Professional?

[Leon]

Hi Guys and girls/ladies.

not sure If I mentioned it but 14 months ago I gave up my fairly well paid sales job to try and get some photography work alongside working in a community centre.  

I have had a fair amount of paid jobs but not enough to pay the bills.    I am just about to start looking for another full time job   

 

how many of you are professional?  how, when and why did you start?    and how long did it take?

 

[colinb]

I think being/the chances of a Professional are pretty slim these days. If you have a studio somewhere you are more likely to get portrait work for families, children, pets. I managed to get a job within a company as the marketing manager which involved a fair amount of photography and location work (mainly building sites) for use on their website and advertising I really enjoyed the work but never considered myself to be a professional photographer - (I should add after 4 years I've now moved on). During my years I increased my knowledge of Photoshop / Raw files / Wordpress and website creation and used Adobe InDesign fairly extensively. 

 

[Denis]

Me? I'm just an enthusiastic amateur and will always be

[Hatter]

Strictly amateur here.  I pay the bills by crunching numbers - the photography is just for fun.

 

[Leon]

update.

 

Meet with a superbike team...  been invited to all races in 2020 with hospitality, no mention of payment yet.

Applied for a job with a dealer selling Land Rover and Jaguar.   awaiting any communication , this will mean taking pictures of "High End"  cars at three locations in Warrington, Stoke and North Wales.  

Refused to send my CV in to another "carshop" as you literally are told how to photograph cars in a white room on a turntable.  

The track where I have been resident photographer for a few years are allowing me to open a stall selling prints!!  tis one could be a little gold mine, just need to find a member of staff to come with me to man the stall and print of  pictures on the day as I think these will sell easier. will mean weekend trips in my redundant trailer tent, should be a laugh and earn a few ££'s too  

so baby steps so far, but it's a start.  I am all over Linkedin but I need to learn how to sell myself via email.  any creative writers out there?  

 

It may take a while, and it may not exactly get me on track but I will get there one day!