Six months after Marie was pictured here smiling, in the living room of a new property…

.. which she & her husband Alan had just bought – she was once again pictured smiling, as she sat on the stairs…

.. of this exact same room.
Wow, I hear you say, what a difference !!.
But what is the real difference here, between this image…

.. and this one…

.. from a Professional photographer’s point of view ?
A photographer [the Greek φῶς (phos), meaning “light”, and γραφή (graphê), meaning “drawing, writing”, together meaning “drawing with light”] is a person who takes photographs. A professional photographer uses photography to earn money; amateur photographers take photographs for pleasure and to record an event, emotion, place, or person.
So why on the 29th July 2009, when I took this image…

.. did I as a Professional photographer, not think it was worth my while to use anything more than just a basic point & shoot camera system – whereas when I took this image of the exact same room…

.. I felt I needed to spend a lot more time – use a medium format ’tilt & shift’ camera system, thousands of pounds worth of lights and shoot to a laptop – so as Marie could then tweak things and style it to within an inch of her life.
What difference does it make to a Professional photographer?
Because let’s face it, from my point of view as a Professional photographer – what I’m looking at here…

.. and what I’m seeing here…

.. is just two pictures of basically the same room.
Okay, so the first images don’t look that good – and the other one looks really nice – but besides what Marie had done here…

.. over a six month period, to transform this space into something very different…

.. what’s the real difference between these two pictures?
Is this picture better…

.. than this one…

.. or could it be the other way around?
For example, if someone wanted to use this image…

.. and was prepared to pay me for that – even though I didn’t spend much time on shooting and just used a point & shoot camera system – and no-one wanted to use this image…

.. even though Marie had spent 6 months working on it and we then spent hours shooting it with top-end camera gear, etc – would that mean the first image is actually better?
Because you see, from my point of view – as a Professional photographer, rather than just someone who likes to take pictures in their spare time – the only real difference between this image…

.. and this image…

.. is to do with the amount that someone else may be prepared to pay me for use it – and that’s really about it.
Sure, I’d much prefer to take pretty pictures – but being a Professional photographer isn’t really about taking pretty pictures – it’s about making money or making a living – from producing images that others will want to use, and use enough that they will be prepared to pay you some money for.
So in theory, as crazy as it may seem – from a Professional photographer’s point of view, Marie didn’t do anything here – besides provide me with something, which I now felt was worth spending a lot more time on shooting.
The reason being, because I now felt others may want to use these images and would, therefore, be prepared to pay for that use – so that’s why I went the extra mile.
Take that incentive away, and all you are left with is two pictures or two sets of images – that are worth the same to the guy behind the camera.
So to answer my own question here: What difference does it make ?
As a Professional photographer, the difference has to do with the use of the images and the amount that others are prepared to pay for that.
Little use = Little value.
Greater use = Greater value… to both them & me.
Anyway, as a Professional photographer, I’d just like to say big thanks to Marie & Allen for making a difference here – because I really don’t think that anyone would have wanted to use those first set of images – no matter what camera system I would have used or how much time I would have spent on the lighting them
Smiling from behind the camera 
Ashley
www.ashleymorrison.com