For most entering photography the dream is to be a professional photographer. To make a living off the images you take. It is a grand goal, a challenging goal, and a goal that once you reach can make you second guess if it was really what you truly wanted.
I am one of those rare photographers who didn’t actually set out to make this a career or be a professional— I was actually considered a professional by my entire network before I finally gave in and starting using that term myself because I was pretty resistant to wanting that title. I loved being an amateur and shooting what made me happy and let me be creative, without having to assign a price to survive to the work I created.
What makes an amateur and what makes a pro?
An amateur photographer by definition is a photographer who takes images for fun, as a hobby, rather than as a job. In more simplistic terms they do not make their primary income from photography.
A professional photographer by definition is a photographer who makes a living through photography. Usually a professional is someone who pays taxes on income earned through picture taking.
A winter modeling headshot from my professional era.
So which is better? Amateur or Professional?
This honestly comes down to a matter of opinion, there are professional photographers who love being professionals the sheer amount of work, energy, drive, and effort they have to put into to making visual dreams of others come to life. Make no mistake as a professional photographer your job is working on someone else’s time line to bring their visual needs and desires to life regardless of whether light, weather, or elements are in your favor.
As a professional you have to deal with the financial burden of earning an income, running a business, juggling clients, deadlines, illness, and all manner of things to do a job you are contracted to do. There is a lot of pressure however it can be completely rewarding.
However on the flip side amateurs have all the freedom. They can be as creative as they want, work on their own projects, and have none of the financial stressors or burdens. What they give up perhaps is having as much time to dedicate to the craft as they usually are making a living in some other form. But they get to pursue their passion on their own terms which is liberating and freeing.
As a hobbyist or amateur photography is what you get to do as a break from your professional life. Where as a pro photography can actually become a source of stress which can lead to burn out and lack of joy.
From before I was a professional during my equine photos for fun project…. This image also became my first magazine cover: Horsemen’s Corral November 2013.
A lot of professionals lament on the time they were amateurs, they look back at those fun photographs they made that they still love because it brings to mind fun, carefree sessions were they got to create for passion and their own desires. They remember the lack of stress and pressure and can miss all of that.
I definitely do, there are times the idea of closing my business and going back to creating to create feels like the dream even though I can not picture myself doing anything else as a job and wouldn’t know where to start on the career field if asked. But that freedom and lack of stress is appealing.
As a professional you have to have business skills, an entrepreneurial mindset, and a drive to work hard. You have to be ready to work insane hours, with crazy deadlines in one of the most competitive and over saturated fields out there. You have to be willing to bend and create to your clients demands not your artistic vision.
For many the benefits of making it a career are daunting and they enjoy it as a hobby. Others thrive on the business of photography. Ultimately the answer to which is better: amateur or pro, heavily relies on who you are and what you can handle stress and life wise.