Photography

At what point in a photographers life do they become professional? How does one gain the label of a professional photographer? Anyone can buy a camera and start taking pictures. Anyone can change the settings on the camera to change the effect. Anyone can zoom and crop a photo. But how do you know when you are looking at a professional photo. I recently witnessed photos taken by students in a college art appreciation class, not an art class but an appreciation course. Their pictures looked professional. Like something someone could purchase at Hobby Lobby or somewhere. Does that make them professional photographers? When the camera was first commercialized there was a movement in the art world whose name escapes me but it was basically a period in which professional photographers revolted to the idea of amateur photography. Artists work hard to capture something a certain way. And they take into account the principles of design and the elements of art. So does that mean once an amateur photographer starts to do this as well they become a professional. Or maybe the term professional actually has become to mean famous. An artist must be well known in order to become famous. I have seen artworks in which the artist has actually drawn the artwork in an elementary way. The it was drawn could be considered amateur yet they are still pros. Its an odd problem.