[boriscleto]

[quh86]

the question is whether you consider yourself an amateur as in not paid, or a professional as in not paid :P
no seriously, i guess there are enough of us who can make a comfortable living of it. its just that the majority (me included) simply pursue it as a hobby.

[Fogel70]

Being unemployed you picture yourself having a job. Being a photgrapher you picture other people as a job.

[RKKS08]

I understand Jim Gaffigan is a comedian?

Anyway, there is a special situation in Germany and some other European countries (which will ease a bit with European Union rules):

The "profession" photographer is seen as a handicraft.
Which means, to work as a professional you need to pass theoretical and practical exams, after a (low payed) apprenticeship of up to 3 years, like for most professions in my country.

But for photographers, there are a couple of gaps in these rules:

Some of them:

• For journalistic photographing, there are exceptions. But you have to be careful what kind of work you really do.
• You can work as an employee of a "real" photographer who is registered with his own business.
• You can work as an official employee for any company which frequently needs photographing for their workflow.
• You can claim you are an artist rather than a photographer, and just have to use a camera as one of your tools; but then you must be very careful what you are doing. If the league of pros think this is a cheat, your case may end up at a court, and a judge will decide whether your work is really "art".

Completely out of question is payed(!) per job work like wedding photography. Any pro (or the tax people!) finding out about this could inform the chamber of professional photographers. If you are caught repeatedly, it could go to court, and also become a financial nightmare.

Whether all this is effecting the grain of truth in Gaffigans post, I wouldn`t know.
I do know that mobile's cameras and digital P&S have radically changed the situation, but, until now, mainly in the area of day-to-day journalism.

---

Last edited by RKKS08; 11-12-2015 at 12:08 PM. Reason: Typing

[VoiceOfReason]

I'm an employed (day job is an engineer) amateur photographer who has made a little money off of it.

[mag07]

Hmm...weird statement from my perspective in the OP. Not making much sense at all. Hope the dude is not a photographer...or a comedian

Also, where I come from, photography is a free profession not subject to any restrictions - you can call yourself a pro, a semi, an artist or whatever else you want. As long as you pay your income tax, no one cares. If you're crap, your reputation quickly catches up to you and no amount of assigning yourself labels will help you make a living. If you're good...well, than mostly you don't care to call yourself a pro either way. Everyone knows it already.

[boriscleto]

Hmm...weird statement from my perspective in the OP. Not making much sense at all. Hope the dude is not a photographer...or a comedian
.

Some different observations by Mr. Gaffigan...

Pie can’t compete with cake. Put candles in a cake, it’s a birthday cake. Put candles in a pie, and somebody’s drunk in the kitchen.

Ever wonder what people got Jesus for Christmas? It's like, "Oh great, socks. You know I'm dying for your sins right? Yeah, but thanks for the socks! They'll go great with my sandals. What am I, German?"

But in Indiana it's not like New York where everyone's like, 'We're from New York and we're the best' or 'We're from Texas and we like things big' it's more like 'We're from Indiana and we're gonna move."

We’re never satisfied when it comes to food. "You know what’d be good on this burger? A ham sandwich. Instead of a bun, let’s use two donuts. That way we can have it for breakfast. Look out McGriddle. Here comes the donut-ham-hamburger!"

There is the vegetarian Hot Pocket for those of us who don't want to eat meat, but would still like diarrhea.



Is anyone else concerned that the creepy guy Subway fired now has his own jewelry store?!!

[THoog]

Sounds like Gaffigan ran into a slacker who uses "photographer" to describe the nothing they do.

I'd say the difference between being a photographer and unemployment is the same as the difference between being a stand-up comic and unemployment.

[Murfy]

jim gaffigan is hysterical. it's bad dad humor, I have seen him live while I was pregnant was afraid I was going to go into labor from laughing so hard. I am not sure why someone would judge him on one line or jokes written out. When you hear him say things, it is funny. He has a tv show on which plays on 2 channels, albums, does tours, etc, he is successful enough to support his large family who used to live in New York. Which I imagine being a comedian, is very competitive and not an easy thing to do.

