"You aren’t wrong but you aren’t right either."

I’ll take that.

"There is a difference between people who take pictures and photographers."

Yes, but an increasingly blurry difference, and they are often competing for our attention on the same platforms.

"I have seen some good work from people with smartphones but I wouldn’t hire them to do a wedding. Likewise having expensive gear doesn’t make you a wedding photographer."

Sure, agree. I thought I made it clear it’s not about the camera, that’s a common trap. Part of my point was that the deluge of images - from all sources - makes it harder for the good ones to stand out, and for long-standing best practices to survive. But also that even those who are (or aspire to be) ‘pro’ are not going beyond the usual formulas. We don’t need more and more of the same old pics, wherever they come from. There seems to be a dearth of compelling new photographers. Again, they are likely out there but being drowned out by quantity and a dwindling number of platforms (galleries, magazines, etc) to support it. This is probably one reason people like Gueorgui Pinkhassov are on Instagram, yet Instagram is one of the worst imaginable ways to view photography. Paolo Pellegin is a contemporary master, and successful in the industry, but it’s increasingly rare to see his work anywhere. And of course photography itself simply doesn’t offer the same paths to prominence or income as it once did. The best ‘photo-authors’ I know are not making money at it, and are not becoming well-known. It’s a purist thing, almost a kind of derangement, but to me worth standing up for.