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<blockquote data-quote="ohkphoto" data-source="post: 157466" data-attributes="member: 1573">I'm afraid all of this is a little more sinister than simply creating revenue by pandering to a different audience, especially if you look at all the genres and different publications and the trends of all these photo sites acquiring product markets.&nbsp; I think we're on the tipping point of a revolution in photography or at least certainly a redefining of a &quot;professional photographer.&quot; Why should a newspaper keep a photo staff when they can get free photos from the public for attribution.&nbsp; How many of you have heard your friends brag, &quot; my photo was used by Channel 7!&quot; . . . as if that validates that they're a good photographer. The trend for contests is &quot;enter your photo and your prize is being published in the calendar.&quot;&nbsp; I'm predicting that the only photojournalists who will be considered &quot;professional&quot; will be the ones who are in a zone of danger, places where the average person with his iphone won't be found, and who has a sense of vision to capture emotional photos that will elicit a gasp from the viewer.As for the rest of us, and I include wedding, lifestyle, portrait, etc., we'll be thrown in with the &quot;amateurs&quot; . . . that's why wedding photographers have been weeping and wailing for years UNLESS we change how we view this profession.IMHO the &quot;professional photographers&quot; are going to be defined as those who are able to develop a body of work that accurately projects their vision.&nbsp; And that happens BEFORE the shutter is pressed.&nbsp; It's not going to be the ones who necessarily take 500 photos a day and hope to get a &quot;body of work&quot; out of it. It's going to be the ones who have a vision, and then create the photo.The definition of a &quot;professional&quot; photographer is going to have less to do with whether you earn money, but more to do&nbsp; with signature works and style.&nbsp; Can your photos be recognized as yours because of a style you've developed? Just sayin . . . that's the &quot;writing on the wall&quot; that I see.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="ohkphoto, post: 157466, member: 1573"] I'm afraid all of this is a little more sinister than simply creating revenue by pandering to a different audience, especially if you look at all the genres and different publications and the trends of all these photo sites acquiring product markets. I think we're on the tipping point of a revolution in photography or at least certainly a redefining of a "professional photographer." Why should a newspaper keep a photo staff when they can get free photos from the public for attribution. How many of you have heard your friends brag, " my photo was used by Channel 7!" . . . as if that validates that they're a good photographer. The trend for contests is "enter your photo and your prize is being published in the calendar." I'm predicting that the only photojournalists who will be considered "professional" will be the ones who are in a zone of danger, places where the average person with his iphone won't be found, and who has [I]a sense of vision to capture emotional photos that will elicit a gasp from the viewer.[/I] As for the rest of us, and I include wedding, lifestyle, portrait, etc., we'll be thrown in with the "amateurs" . . . that's why wedding photographers have been weeping and wailing for years UNLESS we change how we view this profession. IMHO the "professional photographers" are going to be defined as those who are able to develop a body of work that accurately projects their vision. And that happens BEFORE the shutter is pressed. It's not going to be the ones who necessarily take 500 photos a day and hope to get a "body of work" out of it. It's going to be the ones who [I]have a vision, and then create the photo[/I]. The definition of a "professional" photographer is going to have less to do with whether you earn money, but more to do with signature works and style. Can your photos be recognized as [I]yours[/I] because of a style you've developed? Just sayin . . . that's the "writing on the wall" that I see. [/QUOTE]

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