Anyone left their full time job to do photography full time?

[imagemaker46]

It's not as easy as 23 year old o hey tyler seems to think it is. At 23 years old you haven't even started life yet.

Yet, you've given so many double knee'd knob gobblers. WHAT'S YOUR SECRET BRO? I MUST KNOW.

(I don't really want to know how you've ended up on your knees so much, it was more of a joke TBQH)

The response from a child, I rest my case.

 

[Scoody]

I did. And after a slow start, my business has taken off. Still not making what I used to when I worked for someone else, but photography is all I do.

 

[Jeatley]

Me tooo. I am luck to have a small part time job that I can pick up in the slow times but all I do now is photography. Only 18 months ago did I start chasing my dream and quit my good paying with benefits job 6 months ago. Now in the next few months it should be even better with my new plans.

 

[Scoody]

Me tooo. I am luck to have a small part time job that I can pick up in the slow times but all I do now is photography.

I have a couple gigs that I can do for some quick cash when I need it. I break horses, which is pretty exciting in and of itself. And I have a cousin who has a Bail Bond Service. He was stricken with MS a few years and can't go out after skips like he used to since he is in a wheelchair so he calls me.

 

[Kerbouchard]

I'm not a pro, but I will probably be opening up a side business in the next 6 months or so. It's just a matter of getting the taxes sorted out. I have enough people and resources where I think I can make a go of it. Still not sure I will give up my day job...pays too well and if photography doesn't work out, it would be hard to explain to a potential employer why I was out of the engineering field for an extended period of time.

Can't answer your question, I'm not one of the people who would take the leap. In today's economy, quitting any full-time job with good pay and good benefits to open a small business seems just about nuts.

 

[imagemaker46]

I'm not a pro, but I will probably be opening up a side business in the next 6 months or so. It's just a matter of getting the taxes sorted out. I have enough people and resources where I think I can make a go of it. Still not sure I will give up my day job...pays too well and if photography doesn't work out, it would be hard to explain to a potential employer why I was out of the engineering field for an extended period of time.

Can't answer your question, I'm not one of the people who would take the leap. In today's economy, quitting any full-time job with good pay and good benefits to open a small business seems just about nuts.

It is a tough call, and I've said before if I was in the same position in this economy I wouldn't walk away from a steady pay cheque. I know that some people have done it, but I think for the most part they have built themselves a small steady client base and been putting enough money aside to give it a try.

 

[ghache]

I won't quit my day job anytime soon because this is what is paying for the bills right now,
Even with a day job, I am able to do all the photography i want and i am able to keep up with demand i have right now which is not alot. Maybe 1-2 gigs a week.
All the income i get from photography is extra and pays for the studio, gear and any other expenses related to photography and i still get some extra money.

imagemakers is right. nobody wants to be a starving artist and having a another good job is the solution. However, I think you can call yourself a professional photographer even if you have another job. Its doesn't matter if you shoot 60 hours a week or 6 hours a week. A the end all that matters is the quality of the product you deliver.

 

[imagemaker46]

I won't quit my day job anytime soon because this is what is paying for the bills right now,
Even with a day job, I am able to do all the photography i want and i am able to keep up with demand i have right now which is not alot. Maybe 1-2 gigs a week.
All the income i get from photography is extra and pays for the studio, gear and any other expenses related to photography and i still get some extra money.

imagemakers is right. nobody wants to be a starving artist and having a another good job is the solution. However, I think you can call yourself a professional photographer even if you have another job. Its doesn't matter if you shoot 60 hours a week or 6 hours a week. A the end all that matters is the quality of the product you deliver.

"All that matters is the quality of the product you deliver", this is what a professional strives for. Being consistant with every single shoot is what separates the amateurs from the professionals. I will admit that I have screwed up a few shoots over the past decades, I did forget to load film once, screwed up processing film, those kind of things, but the quality of my work has been consistant for over 35 years, when I can't keep to the level that I set for myself I will hang the cameras up.

ghache, the way you use the money from your shoots to offset the costs of doing the shoots is really the only way to play it safe in photography, it lets you keep shooting and yet you don't have to start tapping into other money. You build a small group of clients and who knows down the road 10-15 years you may be in the position to leave the day job and just stick with photography.

 

[henkelphoto]

I've been away from the internet for a few days and have just come across this thread.

I've been very fortunate in my life in that since college, the only full-time job I've ever had has been as a photojournalist. That's 35 years at this point. Pretty incredible as most of the guys I started with in 1976 have gone on to other careers.

As for freelancing as a career, one of my friends in Washington D.C. who is quite a successful freelancer once said, "Behind every successful freelance photographer is a full-time working wife."

I have to agree with Imagemaker, if I was in a different field with a full-time job, no way would I quit it to go into photographer at this time. Too many GWCs out there giving stuff away for free.