gopiqpp Loc: SAUDI ARABIA

Yes. I am a 60 year old physician working in Saudi Arabia, on the verge of retirement. Just rekindled my interest in photography. Bought a Sony A57 and a couple of lenses and I am doing weddings in India and safaris in Kenya. Get some good gear and go to it.

Elliern Loc: Myrtle Beach, SC

Well, since there has been no response from Paula, perhaps she has decided against all the good advice and suggestions from everyone.

ggttc Loc: TN

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right.”

― Henry Ford

PaulaBrady Loc: Havre, Mt

Ha- I've been working at my day job, haven't had a chance to respond until now:)

Elliern Loc: Myrtle Beach, SC

LOL I hate when work interferes with my life :)

RolandComfort Loc: Saint Louis

Paula, I fell into shooting top quality photos for real estate agents part time. I charge $125 for about 40 finished photos. However, it is very hard work in that the site shoot takes 2 hours and another 2 hours in photoshop. You could easily make $50k a year if you were doing it full time, especially if you had someone to help with the back end photoshop. On the downside, shooting real estate photos over and over quickly gets to be like factory work. I'm almost finished shooting a video course on how to do it, but if you are interested, I'd be happy to tell you what I know for free. Another area to look at is school yearbook and amateur sports team shooting. It's big money at $5,000 a day, but the industry is pretty much controlled by large companies. And, same thing, gets to be like factory work. There is a franchise called Portrait EFX, but they want $20k to get started; and they seem to have sketchy success. I'd be somewhat leary.

PaulaBrady Loc: Havre, Mt

Thank you everyone for responding. I am amazed at all the responses. Thank you again.

I thought I would let you all know where I stand on my skills. I have taken several online courses with PPSOP. I live in a small town and don't have the ability to take a Photography course at a university (unless it's online). I have taken photos since I was 12 years old, but only began to shoot manual two years ago. I love color and still life, along with landscape photography. I realize that I would never be able to make money at shooting these things. I do a lot of postings on Facebook of my flowers and people rave about them. But to actually sell them? Don't think so. What I need to learn about next is lighting. We have several young, chic, natural light photographers. If I could learn awesome lighting I could set myself apart from them. I have shot photos of some people and there is no shortage of people to practice on. I really am interested in pet photography and have taken an online course on that. I have no desire to do weddings. I attended a 3 day workshop this fall from a Nationally known photographer. It mostly contained still life and landscapes. I have done lots of You Tube viewing and lots of reading on photography books.

I have a lady lined up in April to "practice" on her new born. I first heard of "Now I lay me down to sleep" from Captain C and would consider doing that as a volunteer project. I would love to do a time lapse video of the small town I live in just as a project.

It is one thing to sit at a desk and be told what to do. It is another thing to be doing "creative" work to show to other people. Not everybody will like it. I guess that's where confidence comes in.

We have a business development center in town that helps people write a business and marketing plans. It would be a good idea for me to contact them.

Thank you all again for the honesty and encouraging words.

I think I'll start with pet photography and newborns and go from there. As I love them both....

PaulaBrady Loc: Havre, Mt

Yea the point of my original post. Hee Hee

PaulaBrady Loc: Havre, Mt

Wow you have a fun job. I've never heard of canine musical freestyle. I'll have to check it out. Thank you for the inspiring words.

MTG44 Loc: Corryton, Tennessee

Your not to old . Just be sure you explore marketing options . Most people going into business don't think much about it. I am 70 and running my own small business and have more work than I can handle.

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

And therein, my dear young lady, lies the problem.

I am so glad that you have decided on pets and children. You indicate that you do not live in a metropolitan ares where you can take classes; I will assume that you live in a small community. All counties have access to animal shelters. Maybe you could get some experience by volunteering your time with the animal shelter or Humane Society to take photographs of animals up for adoption. These pictures are often used in catalog books in the shelter office or published in local newspapers. It's a lot of fun, challenging and is a service to your community. If you photograph for the Humane Society, check with your tax advisor; your expenses, including travel, may be tax deductible.

Whatever you do, I wish you the best of luck!

RolandComfort Loc: Saint Louis

Paula, you don't need any more classes. You already know everything that you'll get at the local community college. Most importantly, shoot, shoot, shoot. The only way you will learn your style is to shoot. You're lucky that you have willing subjects to practice on, but that probably won't last long. If you want to shoot babies you could go to the local natural birth class outfit and offer to shoot for free. The dog/animal thing is easier, but animal coats are really hard to light, plus, you gotta get them off the floor or get down there with them, ouch! Listen to me when I tell you that you can't learn photography by reading books alone or buying DVDs. You have to shoot. When you have questions then Google it using key words like "lighting for baby photography", etc. Everything you want to know is already out there for free. but none of it has relevance until your camera has greasy wear marks and your camera bag starts to fade, and your tripod starts getting scratches, etc. You gotta shoot. Do it for free until your customers come to you and and say "Thank you so much, I love these pictures, you're not leaving until I give you something". After that, feel free to charge an exorbitant fee. But, never quit Googeling and YouTubing to keep learning. These UHH guys know alot too, though sometimes tedious, arrogant, and from time to time just plain wrong, everyone of them are true lovers of the art and science of photography, in my opinion. Bottom line, you need to get out into the scary public and shoot! Mogul's suggestion to shoot Humane Society photos is a great idea. Maybe, go to the local child daycare and offer to shoot kids for free, or whatever. Until you have knocked out about 3,000 frames and processed them, and really looked at them, and then answered your own questions by searching the internet for answers. You can do this, but given that you live in a small town, you don't want to act like a bigshot, hold yourself out as a pro, until you really are one. Believe me, when you are good, customers will come to you. That's been my experience, people call me, I never call them. You've got two years until hubby retires. You can learn everything you need to know if you start shooting now.

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

Regardless of subject matter, you should look over your work, select the best, print and properly frame a select few and see if you can get a local gallery to display them. Your local library might let you show your work - ours regularly has art and photo displays. Go to a few galleries and see what pricing is in your area for photos comparable to yours.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Roland, I will assume, you have completed at least a 45 unit professional photography curriculum at your local JC. Most instructors, apart from being professional photographers with MFA's(the minimum requirement to teach at a JC), have seen at least 10,000 students come through, and know the real deal when they see it.
I find it very cavalier, to tell people that they just can't be helped by, or don't need a formal education.
Most professionals in any career, whether they are architects, CPA's or teachers, have gone to college to learn their trades. Yet when they want to become professional photographers, many recommend to just skip a formal education.
I would not discourage Paula, or anyone else, from just jumping in with both feet and just going for it. I'm sure her photography is incredible, and she would be just fine. I personally just hesitate to give a full endorsement untill I have actually seen a persons best work. I won't discourage any one, but my best advice always is to suggest formal training. I personally don't fell that just shoot, shoot, shoot is enough. I've seen to many people that have done just that for 20+ years, and still can't shoot.
But, you probably just feel that I am being arrogant, and am just plain wrong!?
I wish Paula the best, I'm sure she is ready. ;-)
SS

RolandComfort Loc: Saint Louis

BS Public Relations, Central Missouri State University, 1974. Courses included photojournalism, filmmaking, news directing, etc. Back then, we shot everything BW and processed film ourselves. I'm not saying that formal instruction is not helpful, I just happen to believe that learning photography is similar to learning, say, golf. You can watch the videos, read the books, go to the gurus, but in the end, you have to teach yourself through trial and error. If you play golf you'll immediately get what I'm saying.