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.
yeah flyfishing!
and life in general is “uncomfortable, challenging, and requires laser focus.”
so i’m going pro at life, fly fishing, and photography, slowly, with baby steps.
Interesting thougths from Chase and all of you. I’m an amateur photographer and I strive to be the best amateur photographer I can, but I dream of being a Pro.
Thanks for sharing all your thoughts.
Being an “Amateur” photographer means less than half of your earnings comes from photography. The rest comes from a minimum-wage paying job.
I was a professional fighter pilot and greatly enjoy being an amateur photographer. I can tell you you can’t be an amateur fighter pilot…they don’t live very long!
I think the big difference between the two sides is responsibility.
As a pro, you need to have a plan and that plan has to provide some sort of results. There has to be some sort end result for a good deal of what you are photographing. You are still allowed to love every single minute of it, but you need to make enough cash to survive.
Being an amateur means you don’t necessarily have to see any direct results from your work other then some finished photos. A pro’s work vs. a decent amateurs work could look nearly identical but a portion of that pro’s work better of made some moula. Whereas the skilled amateur could have equal quality of work but that photo doesnt have to serve any purpose other then looking the way he/she wants it to look.
I think a pro’s work usually ends up looking like pro work because with the requirement of some success in order to survive, that pro needs to hone his/her craft in to the absolute best it can be. Most seasoned pros I know eat sleep and breathe photo with not much distracting them. An amateur has the luxury of feeling no pressure other then their own scrutiny.