[Leica] Elitism and the PRO

["Alan Hull" <hull@vaggeryd.mail.telia.com>]

As times are indeed a changing,  with fewer and fewer photographers
able to earn a decent living with photography as their SOLE income, the
hard and fast definition of a professional photographer is to say the
least becoming blurred.  

Which of the following is a modern definition of a professional today? 

1.  A photographer who sells a picture, even if it's only one.
2.  Or ... must earn enough to pay tax on the proceeds.
3.  Or ... must at least pay for his equipment from sales.
4.  Or ... has an agent.
5.  Or ... has stock photographs in place somewhere.

Personally,  I like the label Working Photographer which covers more
bases.  I mean lets face it, sad but true, a totally unskilled worker
earns more money than a news freelancer.

I bring this up because I've just noticed how many WP's have a second
job.  And for those of you who are wondering what on earth this has to
do with Leica then I will get to the crunch.  I doubt that many WP's
today can justify a complete Leica system.  It is simply not economical
to ignore the el cheepo brands out there. 

Alan Hull