Let’s face it, to be a modern photographer, especially when you’re starting out, it’s far too easy to become a ‘jack of all trades photographer.’

When a client is looking for a photographer they are not necessarily looking for a specialist (those are expensive).

As a result the finished product is of course less than satisfactory to both the client and the photographer… perhaps less to the photographer as they got paid but there you go!

But who can we blame for this?

The photographer just wants to do what they love and get paid.

The client only really knows that they need a photographer.

So think about how the word Photographer is defined.

The Wikipedia definition is both strange and complex – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photographer but that’s hardly surprising! What’s most interesting is that there is no wiki for professional photographer.

The Dictionary.com definition is nice and simple…… but personally I think some way off the mark…

pho·tog·ra·pher

a person who takes photographs, esp. one who practices photography professionally.

In contrast the Urban Dictionary has a slightly more bleak but perhaps more realistic suggestion…

Photographer

What just about every scene kid and hipster under the age of 25 calls themselves these days. Many own Canon Rebel xtis and rely heavily on cropping and Photoshop filters to give their otherwise mundane photos an “artsy” feel.

All this aside the point I am groping at is that the way that the public and the client define what we are is perhaps quite different from how we might see ourselves.

Perhaps the modern professional photographer might be perceived like this…

pho·tog·ra·pher

All singing all dancing, jack of all trades that has an expensive looking camera. A photographer can be a full time professional or a part time enthusiast.

The modern photographer has the ability to ‘do anything’ in Photoshop including (but not restricted too) removal of chins, blemishes and 20 to 30 years of natural ageing.

A photographer holds little regard for the copyright and ownership of their images and is always happy to share their work on social media platforms with or without consent.

I think my point is that perhaps we should all better define what we do better so that clients know what they are getting.

The only way we can change preconceptions about our trade has to begin with us.

A wonderful example of this can been seen on Tim Gander’s Blog with the note under his profile picture…..

Commercial photographer. I don’t do weddings or pets. Sorry.

Perhaps some of you would like to suggest your own definition of how you’d like to be perceived Vs how you ARE perceived?