After 38 years living in photography – either behind the camera or directing other photographers – I have come to the conclusion that, for many people, it can be best to keep photography as a hobby. This is something about which I am thinking late because in recent years, photography has been enhanced by the choice of such glamorous career. Now it seems that everyone wants to become a supporter photographer and turns his hobby into a career. So allow me to share some ideas about this.
This is the first thing that I was thought after giving this: When I see my favorite photos for the last four decades, people who stand outside and meant most to me that I shot for myself , To satisfy, to satisfy, my own creative vision and idea exploration.
Do not misunderstand me, making income from photography is fantastic. I am loading too much car or jumping on an aircraft to hold images to meet your communication objectives than sitting in a beige corporate cubical for a customer. Or talking about photography on YouTube. It is incredibly exciting, still, to withstand challenges that must be away to get the best images for the job in hand.
But the thing is, even though I am bringing my thoughts, vision, creativity, unique attitude and skills to solve the problem in the table, all this is to meet someone else’s needs and expectations. Often the results are very beneficial and creatively satisfactory. Often I am given total creative freedom to do things in my own way. To be honest, I am very lucky in this regard, but it took many years to come into that situation. Nevertheless, I think when I go out to shoot for myself, this is a complete level of creative satisfaction. Why so?
Here are three views:
creative freedom
I believe that I have more creative freedom than most photographers, a relatively unique way I have created my business for years – a theme for another article – but I still yearn more creative freedom.
When you shoot for yourself, as a hobby, it is fun to experiment with new techniques, detects various styles, and in fact the status quo without underlying pressure to meet someone else’s expectations Pushes
There is a style of photography that I have tried to keep as a hobby, so I can maintain the joy, freedom and personal fulfillment. And this is landscape photography.
In my late twentieth condition, I was given a dream assignment: producing a 12 -month calendar for one of the largest banks in Canada. Every month a double-page was spread, and I proposed a series of Rocky Mountain Landscape Photos, which was one for each month. At that time, I was often traveling to Rockies to carry forward my love for mountain photography as a hobby and was a good stock library of images. As I worked on the project, I realized that there were some images to complete the set, and they needed more travel to get. Suddenly, I went away from traveling to shoot a landscape without any pressure to visit specific images within a limited time limit. Now, accidentally the discovery of my artistic expression was out of the window. Traveling in search of good compositions was less relaxed and fun. I had to find and distribute the right images for a job, with a clock tick – and hope the weather supported.
Even though the calendar was a very big thing, and millions of people across the country were printed and distributed, I decided that I do not want to convert landscape photography into business. This style was going to be reserved for me for free from time -esopha and pressure, comfort and relaxation. It was reserved for my own creative freedom and joy.
Financial pressure
When photography becomes a business, financial pressure takes steps. Now you start worrying about paying the bills, finding customers and earning profit to meet the deadline.
When taking photos as a hobby, there is no one of it. You can focus on chasing your passion completely without pressure of mudification. bliss.
Creating art to complete the end is rarely a good proposal. Print or selling books is not durable – you need customers. In my case, corporate customers, brands and tourism organizations.
Hobby vs. Kama, Amateur vs Pro
If you go from amateur to professional, you do not have a source of rest and enjoyment. Your hobby was your break from your professional life. Your “time me.”
Photography as a hobby is a form of stress release. Photography as a profession can be a source of stress.
Of course, you can shoot for customers and for yourself. I know many photographers who shoot some styles professionally and some purely entertainment. I have my hobbies and travel, lifestyle, food and environmental paintings as landscape and street photography as my work. I should accept, however, lines are often blurred. Sometimes it is difficult to get out of the work mode.
The best thing about being hobby of photography is that you can dedicate your time to personal projects that really interested and inspire you. The inner enjoyment of making something purely for yourself can be incredibly fulfilled. Professional photographers have to prefer customer assignments and are often left for individual projects.
Professionals spend most of their time in non-interactive things such as marketing, meeting with customers and administrative functions. Amateur can spend all your time to be creative with your camera.
conclusion
Keeping photography as a hobby preserves happiness, creativity and freedom that attracted you for photography in the first place. Without the pressure of income creation and business functions, you can focus on the discovery of your passion and creativity, creating a body of work which is meaningful for you.
Being a professional photographer can be a wonderful career if you are ready to work hard than the next man and have some entrepreneur nature. You need to understand, and enjoy, business. It is highly competitive, so you need to work hard and smart. You need to put in hours, and for many people, it can be difficult if you have a family. Maintaining a work-life balance and avoiding burnouts can be a major issue. And here is a matter of burnout: It simply means that you are doing something that you do not enjoy.
I like to live with my camera and have found that timely carving for personal projects works well. I should tell that when I started I do not need to work as hard; I now have more time for personal projects. It took a long time to reach there!
For many people, the potential financial awards of converting the benefits of maintaining photography into a profession are overcome as a hobby.
Photography, I believe, ultimately something you enjoy.
Have you turned your hobby into a business? Are you considering doing so? Let’s continue the discussion in the comments.
