deniseb

I enjoy taking pictures of my daughter and her friends playing sports and often their parents offer to buy pictures from me. I always offer to give them the pictures for free but many of them insist on paying me because of the quality of the pictures. They say they could never get pictures that good themselves and are thrilled to get quality sports pictures. But I would never consider myself a professional. I enjoy taking pictures as a hobby and don't set out to make money off it.

ronlcox Loc: Florida

State licencing boards wind up being more about protecting the people they license from competition than protecting the public.

Mudshark Loc: Illinois

George, I am sometimes entertained in odd ways... I only shoot Manual RAW. On occasion I'll make an unusual image "the old fashioned way," in the camera...not the computer. Say I want to shoot cars arriving at a theater at night...I might make a 15 second time exposure and pop a couple of flashes in the middle. The resulting image would have the streaking tail lights and some "frozen" cars within...or some such. The entertainment comes when other "professionals" of the digital age comment..."Wow, what software did you use to do that." Or "how'd you do that?" etc. They all assume it was computer magic/Photoshop magic...can't imagine it was shot that way...SAVES A LOT OF TIME WHEN YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!!!!

TomballLegend Loc: Tomball, Texas

Exactly!

Jessies5thkid

Can you spell "License"?

Advocating a license? Not a good idea, my friend. We have too much bureaucracy in our lives already. I live in a county with 37 little and big municipalities within its borders. Technically each little city requires you to get a business license to photograph a wedding, for example, even if you do only one a year in their little territory. While photographing a wedding in a suburb, a photographer was approached by a well-dressed couple who asked him to take their picture and mail it to them. They paid him cash; then the man flashed his badge and gave him a ticket for not having a license.

I know of another situation where a driver delivering merchandise in a little city was ARRESTED because his company did not have a DELIVERY LICENSE. (The company made a daily delivery to ONE STORE in that city.)

Membership in a guild or professional association is quite another matter, but similar. Some proof of competency (courses, tests, etc.) could be required, and a public relations campaign could inform the public of the standards of the group. That could cost money to get the ball rolling, and there is no proof that membership in a certain association would guarantee any financial benefit to the member.

Your best course of action is to be good enough at your craft or profession that word of mouth advertising will build your bottom line income.

Mudshark Loc: Illinois

Lovely, The fact you are able to capture images that please you and others without thought of price or payment puts you at the pinnacle of photography. The essence is being able to capture something you see either in reality or in your head and be able to save that moment for yourself and/or others. That's the joy, the magic of photography. When you can return to that image decades later and smile or sigh or cry...it doesn't get any better.

brucewells Loc: Central Kentucky

The ONLY reason that cabby is licensed is for the municipality to have a person registered for the purpose of generating revenue to that municipality! Yeah, he/she may have passed a test or two, but remove the taxation and there would be no license.

Having a license of any sort does not validate your ability to do anything except be the target of a tax bill!!

Mudshark Loc: Illinois

If you are somehow responsible for my LIFE...you need a license or certificate or some sanction from the state...i.e. my doctor, the airline pilot, the idiot in the car i'm about to meet at 70 mph, the engineer on Amtrak...etc.
Beyond that we have the U.S. Constitution...we don't need no stink'n license to write books, take picturgraphs, row our boats, travel to Ohio or pass gas...This is not a socialist police state, no matter how bad you want one.

rbmartiniv Loc: Nacogdoches, TX

I understand your frustration. I am a licensed healthcare professional. But to get my license required 6 years of university (after I successfully passed an entrance examination) and one year of internship. My license is also fairly expensive to renew every 2 years. What I am getting at is this. If you are going to require a license for any type of work, there must be some organization recognized as the "overseer" of that job/trade/profession. They must make the rules and decide how much education/training is required, what kind of examinations must be passed, and what fees will be assessed. There must be examination and licensing boards established to test and issue licenses to those individuals that complete the training and examinations successfully. Of course, before that can be done there must be regulations written and standards set. Then there must be investigators trained and hired to monitor the job/trade/profession to insure that everyone working in that job/trade/profession is properly licensed to do so. Then state and/or federal governments must enact regulations to limit the sale of cameras and related equipment to those individuals with valid licenses. Camera stores will require licensing and not be allowed to sell to anyone without a license. At the door to many popular events would be "agents" checking the licenses of individuals entering with cameras. They may even search you if they suspect you are hiding a camera on your person. Fines and/or license suspensions could be levied against offenders. The prices of cameras and related equipment would increase by hundreds of percentage points. Licensed photographers will be forced to drastically increase their prices, forcing consumers to limit thier use of a photographer's services. And on and on until the job/trade/profession is deregulated and then we are right back where we started.

Of course I exaggerate, perhaps, but there is a point somewhere in my ramblings. I suppose the point could be "be careful what you wish for".

But ponder this. If we can't control the use of guns, how in the world could we ever expect to control the use of cameras?

Thank you for being patient.

jokescache1 Loc: SW Utah

stan I'll make one comment,then get out of here..
in general---AMEN... joe,wish you luck

forbescat

The biggest joy for me has been the ability to chronicle the life of my only grandchild in pictures that capture his moods, his varied expressions and his interests.

Hmmm


Cooper's iPad


At The Office

jdcalabr Loc: Orlando, FL

Let the buyer beware. Enough with the government getting into every little nook and cranny of our lives. Grow up! Take some personal responsibility.

ruben.vuittonet

For one thing, driving a camera drunk does not generally result in photography-accident-related fatalities. Of course, the state may not actually care about safety as long as they get revenue, but at least it's arguable. Second, we hear about surgeons making mistakes all the time and they are both extensively trained and heavily regulated. Finally, aren't there enough fees and taxes for government regulation tacked onto our lives already?

The Old Man

Ducklady said it best. I think someone has an elitest attitude and can't stand the competition today.

I belong to a large camera club with monthly competitions. It is amazing what some newbies are turning in and winning ribbons. After all, it isn't the camera but the person who makes the difference.

A well made print is the final proof.

Mudshark Loc: Illinois

Like I noted above...someday, a decade from now...or two...you or perhaps Cooper or his children will look at these images and "smile or sigh or cry...it doesn't get any better" ...Great Stuff!