Buying a camera makes you a camera owner. By that same logic, owning a photography business doesn't make you a photographer, it makes you a business owner. You can label anything, but a photographer isn't defined solely by the depth of their portfolio, but by their passion for creating. Writers write, photographers make photos, and bloggers blog. None have to make money or gain notoriety for their accomplishments to be any of those things.
Labeling people into how deserving they are of your time and knowledge makes you a photography fan-boy. There are many people getting paid to make photos that, in my opinion, are ugly or over-processed. But SOMEONE out there likes it. And as long as there’s a market for people to enjoy their taste in photos, a girl/guy with even a GF1 (which I love 'borrowing' from my wife) can create works of art despite not knowing the technical stuff or having an 8×10 camera.
The camera doesn't make the photographer, but as a TOOL, it can inspire you to create. View camera vs 35mm rangefinder, TLR vs SLR; every tool is suited to a person's needs. Sometimes people just click (pun intended) with their camera and all the technical stuff melts away. I would like to be a full-time paid photographer at some point, but I’d be proud at being a part-time photo-maker if it means that at least a handful of people are moved by my images. And that’s what photography is: capturing light, capturing stories, capturing people’s hearts.
Try to label that.
