I’m contemplating this myself, leaving a steady job I hate but with consistent money for photography full time… it’s a paradox because I’m assuming I’ll feel freer working for myself, but perhaps even busier because of not being able to punch out the way I can at my job. And the idea of constantly being in hustle mode bothers me. And having to treat photography as a job instead of it being a passion might run my passion for it into the ground… I’ll be following u to gather any insights.
Thanks for sharing. I left a pretty substantial corporate position to pursue photography and write great American novels and, oh yeah, create wonderful works of art via oil painting. I had a passion and vision for each but realized after a few months that something had to give. Each of those pursuits requires enormous time and devotion. I walked from painting (I had been closet painting for two decades) to focus on photography first (as I was new to the profession, though had been shooting more or less since college). I threw myself into the technical aspects as I primarily did portrait, headshot, editorial and family/child photography. I also would burst in and out of my novel. And oh yeah, the photography stuff was an actual business so there was also that responsibility. Three years later, I was just starting to get there... repeat customers, referrals and some decent bits of recognition along the way (despite my loathing the marketing and self-promotional side of things). Then... along came covidity... after about 6-8 months of absurdity in Chicago, where i could see many of the signs of a city in decade-long and perpetual decline, we decided to move back to Houston (back to family), after being in Chicago for 13 years. Great... I had to start all over... again... except now I was 60 years old and much had changed and I knew no one from a photography client perspective. So much more to say... It ain't easy!
I’m contemplating this myself, leaving a steady job I hate but with consistent money for photography full time… it’s a paradox because I’m assuming I’ll feel freer working for myself, but perhaps even busier because of not being able to punch out the way I can at my job. And the idea of constantly being in hustle mode bothers me. And having to treat photography as a job instead of it being a passion might run my passion for it into the ground… I’ll be following u to gather any insights.
Thanks for sharing. I left a pretty substantial corporate position to pursue photography and write great American novels and, oh yeah, create wonderful works of art via oil painting. I had a passion and vision for each but realized after a few months that something had to give. Each of those pursuits requires enormous time and devotion. I walked from painting (I had been closet painting for two decades) to focus on photography first (as I was new to the profession, though had been shooting more or less since college). I threw myself into the technical aspects as I primarily did portrait, headshot, editorial and family/child photography. I also would burst in and out of my novel. And oh yeah, the photography stuff was an actual business so there was also that responsibility. Three years later, I was just starting to get there... repeat customers, referrals and some decent bits of recognition along the way (despite my loathing the marketing and self-promotional side of things). Then... along came covidity... after about 6-8 months of absurdity in Chicago, where i could see many of the signs of a city in decade-long and perpetual decline, we decided to move back to Houston (back to family), after being in Chicago for 13 years. Great... I had to start all over... again... except now I was 60 years old and much had changed and I knew no one from a photography client perspective. So much more to say... It ain't easy!
Thank you for sharing this ! I love this !!
Do you make your own prints in a darkroom?
Love following your journey … hopefully plenty of time our with the pixel box in the year ahead