I'm a Photographer?

  I'm a Photographer?

Why the question mark....Well lets just say I like to call myself an artist.  I am an art major (at 32 years old) after all.  I have loved art as long as I can remember.  Photography is relatively new to me and the longer I do it the more I realize I differ somewhat from other "photographers".  I have made note on several occasions of photographers tendency to critique others work on a technical level. And, although I understand there is a lot to master, as an artist I am drawn to images that I like. I don't zoom in 400 times so I can see that they got one freckle out of focus because clearly they were not using the correct lens for said photo.  I read one photographers claim that one should beware of photos that have been adjusted to different colors or black and white as this is a sign of trying to mask technical flaws.  Maybe that is true...but, maybe just maybe, I like black and white and filters and I turned the clarity down during processing on purpose because I personally like the soft look in some cases (so shoot me if I don't hold the same value to a perfectly crisp shot of the eyes at f/11 and "ruin" it by blurring it a little). Is it important for your photos to be great?  Of course it is.  But, who decides what is great?  Master photographers? I suppose so, but I am not really good at following rules as it applies to photography.  I'll use whatever lens I want and hey....maybe I wanted a freckle out of focus...so what.  If there were an "artographer' I would be that instead.  A photographer who does not follow the rules, and is all the better for it.  How many "perfectly" shot landscapes do we need to see anyway?  What if, I say forget your rule book...I will do as I please.  No one ever did anything great following the crowd.