Maybe I say this because I am an amateur, but I prefer to think that an amateur takes photos because they want to, enjoy doing so and use it as a way to express their creativity. A true professional who makes their living taking photos does so because they have to, in order to feed their family.

I'm not saying a pro can't or doesn't enjoy taking photos on their own time or can't be creative, but I would think that shooting 3-5 weddings per week of strangers would be repetitious and get rather mundane after a while. Or eventually one squalling kid would start looking pretty much like the next squalling kid. Most often, creativity is a God given talent and certainly something to be proud of. But when shooting stuff like weddings or kids, you can only use so much creativity when the subjects and settings are always the same. And with wedding photos, people usually expect some of the images to be the ordinary, run of the mill ones like slipping the ring on the finger, kissing the bride, the whole family lined up like they're preparing for an execution, the kids throwing flower petals and so on. Sure, one must get those images because those moments are very important to the customer, but they probably get excrutiatingly boring for the photographer. And you can only get so many photos of cousin Bob drunk off his butt and hitting on the bride's sister.

That's why I proudly tell people that I am an amateur photographer. And just my opinion as well. As you know, opinions are like rear ends, everyone has one.

Maybe I say this because I am an amateur, but I prefer to think that an amateur takes photos because they want to, enjoy doing so and use it as a way to express their creativity. A true professional who makes their living taking photos does so because they have to, in order to feed their family.

I'm not saying a pro can't or doesn't enjoy taking photos on their own time or can't be creative, but I would think that shooting 3-5 weddings per week of strangers would be repetitious and get rather mundane after a while. Or eventually one squalling kid would start looking pretty much like the next squalling kid. Most often, creativity is a God given talent and certainly something to be proud of. But when shooting stuff like weddings or kids, you can only use so much creativity when the subjects and settings are always the same. And with wedding photos, people usually expect some of the images to be the ordinary, run of the mill ones like slipping the ring on the finger, kissing the bride, the whole family lined up like they're preparing for an execution, the kids throwing flower petals and so on. Sure, one must get those images because those moments are very important to the customer, but they probably get excrutiatingly boring for the photographer. And you can only get so many photos of cousin Bob drunk off his butt and hitting on the bride's sister.

That's why I proudly tell people that I am an amateur photographer. And just my opinion as well. As you know, opinions are like rear ends, everyone has one.

I am a amateur, but like the sound of being a professional photographer. I would be getting paid for doing what I love! But as in all jobs, there are ups and downs, good and bad projects. I would think that the professionals chose to be because they love photography and are really good at what they do. Or people would not pay for their services. However, professional photographers are far between in their abilities. I like to think of myself as a "professional amateur" - I photograph whatever pleases me, almost daily. I have photography on my mind all day long (I'm retired and can do that). But, do I wish I could make a supplemental income from doing this, well "yes, I do." But, I don't want to do weddings and tie up my weekends. I did it a time or two about 30 years ago for friends and that was it for me. I hated the final process of compiling the images for the Client/friends to purchase. And honestly, a couple of times, I gave them the lab name and rolls of film and said for them to take care of it. I've done a few retirement parties, etc. That's when I used to do film photography. So, I only got paid for the wedding shots- which is my favorite part! It was kind of cool, but I prefer to shoot for me. Nice thread thanks for posting. Cheryl 8-)