We walked into one local camera shop one day and had a nice talk with one photographer who is working there. At one point of our conversation, my husband said to Dave, “We are amateurs, not professionals.”
Dave looked at us and said, “Well, it depends on how you define professional-photographer. Have you made any money with your photo?”
Knowing what he’d implied, I quickly said, “Ah, in that case, I am a professional, but my husband is not.” (Ha ha ha… W definitely is a better photographer between the two of us. He is a perfectionist; I am an experimentalist.)
Dave questioned me with his eyes.
“I didn’t lie. I made 25 cents. Someone had downloaded my photo from a stock photo website, so I earned 25 cents,” I said. Actually, 3 or 4 photos were downloaded, which added up to, maybe, a dollar. But who cares about those minor details.
(I haven’t uploaded any photo to that website for a long time… too busy for other fun things.)
Dave laughed. From the sound of his laughing, I knew he knew exactly how professional I am ;-). I laughed with him.
Thanks for visiting my blog.
HHC Blog 
With this criteria, I am professional photographer as well, I have made some money by selling my pictures online, even better I have been invited to a makeup party within couple of weeks, which I will get some more money 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
You definitely are, Yan. 😉
Have a wonderful day!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think professional or not professional should be based on whether a person can make a live. I definitely can’t make a live by only taking photos, thus I don’t consider myself to be a professional photographer. But I can consider myself as a professional data scientist because I am making a live from it. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
There were other photographers said the same thing that if you have made money from selling your photos, then you are a professional. I don’t think there is any definite definition.
Personally, I just want to have fun. 😉
Good night.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A wonderful story, Helen! I really think you will get more downloads if you have time. I know you do it for fun, it must be a rewarding experience. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Amy. At first, I thought it’s better sharing my photos with others than keeping them on my hard drive. If I happen to make some money, I can donate them to charities. But I discovered that if you want to make some money, you have to treat this like a job. I don’t want a job. 😉
Good night.
LikeLike
Your photos are great, you should keeping downloading them on that site. I didn’t know that for being considered a profissional we need to be paid for the work. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Elizabeth. Dave wasn’t the only one saying that. I heard the same thing from a couple other photographers before. I am not sure there is a definite definition. It really doesn’t matter for me, since I am not looking for any photographing job.
Good night.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Funny. Yes, the lines between amateur and professional are blurring. 1 dollar? 🙂 🙂 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
1 dollar richer… actually, I haven’t seen the dollar yet (they will mail the money to you when you accumulate to a certain amount, I think), so maybe that doesn’t count? 😉
After meeting Dave, I did shoot senior portraits for a girl, and this one definitely counted. 😉
Have a great day.
LikeLike
Experimenting is most of the enjoyable challenge! Nicepost.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Mike. Everyone is different. For me, like you said, experimenting is the most enjoyable thing. My problem is that I don’t remember things well, so I may keep experimenting the same thing without knowing it. Ha.
Have a great evening.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You too, lol, had to chuckle abut that cause I do the same, forget. Have a wonderful holiday next week!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Helen, you are professional. Taking yearbook photos, following Raj’s lessons–you stand out with your photographs. Dave should see the photos you post. Oh, yes he should.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Lois. To be honest, being a professional or not doesn’t make any difference for me, since I am not in the market actively looking for any photographing job. I was kidding with Dave.
But, I do like to work on projects. Taking yearbook photo was fun. Maybe I can crash some weddings as an uninvited photographer? Even thinking of that makes me happy. Ha.
Good night.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ha! Helen–you crashing a wedding would be wonderful! I want photographs. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
OK.. then… I just found out that “I am unprofessional!: 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
But you are good, which is more important, in my opinion.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Helen! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person