PHOTOGRAPHY
[ ARE YOU AN AMATEUR OR A PRO? | Blue Amber ]
3 QUESTIONS TO FIND OUT IF YOU’RE OPERATING AS craft. Yet, we still get the questions from others paid for what you are working on, but getting
AN AMATEUR OR A PROFESSIONAL saying, “You really do this full time?” a paycheck doesn’t make you a professional
Photographers, let me ask you a question… The question that I always got from people that child’s fundraisers for his school, but that
really got to me was right after I told them of a doesn’t make me a professional fundraiser.
at anything. I can make money by selling my
It’s a question that you’ve been asked before cool gig that I shot, and then I heard, “Really? while holding a DSLR camera in your hands, That’s great. Did you get paid for that?” Now, You can be an unpaid professional, or a paid
“Are you a professional, or do you just do this the part of me that God is still working on, amateur. Pros work no matter what they are
as a hobby? Are you an amateur or a pro?” you know, the part that gets offended by and being paid because the job or gig or craft
annoyed with things that I really don’t need to... deserves excellence. And pros strive to do their
Take a minute and think about a moment in the part that really needs God’s grace, because job well. Period.
time that you can look back and say, that is people really don’t mean to be offensive... but when I became a professional. Is it when you I’m going to be offended by it anyway so I HAVE YOU UPDATED?
started shooting family sessions for people might as well write about it in an article (ugh... Are you someone who is constantly improving,
that were not your actual family? Was it when breathe…) that part isn’t the Pro. It’s operating or have you reached the endpoint of knowing
you started shooting weddings? Is being a pro as an amateur. everything about your field? Listen, even app’s
when you are only doing it as a full time job?
are constantly being updated. I’m constantly
Does only doing it part-time count as being So, what makes you a pro? Here are some getting notifications that something on my
a professional? We could go on and on with questions to ask yourself to see if you are phone needs me to download the newest
these questions. operating as an amateur or as a professional… version. How many times are you pushing
the button to say, “Remind me Later”? Don’t
I
know
a
lot
of
amazingly
creative
photographers. They are successful in their
60
ARE YOU GETTING PAID? settle for version 1.0. Go ahead and learn that
Ok, scratch that. Not that it’s not great to get new way to do something. Take that course at
February 2018
WorshipMusician.com