And in our area, there are more photographers than you can shake a stick at, some of then have had formal education, and are very very good, some are people who bought a camera at Costco and telling everyone how they always loved photography since they were young and are now a lifestyle natural light photographer. Most keep thier 'business' maybe 2-3 years. I am guessing he is referring to the over abundance of those photographers. maybe its an east coast thing?

[boriscleto]

And in our area, there are more photographers than you can shake a stick at, some of then have had formal education, and are very very good, some are people who bought a camera at Costco and telling everyone how they always loved photography since they were young and are now a lifestyle natural light photographer. Most keep thier 'business' maybe 2-3 years. I am guessing he is referring to the over abundance of those photographers. maybe its an east coast thing?

I have a feeling he was on a location doing publicity stills for his show.

[Murfy]

I have a feeling he was on a location doing publicity stills for his show.

well that photographer is working! LOL I am sure he also meets people all the time that say they are artists or photographers in NY, I would guess anyway. I knew a girl who lived in NY and told everyone she was a dancer, and she was, she had been in Cats, and a few other shows, but most of her time she was on unemployment or working as a personal assistant. She did get paid as a dancer, but not enough to live on.

[THoog]

Isn't there a joke among actors that goes something like this:

"What do you do?"
"I'm an actor."
"Oh, really? What restaurant do you wait tables at?"

For photographers, I guess that goes "what wedding are you shooting next weekend?"

[boriscleto]

Isn't there a joke among actors that goes something like this:

"What do you do?"
"I'm an actor."
"Oh, really? What restaurant do you wait tables at?"

For photographers, I guess that goes "what wedding are you shooting next weekend?"

My cousin is a writer and actor. He even has a few professional writing and acting credits. But he manages a restaurant...What he really wants to find is a position in a drama department at a college somewhere...

[Nakedgun]

I understand Jim Gaffigan is a comedian?

Anyway, there is a special situation in Germany and some other European countries (which will ease a bit with European Union rules):

The "profession" photographer is seen as a handicraft.
Which means, to work as a professional you need to pass theoretical and practical exams, after a (low payed) apprenticeship of up to 3 years, like for most professions in my country.

But for photographers, there are a couple of gaps in these rules:

Some of them:

• For journalistic photographing, there are exceptions. But you have to be careful what kind of work you really do.
• You can work as an employee of a "real" photographer who is registered with his own business.
• You can work as an official employee for any company which frequently needs photographing for their workflow.
• You can claim you are an artist rather than a photographer, and just have to use a camera as one of your tools; but then you must be very careful what you are doing. If the league of pros think this is a cheat, your case may end up at a court, and a judge will decide whether your work is really "art".

Completely out of question is payed(!) per job work like wedding photography. Any pro (or the tax people!) finding out about this could inform the chamber of professional photographers. If you are caught repeatedly, it could go to court, and also become a financial nightmare.

Whether all this is effecting the grain of truth in Gaffigans post, I wouldn`t know.
I do know that mobile's cameras and digital P&S have radically changed the situation, but, until now, mainly in the area of day-to-day journalism.

Brother, what a mess!

[dansamy]

And in our area, there are more photographers than you can shake a stick at, some of then have had formal education, and are very very good, some are people who bought a camera at Costco and telling everyone how they always loved photography since they were young and are now a lifestyle natural light photographer. Most keep thier 'business' maybe 2-3 years. I am guessing he is referring to the over abundance of those photographers. maybe its an east coast thing?

It's a South thing too, apparently. And I've been hoodwinked. Two years ago, I bought a "fall mini session" that was just awful. Thankfully, I only spent $40-50, I think. Won't ever use that "photographer" again. (At least I know I suck & am not charging people to practice my hobby...)