As an alternative view to yesterday’s popular post, there’s nothing wrong with being an amateur.
I’m an amateur soccer player, an amateur cook, an amateur skier, designer, racecar driver, and flyfisherman. And I’m happy to be an amateur at all of those things. Actually I LOVE being an amateur at all of those things – it allows me to dabble, make a ton of mistakes, goof around, drop the ball, not care when something else might be distracting me etc.
Being an amateur at those things means I can be comfortable. It’s safe. There is no fear of success or failure. In each case actually becoming a professional overnight at ANY of those things above SOUNDS fun to me, but I know enough that the process of going pro at my hobbies above does NOT sound fun. The workload is too great, the road too steep. The path sounds too damn hard and the rewards don’t outweigh the effort enough to dedicate my life to it.
Being an amateur is the opposite of going pro. Going pro is….…uncomfortable, challenging, and requires laser focus. That’s not to say it’s not incredibly rewarding, but you catch my drift. Going “amateur” is cush.
Now if you’re out there wondering if you have what it takes to be a pro photographer, dancer, chef, whatever and this thought of keeping it amateur sounds the least bit tempting – stick to being an amateur. Someone who has what takes to be a pro and wants to do it would likely never be tempted by such a proposal.
Which one are you? Be the judge for yourself.
A grizzly old golf pro that I play with occasionally gave me the nick name “the professional amateur”… Now I think I like it.
follow your heart and do what you love and the things u love more than the things u like you will spend the most time in and not worry about how many hours it takes you to learn and get better you just do it and then you look up and see all the things you have accomplished and realized that you have already made your decision and been on the path to being a pro by naturally just falling in love with what you do and then others will see the love you put into that work and will pay you for what you have you love to do!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thabiznessimagery/
fwiw – – Finally realizing that I burned out on 3 of the hobbies that I so enjoyed that I turned them into an occupation has kept me from doing the same with photography. Much to the benefit of my family and myself. I shoot what I want, when I want, if I want. Post-processing is the dullest and most deadening of drudge work; I avoid it if at all possible preferring to be out with camera in hand looking for the next fun image. Still, people have asked for pictures to hang on their wall. That is applause, and that is payment enough. There are professionals whose work I admire but I do not envy them. For me freedom to be is a better reward.
amateur takes photos with their raw vision of life and for the hell of it – professionals do take photos of life with precission and makes a living out of it!!!
I agree with where Chase is going in general, but not totally.
Technically, the only difference between “amateur” and “professional” is that you get paid for what you are doing if you are a “professional”. Perhaps I could go so far as to say that you make your living from photography if you are a “professional” (and not just get paid for it).
As far as I can tell, an amateur’s work can be just as “good”, just as “challenging”, just as “rewarding”, just as “uncomfortable”, and just as “stretching” as that of a professional.
Many photographers strive to become “professional” as if it is some form of validation, when in fact it is not. Sure, there is some validation in people paying your for your work, but it may not truly be “your” work. For example, I would hate to have to take product shots day-in and day-out just to pay the bills. I have nothing against those that do, it’s just not what I want to do and I would get no “validation” from being paid to do that.
I am very fortunate in that I do NOT rely upon photography to pay the bills. This allows me to select clients who’s work matches my own vision of what I want to create. Do I still charge? There again I am fortunate. Because I do not rely upon photography to pay the bills, I can set up a payment arrangement where clients make a donation to a mutually agreeable charity.
So for me, the distinction between amateur and professional is more about the choices made about money, and less about the quality of the work.