When do you become a real photographer?
Is it when you have 5,000 followers on Instagram or when you're booked for three months with photoshoots?
With social media (specifically Instagram) creating a large platform for photographers to express their talents, there's been thousands of different types of photographers at different skill levels. I've seen many photographers appalled by the fact that everyone seems to consider themselves "a photographer" nowadays.
It's time to debunk that toxic idea.
There are several things wrong with believing that not everyone warrants the title of "photographer."
First, that means there are criteria for being a photographer—which raises the question: Who decides the criteria for what a photographer is? Second, that ideology promotes elitism within the photography industry because it insists that unless you have years of experience, that you have a perfect portfolio, or that you have the "right" equipment, you cannot be worthy of the title "photographer."
How much experience is enough to be deemed a photographer, then? What consists of the perfect portfolio? And what equipment makes you a photographer?
The amount of experience and the type of equipment a photographer has is too subjective to be credible. There are an array of photographers (such as portrait, nature, landscape, conceptual, surrealism, architectural, black and white, wedding, phone, or animal photographers) with different skill levels (beginner, intermediate, pro) that make it impossible to make a criterion for what a photographer can and cannot be.
One of my favorite self-portrait photographers, Rosie Hardy, (you can see her pictures in an older post here), uses GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), a free photo editing tool, to create some of the most incredible pieces of art (Maroon 5's Hands All Over album cover is her photo!!!). But in the context of this toxic ideology, this would mean she isn't a photographer because the equipment she uses is not "professional."
To be honest, I used to be bothered when I saw people slapping Instagram filters on their photos or taking pictures with their iPhones and calling themselves "photographers." It felt like they were toying with a craft that I spent a long time cultivating—they were taking photos carelessly with an expensive camera or iPhone and calling it photography!
But then I thought about my ten-year-old self who took pictures on her iPod touch and stacked Instagram filters on each of her photos. And you know what? I really loved those photos when I was taking them. Even though my photography has shifted out of phones and Instagram filters, it does not mean that I am superior than someone who decides to stay and build their skills in that aspect of photography.
There is no true photographer. It's harmful to constrain people's creativity into a box in which you give yourself the right to construct and impose onto others. Everyone has a different purpose for photography and the only one that matters is the one you create for yourself.
It's not about the editing programs you use, the equipment you have, or the years you've collected under your belt. It's about you. Photography is about showing the world the stories you want to tell with your eyes.
So when do you become a real photographer?
You're already a real photographer.
xx,
Gabriella