I realized something recently, I love my job. I am a photographer, but it isn’t my day job. I made an unconscious decision years ago not to make photography my main profession. I know my personality; I am one of those people who get bored of redundancy. I tease that I won’t do weddings because I don’t want to deal with the occasional bridezilla. But honestly, I would get bored. Not only that but frustrated trying to come up with original ways to do something that is so similar with each wedding. I have great respect for photographers who do weddings because it isn’t easy.
The other thing is the money. I have heard too many people complain about how much photographers charge. They truly don’t realize all the pre/post work that goes into it. That comment, why do they charge so much when they were only here for a couple hours? I hate drama, and this would just add to that.
To be a professional photographer you have to do a lot of work that has nothing to do with your camera. You have to promote yourself, hit the streets to find clients, let alone all the pre/post work. Meeting with clients, scoping out venues, lugging all that equipment, postproduction, and then pleasing the client, billing, and hopefully payment.
I love photography, but by not exposing myself to all that I continue to love photography. I shoot what I want to, when I want to, and keep the joy of doing it. I am not alone in this either. We have more time to learn, grow, experiment, and simply get out there and shoot what excites us.
So, I guess what I am saying is that you don’t have to make a living with a camera to be a great photographer. In fact, it could be the absolute opposite. As a graphic artist I get to create and play all day. Then on my time I can do the same with my camera. I really do have the best of both worlds.