Sam Longoria has a nice essay titled, "What is a Pro?" It's written for indy filmmakers, but I think it applies just as equally to still photographers. To quote: "While skill and/or talent certainly are important, the defining quality of a Professional is payment. Think 'paycheck.' May you earn many big ones."
Amen.
Although it isn't very well advertised, the Society for Visual Anthropology holds a pre-conference each year before the AAA annual meeting. More information can be found here: http://societyforvisualanthropology.org/vrc-dc2005.html
The end of this month is the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association. Over 4,000 anthropologists will descend on Washington DC to present papers and schmooze. One of the grad students in my department asked for advice regarding giving a conference paper for the first time.
A graduate student in our Ph.D. program recently asked me about writing book reviews for academic journals. She didn't have any publications in her C.V. and thought it might be an easy way to remedy the situation. She had a couple of books she wanted to review and wondered which journals might be responsive. My first response was that most academic journals do not accept solicitations to review particular books. They have a dedicated book review editor whose job is to parcel out books to external reviewers. There's slightly more to the story as well.
