What is your End Game?

[Einstein]

Great question bitter and some interesting responses from everyone.

My goals are purely artistic, capture the world around me and put some cool stuff on my wall.

But it is also more than this, for me photography is a way to tap into my creative eye that I always loved but never had the balls to persue proffessionally. In college when I really wnated to get into graphic design, marketing or web development my dad turned me toward finance and I never looked back convinced it was the 'sensible' choice.

Now working in the glorious world of reinsurance I have come full circle and have been persuing Photography as a hobby for over a year now. I feel photgraphy has saved me creatively in some way, not that i hate my job but it definitely fills a void that spreadsheets and contracts just cant satisfy. I look forward to a lifetime as a photog enthusiast, learning the art and trying to make some of it my own.

 

[MichiganFarts]

My end game...is to post a picture, and get a complement from Derrel and Bitter. Then I know I've made it.

 

[camz]

Sooo, a year later...if you responded to this before, has your goal(s) changed? Stayed the same? Getting closer to reachin it?

I missed my photography goal, or at least I know it won't happen this year.
Oh well...

Totally forgot about this thread bitter and I'm glad you revisted . Well a year ago I mentioned that hopefully in 5 years the wife and I would be pursuing photography full time together and I think we're halfway there as the wifey is now out of the corporate world...glad for her since she also gets to stay home with the kids :thumbup:.

As far as I'm concern...." I owe....I owe...it's off to work I go". But I'm slowly chippin away...

 

[Josh66]

My end game...is to post a picture, and get a complement from Derrel and Bitter. Then I know I've made it.

What then? Sell your camera? How will you ever top that?


Bitter & Derril both have their moments (good and bad, lol). I respect both, and value their opinions, though sometimes I disagree. I do not think that they are anything 'special' though. (No offense intended.)

Generally, I don't worry much about the opinions of 'internet people'. The opinions of real people (people I know, that is) matter much more to me. But, sometimes, they can't see things for what they are, which is why I post here.

 

[HannahRebekah]

My aim is a be a successful (aka at least make enough to support myself) wedding and portrait photographer. I think last time I posted I hadn't yet shot a wedding, and I only had a couple portrait sessions. Now I have a good wedding, several portraits, and better equipment. Getting there!

 

[lizheaemma]

Cool Thread....
I would like to get more into candid portraits, special populations, working with exceptional kids and geriatrics and create photos for their loved one that express their individuality,
while having them enjoy the experience of being photographed. Photo journalistic style stuff, and overall just photos that I am proud of. Maybe not a career, but at least something
that would augment my quest for more photography stuff and things.

 

[jake337]

At first, when my son came into this world, I only wished to create, cleaner, sharper, photos of him. It has grown into quite a hobby and I would not mind making some extra income, in the years to come, through it. But doing this full time as a carreer? Most likely not, but does it float around in this brain of mine at times? Definetely yes!

Portrait Photographer? (Business/Second Income/Hobby) all three!
Art Photographer? why not if people are interested
Take better pictures? (travel/family/events) The reason I got into photography!
Other?

 

[spacefuzz]

Cool thread, lots of interesting responses.

My goal is to get good enough, and sell enough work, so that I can buy more gear! I have gotten into several group exhibits, so it would be fun to get one just of my work. Its also really a cool feeling to have someone like your work enough to spend money on it.
I have no formal art training, and my day job is in aerospace engineering. Too much fun to give that up.
I enjoy hiking / exploring the world and like having vivid pictures to remind me how beautiful a place was when my memory fades. So to capture that I am drawn to wide angle landscapes. I hope in a year...or ten...from now I am still exploring and taking pictures.

 

[photocist]

I am aiming to be a photographer with a physics phd.

Photography is an outlet for my creative side. Hopefully I will be able to make an impact with visuals that showcase the "interestingness" of the world around me, specifically things that other people tend to overlook.

 

[Derrel]

My end game? I've been working on getting that last little bit of fuzz out of my navel...inspired of course by Michigan Farts and his fingernail dirt cleaning program...

 

[JenKat]

I have no formal training/schooling in art or photography, other than classes throughout highschool, and a couple figure drawing classes in college.

I have been in love with photography since I was old enough to figure out how to take a picture. I would steal my mom's camera, and "waste" as much film as I could find, taking photos of everything from family and pets, to things in nature that I found interesting. Of course, most things back then were out of focus, and of very poor composition, unless I was very lucky. I've had various P&S cameras over the years, and only got my first DSLR in the past few months.

Photography has always been a hobby to me. A way for me to express what I see and feel at a particular moment, to share those moments when I find something interesting, or beautiful. I am always trying to find new ways to capture that which is usually overlooked in our lives.

My goal right now is to continue learning, growing in experience, skill and confidence. If I should get to a point where I could sell my services or art, that would be great. I am mostly interested in portrait, nature, and animal photography.

I tend to sell myself short when it comes to my art. I'm very self-conscious, and only started sharing my photos publicly in the past year.

:er:

 

[Jarrod268]

So how many other IT folks do we have? I've been in software development for 15 years now and all of that time spent in a cubicle is compelling me to spend more time outdoors.

I want to get very good at nature photography. I want to get out and see things I haven't seen, photograph it and just enjoy it.

 

[adversus]

My formal training is in IT. And I have a Masters' in business with a concentration in IT management.

My end game for photography is a hobby. If I could find a way to simply make it pay for itself, that'd be the goal. I don't want to make it a career, at most just small supplemental income. I don't have any plans to EVER shoot a wedding, but possibly portraits, seniors, or selling my existing prints.

 

[kasperjd4]

My end game is to be a runway and fashion photographer. I want to shoot editorials and ads that appear in Vogue. And, I really want to be a set photographer for America's Next Top Model. Just a little goal for when I move to California.

 

[Rekd]

My end game is to see my kid's succeed at what ever they want to do, then photograph them doing it. They're the entire reason I got into (writing and then) photography and my life revolves around them.

For a career, my end game is to be good enough to photograph what ever has my interest at the time and to, if desired, have the connections to get it published in a popular outlet. That will be the one way to keep it fun and still get paid.

Right now that interest is in action-sports and motor-sports. Who knows what it will be in 5 years. :thumbup: