answering a simple question

original DeviantArt journal entry: Sat May 17, 2008, 8:41 AM

• Mood: Artistic
• Listening to: the afternoon breeze throuth the windchimes outside the window
• Eating: french toast sticks w/huckleberry honey

(I wrote this as a reply to a question at a northern California photography-business oriented meetup group's forum. That simple question was: "What does it mean to be a pro?")

I had this forum's question in mind while I've been searching around the house for the three copies of my photography-related resume. Of them, I know two things: they're together, and they're ripped in half. The ripping came at a low point back in the 1990s when frustrations with many pieces of my life were running much higher than satisfaction levels. Among them was not thinking much of me as a "professional" photographer, let alone simply a "photographer." Interestingly, I never actually through those copies away! They were stuffed in a file drawer, and found the light of day maybe two months ago (thus the searching for something I KNOW is around here).

What I've come up with, from a personal background, is maybe a bit more "soul searching" than the simple answer of "skills and experience and outlook." (it may surprise a few of the "kids" - no offense intended at all - growing their interest in photography but, not all good "photography" discussions you'll find yourself in are exclusively concerned with f/stops, shutter speeds, equipment manufacturers, whether you "got the shot" or how cute the model may be.)

Based upon the many easily-qualified "professional photographer" individuals I've spent time with during my camera-wielding tenure, myself included, I would look towards a small handful of aspects and attributes that combined may provide an answer to that simple question.

Willingness to learn
Willingness to listen
Willingness to understand
Willingness to be honest with others around you
Willingness to be nice to others around you
Willingness to be a mentor to someone else

(there's also that wonderful old "Serenity Prayer" sense of awareness, even though I'm not religious)
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.

Willingness to know / see / understand that difference (to keep from digging yourself into a messy hole).


My itemized list up there very intentionally added "willingness to" for each of those basic points. I'm not confining these virtues to the "getting there" stage of growing a career in anything - all the time in school, studying to pass tests and write essays, learning the lessons from teachers - but even more strongly to your approach AFTER you've come to "know it all" about the chosen area.

If you can't find something worthwhile to gain and learn anew from each new day the sun shines itself for you, if you can't be JAZZED about your outlook to your field of interest, then I'd suggest simply giving up. Since this discussion is focused on photography...at that point, the quality/cost of your camera is meaningless to the lack of quality of your own outlook.

The same points, by the way, can be made towards ANY one in ANY field (they apply as easily to my time as a state-certified journey-level commercial electrician). How you see yourself; how you treat yourself...how you see customers, and how you treat them...all grow out of this continuing willingness. Much of my attitude towards troubleshooting and understanding a situation are interchangeable between my electrical and photography worlds: part of that "professional" skills base is seeking an strong understanding of what the customer has in their own mind...you being able to "see" what they are wanting or imagining, before you even bring the appropriate technical issues into play.

Bottomline...
it's an "attitude" (something I remember learning from a wonderful photographer/instructor some 20 years ago: Al Weber) that allows everything else to do its own part in your level of success or failure. That "willingness to" ...make the effort, see the situation, make it work, do whatever it takes to leave that customer with a smile for your being there to solve (or resolve) their problem.

That's where someone earning that title of "professional" gains their respect and trust.


(not bad for a Saturday morning before coffee, eh?)