Steamboat

My story exactly .......
I feel very fortunate to have found this medium that has helped me grow and see life .....with a twist.

petercbrandt Loc: New York City, Manhattan

I got fasinated with photography at age 10, and 60 years later, I'm amazed I was paid (well) to have fun !!!

Steamboat

I used to think it was the "Royal Scam" to quote Steely Dan
.......I shot for Advertising

chasgroh Loc: Buena Park, CA

...I do alot of different things photographically, earn some bux selling my pageantry shots to moms, some finishing work here and there. I'm getting into the art world and finding some gratification there, at least artistically, lol. I'm a "job" person and do my real money work small-job contracting or teaching kids how to move around a football field carrying various musical instruments. Actually, it's all the same to me; I truly enjoy whatever I'm doing at the moment, and if it translates to bux, all the better!

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

Hobby/Profession throughout 40 years.

alliebess Loc: suburban Philadelphia

Started taking photos when my father (brave man) sent me to school with his camera when I was probably in third grade, graduated to my own Kodak box camera a few years later (when few kids had cameras, and became the first girl in my high school to be a yearbook photographer. Dabbled off and on for many years and then a few years ago I was assigned to take photographs for the library where I worked. Those photos were used in blogs and in the library's print newsletter. Did that make me a pro? It was the fun part of my job!

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

Started in Middle School when my Dad (worked for a bank) repossessed a rollei, paid of the balance of what was owed, and gave it to me as a Christmas Present. By the end of my 8th grade year, I had my own darkroom, by 9th grade was developing color. Worked on school newspaper and yearbook, by my senior year, I probably shot 20% of the senior photos in my school and 10% in some surrounding communities. I started interning/gophering, for a studio, and ended up marrying the daughter of the owner.....woohoo.....still married. I worked at a pro color lab as a printer, and to a smaller degree a touch up artist, back in the film days, and took a stab at full time photography as my sole income. Well..... I'm not a good business man, and I'm the worst boss I've ever had. I'm a "professional weekend warrior" I shoot weddings and portraits, everything completely legal and above board, all taxes paid, fully insured, etc... but decided to not rely on it as my sole income, because I don't want to lose the love of what I do, by adding the stress of trying to keep it all afloat. As it is, I make a decent amount, and sometimes more than my day job, but I don't have to be afraid of where my next job will come from, and can turn away anyone that I don't want to work with because I get the "difficult" vibe.

Novicus Loc: north and east

I rolled into it...

PhotosBySteve

I have been taking pictures for fifty plus years. Mostly when asked to or for my own enjoyment. People have told me many times over the years how good I am and what an eye I have for capturing the moment. I could never afford a good SLR until digital came out and came down on price. My first good camera body was the 7D when it was first released. It took many years and countless hours of practice, trial and error and formal education to learn the art of photography and digital post processing. I have never marketed myself however, I have been hired multiple times for photo shoots and have sold hundreds of images. I do not profess to be a pro, because i don't make a living at it. I just love the constant never ending learning process and three beauty i can capture. The public only sees a very small amount of my good but rarely sees my best work.

Photographer Jim Loc: Rio Vista, CA

When I started out with photography, I took a few classes at the local community college. I already had a pretty solid background in art, so the classes primarily brought me up to speed on the technical side of things. After a few classes I joined a local camera club. It was a good one; PSA affiliated, with a number of very talented members. The club was one of 22 in a council. When I joined, I was placed in the intermediate category. I started entering the monthly competitions. After a while I began winning many of the club competitions. When one won at the club level, the image was forwarded up to the council level competition. I began winning there as well. After a year I was awarded Color Image of the Year and had advanced to the Master category. I began entering county, state, and national competitions with some success.

Eventually, I decided to “take the show in the road” and started to apply to art festivals. I bought a trailer, display panels, framing equipment, and all of the required permits for a business.

For the next five years I did festivals all over the western states. It was a great deal of work, and a tough business, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. I sold a significant number of images, but it was difficult making a reasonable profit. Competition is saturated, booth fees and travel expenses can cut into profits, shows differed significantly in quality and the clientele they attracted. Eventually, I began to question if the small profits were worth the work. That, and some changes in my personal life brought me to a point where I decided to leave the art festival circuit last year. I must admit, I miss it, but it was a good choice.

ronz Loc: Florida

Began in H.S shooting for the yearbook and then the sports for school paper. After college an opportunity came up for me to shoot a major -women's golf tournament for a magazine. Got the bug and ended up with a large studio in an empty 7-11 building where I put a custom lab for developing film and a small retail store. I continued shooting sports events and also weddings on weekends. Eventually sold studio but continued free-lancing shooting major sports for mags that ultimately cost me a marriage due to the travel. The bug never left as I still shoot assignments which includes travel, some to other countries and some to events here in the states. Guess I will pass on with a camera in my hand.

nytexano

For a 'fine art' photographer, if you're not making photographs for the same motives that brought you to photography as a medium after you begin to sell some prints, you're cheating your consumers.

chasgroh Loc: Buena Park, CA

GreenReaper

How about started out making money and now I do it for a hobby?:)

Larryshuman

I began in 1696 after one good photo at the Indy 500 in 1696 with my fathers 127 camera. After that I had 2 Ricoh cameras with M-42 threads mounts and several lenses. That lead to a Nikon manual system with 6 cameras and lens between 16mm and 600mm. I chased USAC midgets, sprints and dirt cars all over Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, New York etc. I donated prints to USAC. The local paper state my flip pictures were to violate. I went into wildlife photography in 2004 when I went digital and AF. There is no money in photography. I've been cheated twice on weddings. Once I could sue for the money the second moved before I could start proceedings. The problems were the new grooms. So I still enjoy shooting birds, warblers, eagles, osprey, owls, foxes, bugs, butterflys etc. But I refuse to sell anything. That would make photography a job and I'm retired now.