Today’s Introspection by Joe Farace
One definition of what makes anyone a photographer is simple: A photographer is a person who makes photographs.
Or is it? I don’t think that definition includes the woman who jumped out of her SUV this morning at the post office’s drive-up mailbox to take a picture of mail pickup times with her cell phone. She’s not a photographer, she was taking a picture…for reference probably.
I like to think that I’ve been a photographer since I was eight year old when my parents gave me a Kodak box camera and I immediately set out, driven by unknown forces, to document my neighborhood starting with a photograph of a flag in a nearby park. I became a professional photographer when somebody first paid me money to make pictures but was the quality of the photographs I created any better than the images that I made the day before I cashed the check. I don’t think so.
Am I a great photographer? I don’t consider myself to be one but what I do think is that I’m a better photographer today than I was just a few years ago. I look at some of the images that I tweleve years ago and many of my choices make me cringe. But I constantly strive to improve my skills and vision and and am inspired by the creativity of my friends like Cliff Lawson and Barry Staver. The quality of their work challenges me to become a better photographer.
On the other hand, what doesn’t make someone a photographer? Here’s my highly opinionated thoughts on that subject:
- You don’t necessarily become a better photographer by reading about photography. But learning about the history and craft of photography and putting that what you learn from practice and making new images will make you a better photographer.
- You don’t become a photographer by writing about photography and while the process might improve your writing skills it won’t necessarily improve your photography unless the process encourages you to actually go out create some photographs.
- You don’t become a photographer by talking about photography while sitting behind a desk and speaking into a big microphone like Ron Burgundy. It might make you an engaging conversationalist but you gotta click the shutter not just your teeth.
I would like to encourage you to go out and shoot some photographs today. That’s what I plan to do all the while keeping in mind this blog’s motto: Have fun with your photography.
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