Photographers-How Do You Think Of Yourself
Photographers-How Do You Think Of Yourself?
Many photographers don’t seem to think that they’re photographers.
In many conversations that I have with people who make pictures, I usually ask them how long they’ve been a photographer.
And many answer that they’re not photographers.
In response, I point out that they’ve been making photographs. And then ask, “don’t photographers make photographs”?
Of course, photographers make photographs. But it’s funny how people who are engaged in using a camera to make pictures don’t see themselves as a photographer.
Further, they seem to notice my use of the term “make/making photographs” instead of the term “take/taking photographs.
In any event, I find it interesting that when asked the question, (Photographers-How do you think of yourself?), many photographers don’t think of themselves as photographers.
But why may photographers not think of themselves as photographers?
Of course, I ask the photographers who don’t think of themselves as photographers why they don’t think of themselves as photographers.
And it’s usually the same few answers just expressed in different ways.
Furthermore, It usually has to do with our cameras/equipment. And my response to that is we need to do our best to make effort and the best picture that we can with whatever camera we got.
Or it has to do with our perception of our level of skill/quality of our work. And my response to that is that we can study and practice to become better photographers.
So when the question (Photographers-How do you think of yourself?) arises, the simple and useful answer is “I think of myself as a photographer”.
Because my intent is to get those photographers to realize that they are indeed photographers. And as photographers, it’s imperative to get involved in what we do in terms of camera operation and composition. In other words, we gotta learn to think like photographers. And if we do that, we automatically get involved in what we do.
Photographers-How Do You Think Of Yourself?
When asked the question, (Photographers-How do you think of yourself?) perhaps a more useful response should not be based on how we perceive ourselves.
But instead, we should base our response on how we do what we do to make pictures.
Because when we examine what we do, we can see what needs to be done to make improvements in our work. In other words, we are self-critiquing our process and the outcome of our process in terms of our photographs
Certainly, we’re all photographers.
And while we may use different cameras and have varying degrees of skill, we are photographers.
So, Photographers-How Do You Think Of Yourself?
In brief, when we are asked this question, I would suggest that explaining the facts of our process is a much more useful answer than getting caught in whether we’re photographers.
Furthermore, the question (Photographers-How do you think of yourself?) can be a trap because it’s distracting from the more pertinent question.
And, that more pertinent question is what do we think of our work?
Because, as I’ve stated. If we’re making photographs, we’re photographers.
And that being established let’s just do what we do.
So, Photographers-How do you think of yourself? Don’t tell us about how you think of yourself. Tell us about how you think of your work and process.
In other words, tell us about the work you do, why you do it, and how you do it.
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