19 types of photographers. Which are you?

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Photography , like design, arts and writting is divided into several specalizations. Being a photographer doesn’t mean you are good at photographing anything and everything. I mean there are such specimens who consider themselves capable of shooting anything, and they sure deserve credit for trying to shoot every genre possible. The only problem is that nothing ever works out very well.

Photographers are specialized, just like athletes if you will. Pick a NBA star and you will most likely come up with a player that was born to play basketball. Soccer or tennis would probably be a nightmare for them. Same thing with creative fields.

Here is a short, open list of types of photographers, depending on what kind of photography they do and what their general interests are.

1. The landscape photographer

He is the kind of photographer that as a child would stop and gaze at a pretty mountain or a green field for minutes in a row. The kind of thing that would make his family lose patience. So landscape photographers grow up, buy gear and go outdoors, which is where they feel most comfortable, and take portraits of the land, as Annie Leibovitz would put it.

2. The portrait photographer

Now, portrait photography is one of the oldest branches in this medium/art form. Basically, almost any photograph of a human being, and not just, can be more or less categorized as a portrait. Therefore, there is a bit of an inflation of portrait photographers, especially with all the new sharing options, but there is always room for something new too.

3. The fashion photographer

Fashion photographers have an authentic love for clothes, besides their obvious first love. They’re into trends, fabrics, colors, models, parties, and the whole deal. They are artistic creatures, often with inflated egos, but they fill magazines with some pretty amazing pictures.

4. The sports photographer

This is the photographer who usually carries a fairly heavy load to various sporting events. Sports photographers should be given more credit in my book. A lot of the fame of 20th century sports stars came from their image, which was helped build up with great photos. They are not the most artistic photographers, but they sure are the definition of pro.

5. The photojournalist

This is also an amazing category of photographers, one I fear may be dying however, due to things like Instagram. Oh well, evolution makes the rules. Photojournalists are the daring boys and girls who cover the stories that are of interest to the entire world. Anything from bull fights to wars and presidential elections, you name it. They stick their necks out so that the world can get a clear view of different, hot subjects across the planet.

6. The macro photographer

If you have an interest for everything small, everything that happens at grass level, macro photography is for you. It’s fun because you can find a world within a world, you can study things that you normally wouldn’t with the naked eye and you can capture some amazing shots of plants and wildlife.

7. The food photographer

He has to have an eye for the esthetics of food. And that doesn’t mean making a hamburger look good for the local fast-food restaurant. It means having chef-like abilities to combine ingredients, textures and colors in order to come up with a photograph of a dish or a range of ingredients that will leave your mouth water.

8. The stock photographer

The modern stock photographer has to face quite a few challenges. For starters, there are just too many stock photos available online, from premium websites, to free access. Second, gone are the times when you just had to make a normal, household object look good, put it online and it would sell. Now it’s all about the idea, the concept, and the new, catchy thing. Figures and percentages made from blocks of ice are just a small sample of what it takes.

9. The wedding photographer

The wedding photography industry is probably the largest, and if not, it certainly incorporates the most photographers. The truth is, no matter what times will look like, people will always get married and need a photographer to capture the moment. The only sad thing about wedding photography is that apart from the amazingly talented professionals who do a good job every time, there are those who got into it only because it's profitable and because it’s not always hard to find clients with lower than average standards who are still willing to pay.

10. The commercial photographer

He works with advertising agencies, art directors, editors and sometimes directly with the client. Commercial photography takes up a lot of resources, both financial and human. He is also one of the most creative photographers, and even it often the concepts are not entirely his own, it still takes a wild imagination to be able to photograph someone else’s ideas and come up with something that raises eyebrows..

11. The pet photographer

Photographers who deal with pets for a living have a niche. It’s still about animals, although it’s nothing like wildlife photography. The pet photographer is a portrait photographer; the subjects are just slightly different.

12. The wildlife photographer

Wildlife photography is for the daring people who have no problem standing 300ft from a bear and taking photos of it eating its lunch. All jokes aside, it’s an awesome job to capture the raw beauty of wildlife and to get up close and personal with some amazing creatures.

13. The automotive photographer

He’s usually the little kid whose passion for cars just went a little further than expected. Automotive photography is very challenging and it requires plenty of skills in lighting and composition, but let’s face it, it’s an awesome career choice.

14. The street photographer

I believe street photography to be the closest thing that we have left to the classic definition of photography. The street photographer is out every day, capturing the endless shows displayed on the streets of large cities around the world. He is the photographer who lives for each distinct moment, who has an eye out for everything and who sees the world a lot differently than any other people do. Even so, street photography speaks a universal language.

15. The event photographer

Sometimes he does weddings as well, but it’s mostly corporate events, cocktails and venues of this sort. Very often, this type of photographer comes from a newspaper background.

16. The astrophotographer

You will find him constantly looking towards the starry skies. Astro-photographers have a scientific contribution, besides creating beautiful images of what lies above us. They’re also nerds, but it’s part of their charm.

17. The concert photographer

He is the one most envied by fans and groupies because he usually has access behind the scenes of major concerts. His job would be a total nightmare for any other photographer used to working in a studio or with controlled light. Concert lights are totally unpredictable and it takes a certain developed sense to figure out when it’s the best time to click the shutter.

18. The micro photographer

Unlike macro photographers, he uses a different kind of tools, mostly microscopes with camera mounts. He might not produce the prettiest images or deal with fun stuff, but his contribution to science is kind of important.

19.The paparazzi

Probably the least loved category on this list, yet, according to some, the last remaining bunch of real story tellers. Their work revolves around scandals, drama, and anything else that can shock the public and consequently bring in the dollars.

Also Read: 41 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULDN’T DATE A PHOTOGRAPHER

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