Who's a photographer ? This question gets asked a lot these days. It used to be easy to answer : a photographer was one who had his work published. Today, this no longer separates the “real” photographers from the snappers, the sunday photographers. Everyone gets published everywhere, all the time. If it's not on a website, its via twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, or a blog. Thus, being published is no longer the criteria.

Since everyone is a photographer these days, taking and publishing pictures with the ease of one button, the debate rages on more than ever. It has been made worse since mastering technique is no longer a requirement either. No need to know f stops, sensibility, lighting, depth of field. Not even photoshop ( thank you Instagram). It has never been easier to take pictures. And thats enflaming the pro community. 

One of the major attribute of the disagreement is that it cannot be possible that one who had no formal training, including years in the field, could possibly be a great photographer. Like any trade, it should be years, if not decades before one should be able to master the art of taking pictures, great pictures. Problem is that more and more, common people take great pictures. Not only simple splendid images but also some that look great after an obscene amount of post production artifacts. And that just doesn't seem fair, at least according to the purists.

Those who have made a living from the trade do not accept dilettante. If you have not starved trying to pursue your art, you are not, no will you never be a photographer. Those who have just picked up their Iphones and lazily slapped an Instagram filter on a back lit view out of their apartment window think that everyone is a photographer, as long as they liked the image. It seems that there will never be an agreement. 

Since there is no panel of experts to define who is a photographer, everyone is also a critic. In the extremely social environment we live in today, unfortunately for the pros, the decisions are made by the majority. If millions of people, whomever they are, decide that an image is a great image and that the person who took it is a photographer, there is no disputing it. The majority wins. 

Henri Cartier Bresson is a photographer, you neighbor is not. Never will be. Well, maybe on Instagram. And Facebook. And Google plus. And maybe he has more followers than HCB.

Paul Melcher