Don't Spend Your Money Learning to be a Professonal Photographer?
By Gus Kilthau
@Ceerios (4698)
Goodfellow, Texas
March 7, 2017 4:03pm CST
Don't Spend Your Money Learning to be a Professonal Photographer? -
I just spent a bunch of time reading the following article (and resulting comments) on the Internet.
It could have been a waste of my time, but I learned a lot about the wisdom of ignoring negative stuff that gets a person nowhere at all.
I like to consider myself as a writer and a photographer. I do not spend a lot of time trying to figure out how I came up with such a consideration. All that I know is that I simply add those ideas onto all of the rest of the nonsense I keep telling myself - and then I let Nature take care of the rest of it.
In today's world, a professional photographer (which I am not) is someone who makes their living producing photographs and selling that production to others as a way of earning a living.
The fact is that you and I can run on over to a store that sells ordinary digital cameras and photography software for computer use and, those make it such that purchasing them causes the purchaser to be easily able to make photographs of professional quality without a lot of training and practice.
Those who own such equipment and software but who cannot see the digital photographs they are making before they actually make them are not and will not be professional photographers. Even so, the photographs they do produce will probably be pretty good photographs.
Just look at the photos you see right here on MyLot. Pretty good stuff. Right?
Here is a link to that article.
Image:Brownie Box Camera - Pixabay,com
This post that I found via Steve Coleman on Facebook lays out the cold hard facts of starting a wedding or portrait photography business in 2011. You can certainly apply most of it to commercial an…
4 people like this
4 responses
@connierebel (1557)
• United States
7 Mar 17
Some people can certainly make a living at photography, but it's harder now than it used to be, because digital cameras have made it so easy for everybody to take decent photos. Photography is my hobby, and while I try to earn a bit of money by using my photos on Zazzle, I don't expect to ever earn a living at it. I think the ones making the most money are wedding photographers, who charge OUTRAGEOUS prices for a wedding shoot. But that will eventually come back to bite them, when people realize that they can get their friends to shoot their wedding for far less, and often still get decent photos.
2 people like this
@Ceerios (4698)
• Goodfellow, Texas
7 Mar 17
@connierebel - The linked article contends that even wedding photography has gone downhill as an earner due primarily to the availability of the modern digital cameras. -Gus-
@connierebel (1557)
• United States
8 Mar 17
@Ceerios Yes, I saw that. I think it's a combination of both that and the excessive pricing.
1 person likes this
@Ceerios (4698)
• Goodfellow, Texas
8 Mar 17
@connierebel - I guess it could be said that excessive pricing is recognizable every time a person passes by the digital camera aisle at the photo stores. Almost anyone can now be productive of respectable if not professional photos. Almost everyone now recognizes that. -Gus-
@JamesHxstatic (29410)
• Eugene, Oregon
8 Mar 17
Anne and I like to think we are pretty good photographers, but would never call it professional. She is taking a class in Photoshop, her second one. I think it is complicated.
1 person likes this
@connierebel (1557)
• United States
8 Mar 17
I really enjoy Photoshop, and lately more of my Zazzle designs are Photoshop designs rather than straight photos. I don't take any classes, I learn as I go. If I want to know how to do a particular thing, I'll look it up online, or in the several Photoshop books I have.
2 people like this
@JamesHxstatic (29410)
• Eugene, Oregon
8 Mar 17
@connierebel She bought a book or two after her first class. The new class is specailized, taught by some fellow art quilters.
@Ceerios (4698)
• Goodfellow, Texas
8 Mar 17
@connierebel - Ms Connie - Way to go. Same thing here with my kind of photo-making. -Gus-

@rusty2rusty (6771)
• Defiance, Ohio
8 Mar 17
I have always had the love of taking photos. I once wanted to go professional with it. Except my eye are going bad. Some days are harder to see and focus. I am glad I didn't go that route professionally. As I would have to find something else. I do it for enjoyment, nothing else.
@toniganzon (77224)
• Philippines
7 Mar 17
There was a time in my life where I got addicted into taking photos and posting them on instagram (back when it wasn't owned by Facebook yet). I joined some challenges and got recognized for some photos and that was so rewarding to me. I only used my phone camera at that time. I think my iPhone has the best camera in taking instagram photos lol!
1 person likes this
@Ceerios (4698)
• Goodfellow, Texas
7 Mar 17
@toniganzon - Hi Toni - The way cell phone cameras work today, the photos from their use are getting better and better, -Gus-
1 person likes this






