How did you decide to be involved in the photography field ?

Question

Right now in my school pretty soon , we have to choose what career pahtway we want to follow. And right now I am kind of in between, photography , and becoming a vet. I have always wanted to be a vet, but i started to take pics , a few months agom, and i really like it . So i am having some troble choosing between , taking photography classes, and later on , going to photography school. Did you have troble deciding to be a photographer .

Here are some of my pics, if you want to see them.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13606906@N04/

Sorry for asking a really long question , and thank you for answering this question !!!

sorry for the spelling mistake , i just realized it was there !

Answer 1

I'm a dentist. I was accepted into a music conservatory where it would have been a free ride for 4 years, but I decided to stick to my path and become a dentist.

You are required to have a license to practice dentistry (or veterniary medicine) and you can continue your photography (or music) as a hobby. You can become quite advanced at it and even have a bit of a reputation as a good photographer, but you will not need to make your living doing it. You've seen a bit of my work by now, so I think I can say that I'm "not a bad photographer for a dentist." I have many of my shots on the walls in my office and my patients (some of them) look forward to seeing what I hang next. I get some stuff published in the local paper on occasion and people enjoy noticing that and telling me that they saw it. Doing it this way, it is ALWAYS for fun. I never have to worry about getting too sick to shoot a wedding, which is a one-day - one chance only event. I just shoot when I am in the mood and put the camera away when I am not.

There are a lot of negatives (no pun intended) to a career in photography that jus can not be avoided and you might find that you can barely make a living. At least if you become a vet, you will be assured that you can make a living doing something that you love. This way, when you want to "free your mind," you can lose yourself in your second love - photography - without it becoming a burden that you MUST persue in order to pay the bills.

I'm not saying that people do not love their work as a professional photographer, because I am sure that they do. I'm just saying that if you choose photography when veterinary medicine is an option to you, you will have ruled out one of your options when you could continue to enjoy both.

Answer 2

I wouldn't do anything else but photography. However, I don't recommend that you decide at this point in your life to commit like that.

If I were you, I would let my interest in photography 'develope' as I gained more 'exposure' (sorry to my colleagues, but I couldn't resist).

Because it has a current interest for you, even if you really like it, doesn't mean that it will be in the future and you can take it up later as a course of study without any penalty. If your studies as a vet allow it, you can take photography courses as a minor. That's been mentioned.

Photography is an extremely competitive business. That is not an understatement by any means. Your income can be uncertain and your future? Well, it will be what you make of it. Every job you complete means your out of work again. It's a constant job search.

Go for being a vet and if you find along the way that photography is an itch that you have to scratch or you'll never really be happy and you'll go crazy if you don't get enough picture taking in, become a photographer. That feeling means you are basically crazy enough to be one.

Vance

Answer 3

freelance is up n down, some years good some bad, a vet generally always has good years,

if you end up pro a lot of the enjoyment goes away, it becomes work, i spend 5-10% thinking/making/taking shoots, the rest as a "businessperson" - doing accounts for the accountant, filling stuff, running into the prolab, marketing, doing breakfasts with networks etc.........i have been approached for a newspaper job - salary - so im looking into it,

Dr sam is a good example of a guy has a skill will always do well for him and hes kept the photography as a hobby - much more fun as a hobby

its a tough choise, stability or the life of an artist?? if you hook up with someone rich then be an artist definately.......

sorry cant really help out, see what others say i will star you so my contacts might weigh in here

EDIT: didnt answer your lead in question: i had romantic ideas of following sports teams around the world and making great landscapes........the only thing i knew was school is the best way for humans to learn, so i went to fotog school

i found out i lack in the art side but are strong technically (the science part not the art part), some luck and alot of hard work i won an award for architecture, and it snowballed from there, i still have to market alot

its easier now, the other week i sold some images i shot 7 years ago of a bridge being built, my agent in greece sold my images to a book company, i did nothing but store the images really.

i am happy doing what i do?? most of the time, except tax and accountant time.........


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Answer 4

Annafur, be a vet. You could always minor in photography. My daughter majored in Math but took photography as a minor and is now a high school math teacher, but does many freelance assignments when time allows. I am a full time photographer , have been for thirty years. It's a tough and competitive business and always changing.

Answer 5

honestly, it started out as 'vanity' of enjoying looking at myself in pictures, I became obsessed to look better in them, and me and my childhood friend did "modeling pictures" together. Modeling is what motivated me. Now I just enjoy taking pictures of my beautiful family.