Ian Curcio

Before I made the transition from cushy-staff-position photographer to freelance photographer, I had to ask myself the question, what type of photographer am I? When we think about photography as a vocation; there are generally three types of photographers.




There is the Commercial Photographer; they make images to promote a product, person or idea. Think of Commercial photography as print advertising, billboards, annual reports or product packaging.

Then there is the Editorial Photographer; they create images to educate or illustrate a written story. Think of editorial photography as images used to help tell stories in magazines, newspapers, on-line news or textbooks.

Last you have the Retail Photographer; photos that are commissioned for personal use. Think of retail photography as weddings, family portraits, greeting cards or school portraits.

I had a general idea of where I stood but I wanted to research the types of photographers to get a better idea of exactly where I fell in this long chain of photographer types. I think you'll find that many of these descriptions overlap and you might be one or more at the end of the day.

What type of photographer are you? Get the full list after the jump and feel free to add to it via the comments.