You are a professional photographer… You made it! You are living your dream, you are working and earning with your passion, the sky is the limit… and then the burnout, the exhaustion, the sheer daunting task of being a professional photographer will eventually raise its ugly head and make you say whoa.
The decision to turn photography from a passion into a full time career usually comes down to a photographer needing more of the most valued aspect of photography… Time.
For most entering photography the dream is to be a professional photographer. To make a living off the images you take. It is a grand goal, a challenging goal, and a goal that once you reach can make you second guess if it was really what you truly wanted.
Photography is a journey. An ever evolving journey with several stages that at one point or another each photographer will go through. Some times we hit these stages quickly and other times we may be in one stage for a long time. Other times we may be in two stages at once or revisit a stage.
There are arguably a lot of challenges to breaking into the photography field and “making” it. Photography is an increasingly popular career choice for those who are creative, are stay at home mothers, are dreaming of being their own boss, or simply just love photography. Yet, most photographers will fail in the first two years, the rest will crash out around year five, very few make it past that and those that do are the privileged and lucky few.
As time moves forward I have found who I am as a photographer changes. When I first picked up a camera it was for fun and for art class, it quickly evolved into passion and chasing a new dream. A dream that became more expansive as the years went on, and as I reach goals I set new ones cropped up.
I have been a photographer for 14 years and my photographer title has changed more times than I care to count. Photography is an evolution of skill and for many of us, it is our creative outlet. What we win prizes for shooting may not be what we shoot day to day to make a living, and sometimes after shooting one thing for years we have to make a change to push ourselves and our skills to a new level.
I often get calls from potential clients wanting to know where my studio is located and they are always shocked when I tell them I do not have a permanent studio nor location. Developing a business name is tricky sometimes in that we want it to convey what our business is, but express our ideals, and be personal to us as well.
The best professional images tell a story of some kind and that is what makes them compelling. Yes, there are plenty of professional photos that are head shots or a little commercial. But those images people rave about and share, print, and hang on their walls… those they tell a story.
Wedding photography is a very popular genre for photographers to specialize in. At some point for those who do not specialize in the genre we all end up trying it out anyways. However regardless of what genre a photographer practices in primarily we all field questions on if we are available for weddings, pricing, and what it would look like to for us to take on a wedding photography contract.