i was a photographer vs i were a photographer

Some examples from the web:

• Back when I thought I was a photographer.
• Before all of this craziness, I was a photographer.
• So I had two months to sit there and figure out different ways of what I was going to do in my next life, after I was a photographer, because they were going to fire me.
• I was a photographer and then I was a masseuse, and now I...
• I was prepared for every photographic opportunity that presented itself. I had arrived; I was a photographer because I had all the gear and I knew how to operate it.
• When I started falling in love with Stuart, it was great that I was a photographer, so I could just go up easily to him and ask him,
• That I was a photographer...
• So I had two months to sit there and figure out different ways of what I was going to do in my next life, after I was a photographer, because they were going to fire me.

Some examples from the web:

• For now, he has opened a blog on his passion: "If I Were a Photographer".
• You should bring along a photographer.
• A photographer is literally somebody drawing with light.
• We scraped together enough for a photographer.
• Europe is a photographer's dream.
• Meet Mr Cartwright, a photographer of considerable renown.
• Kat Molesworth is a Photographer and lifelong camera enthusiast.
• Answer: -While strangling a photographer.
• She was discovered by a photographer while working in a surf shop.
• This is the story of a photographer who photographed a photographer.
• After training as a photographer, he worked as assistant photographer for several photographers in Switzerland and abroad.
• But seriously, choosing between a photographer and place settings...
• We're delighted to have a photographer here.
• Best guess is its silver iodine; it's a photographer's chemical.
• I booked a photographer, just in case.
• This is a portrait by a photographer named Phil Toledano.
• My mama worked for a photographer in Meridian.
• So he was a photographer by day, and a forger by night for 30 years.
• This is a photographer's light box application.
• A photographer used to work here.