Are You A Photographer?

A Pro Photographer Covering the Bangkok Protests

That is a question that I often get from new acquaintances when I get introduced to them while I’m carrying my DSLR.

“Are you a photographer?”

This is a question that isn’t asked, for instance, when I’m introduced to new acquaintances while I’m holding my Canon IXUS 860 IS, a compact digital point-and-shoot camera that one can find in department stores.

So, what is a photographer?

The word photography comes from the Greek word photos, meaning light, and another Greek word graphos, to draw or put into writing. It doesn’t say how photography should be done so it’s safe to say that its done nowadays with a camera.

A photographer is one who practices photography.

A camera is a tool that a photographer uses to capture the images. I took these pictures of people using cameras during the Bangkok protests in 2009, there’s a pro with her pro gear and a tourist with the camera on his phone. Both of them captured the scene unfolding that time. Sure, the professional will have way better-quality images, but the guy and his cam phone would also be able to snap usable shots that something like CNN’s iReport would accept.

Tourist Capturing Bangkok Protests With a Phone Camera

With almost everyone and his dog having a camera of some sort nowadays, the question then should be “what kind of photographer are you?”

There are professional photographers who do this for a living and amateurs who just do it for pleasure. There are landscape photographers and there are those who concentrate on shooting one kind of sport. There are really good ones, and there are those who probably need more practice (like me). Some use a Hasselblad digital that’s worth a condominium unit, and others have the VGA-quality camera that came with their phones.

All of those kinds take photographs. Photographers.

So, If I were to be asked “are you a photographer?” when I have the pocketable IXUS in hand, I’d give the same answer I would if I had my DSLRs and telephoto lenses hanging on my neck:

“Yes, I’m a photographer.”

Do you take pictures with a camera, be it your phone’s camera, a disposable  Kodak film camera, or a professional-level Nikon D3X DSLR?

If the answer is “yes”, then you’re a photographer too.

P.S. Don’t let some know-it-all in some photography forum tell you otherwise.

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