"Are you a photographer?"

[Dan Schmidt]

You sure are a photographer, but you may accurately get the situation across by saying "it is a [obsesion, passion, love etc] of mine"

[paulr]

or how about,

"photographer? oh, no. I'm merely an artistic visionary who snaps a few pics now and then."

[Paul Metcalf]

My most often "conversation" with curious observers:

From women (moms): "Is that a camera?" followed by "Are you a professional?" (if only they knew!)

From men (dads): "Well, I haven't seen something like that in while" (glad it's not the women saying that)

From kids: "mom, what's he doing?" (from well behind their mom)

Oh, and from security: "no tripods allowed"

[chris jordan]

"Are you a photographer?"

"Only for a 125th of a second at a time."

[Lazybones]

Yes.

[Scott Davis]

no, but I play one on TV...

Smile. You're on Candid Camera!!

[Maris Rusis]

I guess I may have over-reacted to the sad debasement of the word "photographer" but I have eliminated it from my vocabulary.

In this part of the world any user of any camera (camcorder, TV camera, digital gizmo, web-cam, etc) with any kind of image acquisition and any form of output (monitor screen, chimp-able camera LCD, hardcopy of any kind, etc) is elevated to the status of photographer.

It gets worse. A famous Australian "photographer" who gets picture prices in the thousands often eschews the camera work and all the other parts as well and confines her input to wrangling the camera workers, models, set makers, lighting guys, lab staff, art marketers and anyone else who can further her (very successful!) career. If that is what it means to be a photographer then count me out.

I use the phrase photograph maker. This seems to fit well with my practice of making surfaces that bear marks by virtue of being struck by light (real photographs) and to make these objects in full, one at a time, start to finish, by my own hand.

[Sanders McNew]

Sitting in an airport departure gate, I loaded a roll of film into my Rolleiflex balanced on my lap. A couple in their 80s watched intently across from me. Once I closed the back, he asked: "Is that a film camera?" Yes, I said. Then the wife: "Can you still get film for it?"

Here's your ticket.

Sanders McNew

[chris jordan]

Okay, how often does this happen to you: Someone walks by your LF camera and looks into the lens and says "Hi Mom!" as if it's a big video camera with a bellows. A crowd of teenagers once did that when I had my camera pointed vertically up into a tree.

[Jon Wilson]

"Are you a photographer?" Yes, it is cheaper than therapy. Jon