What Makes A Professional Photographer? 10 Observations

What Makes a Professional Photographer? 

1. You need to be able to take rejection, rejection and more rejection of your work and still stay positive.
2. You need to be consistent in your image making.
3. You must have the ability and confidence to create narrative.
4. You must be able to solve problems through visual language.
5. You must always give the client what they ask for, what they didn’t (but works best) and what  you know to be the strongest image (that may or not fulfil the brief).
6. You must be able to talk about your work eloquently and with passion.
7. You need to understand the position of the client/curator/enabler.
8. You must be open-minded, culturally aware and interested in stuff!
9. You must never believe the hype but always understand the hype.
10. You must never give in or up.

Grant Scott is the founder/curator of the United Nations of Photography, a Senior Lecturer in Editorial and Advertising Photography at the University of Gloucestershire, a working photographer, and the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Focal Press 2014) and The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Focal Press 2015).

© Grant Scott 2016