Vision Part 7-In Praise of Amateurs

October 14, 2013 ·

Alain Briot

Every artist was first an amateur.Ralph Waldo Emerson

1 - IntroductionAn amateur is someone who does something for the love of it. The wordamateuris French and comes from the Latin wordAmatorem. Both words mean ‘lover’, someone who does something for the love of it in the context of this essay.By comparison a professional is someone who makes a living from what they do, from selling fine art photographs in this instance.

2 - All artists start as amateursI am an amateur and I intend to stay that way for the rest of my life.André Kertész

As fine art photographers, which is the intended audience for this essay, we all start as amateurs. Some of us remain amateurs our whole life, doing what we do to further our passion. Others decide to become professionals doing what we do to generate an income. Whatever the case might be, the difference outlined in the introduction remains the same. The amateur creates art for the love of it wh...

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Alain Briot

See all articles by Alain Briot

Alain Briot creates fine art photographs, teaches workshops and offers DVD tutorials on composition, raw conversion, optimization, printing and marketing. Alain is the author of Mastering Landscape Photography, Mastering Photographic Composition and Marketing Fine Art Photography. All 3 books are available from Alain’s website as well as from most bookstores. You can find more information about Alain's work, writings and tutorials as well as subscribe to Alain’s Free Monthly Newsletter on his website. You will receive over 40 essays in PDF format, including chapters from Alain’s books, when you subscribe.