Do Pros Shoot Better?

A friend recently asked me why I only feature professional photographers on the blog and not more amateurs. I have said in previous posts that my goal with the blog is to compile information that will be useful for amateurs such as myself, so why not feature good amateur work to show what is possible?

I agree that that is a good idea and I would like to start doing it. There are several reasons, however, that I have only been featuring pros and will continue to feature them.

First, their photos are much easier to find. Few amateurs have websites dedicated solely to their work and even fewer of those sites are easy to find. Pros’ work is highly visible and easily accessed on the web.

Second, when I look for great photos, I am usually looking for an entire body of quality work, not just a good shot or two. I only want to feature photographers who produce images that can inspire the rest of us, and many amateurs have only a few good shots among many mediocre ones (myself included).

Third, on the whole professional photographers are markedly better than amateurs. This isn’t always the case; there are many pros whose work is only so-so. There are also some amateurs that consistently capture incredible shots. On balance, though, a pro shoots better than an amateur. This has to be the case, as pros make their living taking photos and need to be able to produce work that is better than average in order to sell it. Many, if not most, of them have studied photography at an academy or university and spend all of their time on their craft. In contrast, amateurs such as myself spend their time working at other things and find free time to take photos where they can.

Ultimately, I feature pros' work because it shows me what is possible. It gives me ideas. It inspires me and motivates me to keep shooting and working with the hope that one day the quality of my work will be commensurate with theirs. Hopefully it is doing the same for others as well.

I am an amateur and happy to be so. At one time I had aspirations of becoming pro, but I have personal and professional goals that aren’t compatible with being a full time professional photographer, so I am happily pursuing it as a hobby. My only complaint is that I don’t have enough time to pursue it as I would like; maybe that will change some day.

In truth, the only thing that separates a pro from an amateur is whether or not you are paid to do it. The title doesn’t dictate the quality of the work. Any amateur can, with time and hard work, be as good as any pro out there.