Photography, Pro or No?

So I'm sitting there going through tweets on my phone that I have missed for some odd reason or another, who knows? Not me. So I come across a tweet from @megapixiephoto and I read it. It was a blog about going pro v. going amateur. Reading this blog has actually changed the way I see things about myself and photography, personally at least. Thanks Megapixiephoto, my hats off to you.

So, here it is, Shane's epiphany. I asked myself what I was, a professional photographer or an amateur photographer, and my answer was, of course I'm a professional photographer. That's what I am, that's what I do. I take money from clients, I do this as a full time job, what more is there. I move on from the blog and go about my day. BUT....little by little, a thought starts creeping up on me. Am I a professional photographer? Says who? There are so many definitions from different people about what a pro is, what an amateur is, I used to get mindboggled. But here is where the epiphany comes in. My mind broadens for that brief second and things start creeping in. How do you know if you are putting out quality pictures. How DO you know if you are good. I believe the answer is, it isn't what you believe, it is what your peers and your clients believe.

Your best, most favorite picture could be mediocre put side by side with someone else's picture. So because of that, when do you know if you are a professional photographer or not? For me, it was when I was showing someone a picture I had taken, and she first asked if it was something that I took. When I said yes, she then made the statement that she wished she could be a professional photographer like me. I was floored. Here I was, standing there, just radiating pride that someone thought that I was good enough to inspire a wish to be something that I was trying to attain.

Now, no one ever questions whether I am a professional photographer anymore, and everyone who asks me to capture their treasured moments expects me to BE a professional photographer, both in the business sense and in the professionalism of HOW we take our pictures, how we set them at ease, how we handle the parents, boyfriends, spouses and children, and even the occasional pet. I still get goosebumps whenever someone looks at a picture that I took and has a wow moment.

I live for capturing moments. I would love nothing else but to have a camera held up to my eye 24/7. I love being paid for doing the thing that I am crazy about. But every bit as good as I think I am, or want to be, or could be one day, I would have nothing if it weren't for the clients that I have or the peers who make me better at what I do. So what if I only were to work part time at this. What if I were only to make $100.00 a month taking pictures, when that client comes to me asking for my services, to them I am a professional photographer, and in the end, that is all that matters.