This morning I ended up in a spat on Threads with a wedding photographer who declared that you aren’t a realphotographer unless you shoot on manual.
I’m sorry, but who exactly makes these rules? Who decided that unless you’re fiddling with dials and settings like you’re cracking the Enigma code, you’re not allowed to call yourself a photographer? Because that’s utter nonsense.
At the moment I am loving shooting on film using a camera that Bruce bought for me off eBay recently. I don’t spend hours tweaking sliders in Lightroom. I don’t Photoshop the life out of an image. The only “editing” I do is straightening a horizon if I’ve tilted my camera. Does that make me less of a photographer? No. It makes me someone who’s interested in the photograph itself—not in proving I know what every button does.
Here’s the truth: being a photographer isn’t about settings. It isn’t about whether you shoot manual, aperture priority, or auto. It’s about your eye. It’s about spotting a moment and knowing it matters. Anyone can learn the technical side, well except me because I have never wanted to learn all of that side of the camera. What you can’t teach is instinct. You can’t teach that split-second recognition that what’s in front of you is worth keeping forever. And the results I have produced recently prove I have that.
My dad understood that. As he was dying and we spent his final week with him my friends came to the house to co-work so I didnt have to leave him. He asked to see my best friend Annie. She told him how she would look after me and my mum and not worry about us. He told her how inspirational he found her photography and that he loved it because she captured moments other people would miss. He wasn’t talking about whether she shot manual or raw, or what her histogram looked like. He was talking about her eye. And those words gave her confidence at a time when she was doubting herself, even though she’s an extraordinary photographer. That eye for detail isn’t something you find in a settings menu—it’s a gift.
And while we’re on the subject of nonsense, let’s talk about Leica’s viral post this weekend about their camera being the kind of thing you’d want on the front seat of your car. What a load of marketing rubbish. It’s a camera. A tool. A beautiful tool, yes but it is still a tool. It doesn’t make you a better photographer just by sitting on your passenger seat. The magic doesn’t come from the brand stamped on the body, or from the mode dial you’re spinning. It comes from the person holding it.
So if you shoot on auto, you’re a photographer. If you shoot on film with no editing, you’re a photographer. If you grab a camera to catch your child’s grin, your dog mid-leap, or the way sunlight catches a wall, you are a photographer. And if you only use your phone, guess what? Yep.
And if someone tries to tell you otherwise? Ignore them. Their rule book is imaginary. The only thing that really matters is the photograph.