Let’s talk about what I want to do for a living. Unlike most of the people I know I have decided on a career that is, well, somewhat undefined. I don’t want to be an engineer or a teacher, or a business man. All of those have a relatively clear sense of what you need to do in order to make a living. Go to school, get an internship, get hired on, and work there until you can retire at 80.

 I have chosen a career in the arts; more directly the photographic arts. You might ask of me, “Pray tell your plans as an artist.”

I would respond, “Methinks I doth not know dear fellow. I want to produce art; nay will that art produce for I? (Will Shakespeare would challenge me to a duel over this horrid writing.)

I have known for quite some time that I wanted to make my living with a camera in my hand. However, I don’t see myself as the typical photographer you’d see on TV. I don’t care too much for fashion, I hate the idea of working for a newspaper, weddings are stressful, and I don’t want to shoot your baby. This leaves me with the artistic side of photography; otherwise known as, “You better be damn good, or have someone to support you” side.

I have always told people I am a photographer, or that I’m going to school for photography. This inevitably leads to them saying something like, “I have a Nikon D60 and Photoshop Elements. I shot my cousins wedding last year in Del Boca Vista down south. I love photography.”

::break for cursing::

Having a consumer DSLR and a copy of some editing software doesn’t make you a photographer. It makes you a person with a camera in their hand. It makes you a person who trivializes the art of photography.

I know this sounds harsh, but imagine people taking what you love and watering it down to its basic elements, and then claiming they know the craft. This frustrates me because when I start trying to make a living, I’ll have to compete with soccer moms and their cameras.  People don’t want to pay for a service that they can do themselves. Their results may be amateur, but it’s good enough for the family scrapbook.

What I need to do is find a wealthy backer to fund my expeditions into the fading art of photography. I’d shoot what I want, frame what I want, and then sell what I want. Is that too much to ask? Someone with money to blow on an aspiring artist?

From now on when people ask me what I am, or what I want to do for a living I think I’ll say, “I’m an artist.”