Re: [Leica] Elitism and the PRO

["Raimo Korhonen" <raimo.korhonen@pp2.inet.fi>]

Hear, hear! Raimo (an amateur or semi-pro at best)
- ----------
> From: Alex Brattell <alex@zetetic.co.uk>
> To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> Subject: [Leica] Elitism and the PRO
> Date: 27. toukokuuta 1998 10:45
> 
> It's such a shame that the term 'amateur' has been so devalued.
> Last year Amateur Photographer in the UK gave Eve Arnold a lifetime
> achievement award or something like that.
> She collected her award saying what a privilege it was to receive it from
> that particular magazine because in the true sense of the word she had
> always been an amateur - a lover of  photography.
> 
> All of us on this list are true amateurs whether we make money out of
> photography or not.
> 
> I've come across so many 'professionals' for whom photography is just a
> means . There are two agencies in my building who chase the royal family
and
> other unimportant people around. As long as they make sales I doubt that
> they care much about the culture of photography - no copies of  'Pictures
On
> A Page' on their shelves. I just happen to make (highly variable) money
out
> of photography, it's the way things turned out. But through the years I
have
> come to love the medium and it's history as my window on the world. This
> enthusiasm is absolutely vital to me, it stops what I do from turning
into a
> job - even if I'm photographing dogfood I'm still doing something I love,
> and I do well to remember that when I'm totally bored in my studio
looking
> at training shoes all day. (Luckily it's often a lot more interesting
than
> that!)
> 
> Anyway, photography is a far better vocation than it is a job, it has
always
> been an exploitation industry, some of us just can't do anything else -
it's
> a long road there's no turning back!
> 
> Alex (never went to law school) Brattell
>