This is the Body and X, and welcome to another episode of The Candid Frame.

When it comes to being able to say that you are a photographer, what is it exactly that

you need to do?

If you want to be a doctor, if you want to be a lawyer, there's a sort of a clear cut path

to achieving that goal.

You go to school, you get degrees, you take tests, you get certified, and at some point

you can get a business card that says, I'm a doctor, I'm a lawyer, I'm a dentist. But what if you

want to become a photographer? And it's a question that's asked of a lot of professional

photographers. How do I achieve what you've achieved? How can I lay claim to the very same life experience, to the title, to the reputation of being

a professional photographer?

And if you've been listening to this show for any period of time, you realize that there's

no one clear path to achieving that.

And today's guest, Tom Carter, is a good example of that because in his book, China Portrait

of a People, he's created a really amazing body of work, a comprehensive exploration of the

people of China.

But when he started this project, he was just a traveler, a backpacker, who had been teaching English to people in China and then said,

you know something?

I want to go out there and I want to explore this world that I'm inhabiting right now.

And even though I don't have any experiences of photography or even though I don't have a degree,

and all I really have is a small point-and-shoot camera,

he went out and did something that a lot of people dream of doing.

And the result is his book, China, Portrait of a People.

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