I see no reason for recording the obvious - Edward Weston

Earlier cameras were so technical that only few people sought out to learn the trade and then taught only those who were destined to be in the "business." Today, Cameras have been simplified so that even the "Joe Schmo" can take a professional looking picture. What turns Joe Schmo into a professional photographer? Is it switching off his automatic setting on his camera. Switching shutter speeds and apertures to make a more pleasing photograph. Can an everyday person be a "photographer." On the same note, what transforms a picture into a photograph. Is it the subject matter in which one chooses to shoot or is it the composition and ascetic of the photograph.

Typically when one starts out on there photographic adventure they choose subject matters that are already thought provoking leaving the viewer to look at the ascetic of the image later. Example: photographing the poor and the homeless as opposed to photographing flowers and boats. The first two subjects by themselves grab the viewers attention. Is it cheating photography to pick such a complex subject matter or is it smart? Personally I love to see it all. I don't think that photography is limited to any one area. So then what transforms a picture into a photograph? I feel it is when the photographer seeks to gain a reaction or provoke a thought from his image. I love pictures that make me think. Thinking about what the photographer was trying to capture or why they needed to capture it. Edward Weston, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, and Richard Avedon were all known to stretch the boundaries in photography in some way.

Edward Weston: "Photography to the amateur is recreation, to the professional it is work, and hard work too, no matter how pleasurable it may be."

Ralph Eugene Meatyard: "My work springs from the beauty of ideas rather than ideas of the beautiful."

Richard Avedon:"Photography has always reminded me of the second child.. trying to prove itself. The fact that it wasn’t really considered an art.. that it was considered a craft.. has trapped almost every serious photographer."