I recently heard a quote that a comedian said that really spoke my language. It goes something like, “You’re so ready to put these superheroes on a pedestal, but you forgot to ask them if they could fly.” And when I look at the current state of photography and photographers out there, I wonder the same thing about the aspiring class of photographers in the works. Lots of them are learning from Youtubers who have no actual credentials to their name, haven’t been in galleries, haven’t sold prints, can’t produce invoices for their photographic services, etc. The aspiring class of photographers is following in the footsteps of content creators who make content for algorithms that eventually become dated instead of shooting work for a timeless portfolio of some sort. And if you’re one of those folks, then your photography heroes probably suck.
Let me help you out here: a photographer is a person/human that shoots images for commercial reasons. They gain income through the sale of their prints, books, and even their services. They also primarily shoot still images and their work comes mostly from that. Anything other than that is a content creator, multimedia specialist, or a videographer.
This comes from the legal definition that you put down when you file taxes or when you’re signing up for something like an IRA.
Your photography heroes are just trying to get your attention, which works in an attention economy, but it doesn’t work for actual photography or the actual monetary economy.
So how do you become someone known for their still work in a social media society that values video? You don’t appeal to social media society. You message people, meet with them, show off your actual portfolio of work, etc. More importantly, you show off the work that you actually feel something from and not from what’s got the most upvotes on social media.
Folks: your photography heroes might suck if they’re selling out to an algorithm instead of creating for themselves first. If a photographer is always seeking external validation instead of getting it from within, I probably wouldn’t trust them.
I’d tell you to not believe everyone you see on the internet. And if that’s the case, go look this up for yourself. There’s an authentic defition of a photographer and a definition of what someone identifies as. And there’s a big difference.