best rates. He would be a ‘face’ himself, being well known for his craft. He would use all the best equipment and his ‘professionalism’ would never be questioned due to the availability of his high quality, high profile work. Someone who is a member of Magnum for instance.

An ‘Elite Photographer’ would be a photographer who makes his living from his craft, but has to work with awkward customers sometimes as he cannot pick and choose as readily as a ‘Super Elite’. He’s not well known and he has a mortgage to maintain like most other workers. But, he is skilled, ‘professional’ and proud of his craft, producing consistent, excellent work. If he is a journalist, he may end up working on non headlining assignments, but still accomplishes them with gusto. Doesn’t get the best rates, but is paid reasonably well for his services. It is obvious from his profile and visibility that he is an Elite.

A ‘Serious Photographer’ is a photographer that does what it says on the box. They are serious about the craft of photography, but do not make a living from that craft. They can be excellent photographers who spend much time and money on their interest and even make some money from selling images now and again. We could not criticise them for taking on a wedding or two because a friend has asked them. We know they’ll do a good job, but it is obvious from their profile that they are not in the Elite or Super Elite category although they could make a leap past all the financial aspects and straight into the Elect group due to their skill and vision.

A ‘Dilettante Photographer’ meanwhile is rather obviously less serious about the whole thing. Probably got a Sony Alpha and shoots on fully automatic. They enjoy taking ‘snaps’ of the family and if the weather is good and they can be bothered, then they may go out and try and find a nice picture to shoot for a Mother’s Day present for someone. Other than perhaps joining a local camera club, photography plays a definite back seat position in their lives.

A ‘Peripheral Photographer’ is someone with perhaps a compact camera, but to whom photography is purely incidental to their lives. They skirt round on the edges, not really getting involved enough to find out why they shouldn’t use flash at the naff concerts they go to. The camera is generally carried most places with them, but this is because they have heard that there is big money to be had if you are in the right area at the right time.

Finally (for now) the ‘Perfunctory Photographer’. This is the person who maybe only has a mobile phone with photo facility, but could possibly own better kit just for show. They take pictures automatically of anything that they can shove on Facebook. They are inattentive about anything to do with quality and their pictures are wooden, routine and mechanical. Unfortunately, these type of photographers (along with the Dilettantes and Peripherals) seem to be everywhere and manage to snap off a blurred shot or two of a key event, which the newspapers and news websites are all too keen to snap up due to cost saving strategies. You get the picture?

Anyway, friends, photons and citizen journalists, I think that when you categorise and describe it properly in context, you get a better idea of what the problem is and how you may get round it. First off, maintain a sense of humour. Maintain a sense of perspective. Appreciate that change will happen whether we like it or not. Accept and adapt to the new reality and take on new roles, learn new skills. Make yourself different to stand out from the crowd. Be prepared to do things differently. Let’s be the drivers and inventors of the new world, not the ones barely hanging on and being dragged along, out of control and irrelevant.

Finally, let’s love the art of photography and ignore the dross swirling around. Good work stands up for itself and is still highly valued.

And where do I see myself? I am an ‘Elite Photographer’ and I’ll fight anyone who says any different!