The Seven Levels of Photographers - Ken Rockwell

Artist: Top Level 7 (equivalent to "Heaven" in Christian mythology)

• They usually prefer to photograph attractive young women and are proud of it.

Whore: Level 6

• It is extraordinarily difficult for a successful whore to change styles once one has been accepted.

Amateur: Level 5

• Amateurs almost always shoot Canon SLRs.

Snapshooter: Level 4

• This is my mom and most people. These people want memories, as opposed to photographs or cameras.

Professional: Level 3

• Professionals spend very little time worrying about cameras, except when they need to get them repaired.
• There are no professional nature photographers. They all either have day jobs or make their wives support them.

Rich Amateur: Level 2

• Rich amateurs shoot Leicas, Contaxes, Alpas, Hasselblads and Linhof 4x5s.
• Today they mostly shoot Canon 1Ds-Mk IIs, 5Ds or Nikon D2X.
• Bad rich amateurs think fuzzy B/W images of poor people are art.

Equipment Measurbator: Bottom Level 1 (equivalent to "Hell" in Christian mythology)

• Most seem to come from technical avocations, like engineering, computers and sciences.
• Many of them also play with audio equipment, computers or automobiles.

Online Expert or Armchair Photographer: Level 0 (these guys don't take pictures so they aren't a level of photographer.)

• This level never existed before the internet, because cameras were never as exciting as sports cars or missiles for men to research.
• If I worked in an office and could waste my employer's time researching personal hobbies on the Internet, I'd rather look at pornography than research other people's cameras.