What is your End Game?

[Stradawhovious]

I never responded to this thread originally, since I didn't even know what a DSLR was when it started..... I hope that doesn't prohibit me from posting in it now.

End game? To die of old age.

Goals with photography? Immediate (next 12 months) would be to get a better understanding of the basics, lighting and composition.... and wear out the shutter on my D7000. Next few years? To take better portraits than the low paid, barely trained High-School dropout working the photo booth at Wal-Mart, so my sisters never need to pay for pictures of their never ending stream of offspring. Lifetime goal? To find some form of photography that I can do proficiently enough to make a bit of scratch to pay for gear.

Ultimately, this is a hobby that I find very interesting, I don't have any dilusions that it will become anything more than that. I'm not that good, and there are already too many fish in that tank.

 

[Village Idiot]

To take over the world and discover immortality.

 

[andynrach]

Ever heard the term, "Jack of all trades but master of none?" Well, that's kind of me. I can sort of sing, draw, paint, write, play guitar/piano, etc. but I am master of none....I cannot touch a single life other then my own with any of those things. I want my photography to be different then that....I want to nuture it through my life so I can officially say I've mastered it and touched people with it. Right now, I'm in the infant stage, but I'll work at it. Ideally, I would like to do portraiture/weddings, but I'm less interested in the making money part (unless it's to buy more gear) and more interested in artistically representing moments in people's lives. That said, the gear ain't cheap and my husband will only put up wish so much....heheheheeh. Great thread!!

 

[dylanstraub]

Fashion/Commercial

Self taught

And uh....when you say partner......does that mean....you know....you're.....you know.....

I hope you were trying to be funny but that comment was insensitive. I think he's talking about his business partner anyway.

 

[RauschPhotography]

Hmm, must not have seen this when it was originally posted! Anywho...

I guess my goal is to just be happy with the work that I produce and learn as much as I possibly can to improve upon my techniques. Portrait work is fine, but I couldn't see myself doing it full-time. I'd much rather just do freelance work on the side. As of recently, I've been selling prints of my work, but am working towards having a few of my pieces on display at galleries and local businesses.

As far as education goes, I've taken two years of graphic design in college. Never took photography in high school, and actually dropped photography my first semester in college. (I'm very sensitive to migraines, so the fumes from the darkroom and I didn't mix well at all) Just learning whatever I can, and taking every opportunity for what it's worth.

 

[Aze]

Hmm, great question, interesting to see also how long this thread has lived. I guess I'll toss my goals in here to, if anything it will be nice to see down the road if I was able to hit my goals.

Well, I studied the music industry in college with a concentration in a/v communications. It was kind of a weird major, but a lot of fun. I got to study recording contracts, copyright, sound engineering and then oddly spent time in graphic design. Turned out the music industry SUCKS! I actually enjoyed the graphic design classes as the arts were always my favorite. Sketching, music, painting (oh man i sucked at that) were all fun even if I wasn't very good. I wound up back in web design and spent the last 10 years doing web development.

After all that my end game is this. I want my own design/development studio. I want to be able to do it all. I feel like if I can handle every aspect of a design studio, from art to programming it would be beneficial. Since a lot of people want photos on their sites, doing it myself is a big benefit. I've had people ask for everything from product shots to models wanting pages. I've got a long ways to go, but it would be great to be self sufficient. Plus being out and about with a camera in my hand is a nice break from sitting in front of the computer.

Well thats my ramble, hah.

 

[Stryker]

Picked up my first DSLR 9 months ago only mainly as a hobby and to take better photos of my family. A few months later, a pro wedding photographers was calling me to be his second shooter, shot a corporate event of a shipping company, covered a real estate board seminar, and documented a whole month's activities of a bus load of retired American tourists as they travel around the country. I never thought I get paid good money for my hobby and I'm having fun...

 

[altitude604]

My Goal is to sell the odd print and just keep enjoying the Hobby.

Pretty simple really.

 

[rlemert]

Photography will never be a business for me, and I'm not sure if it's really ever going to be much of a hobby. I'm old enough to be pretty well set in both my career and my ways.

That said, I would like to consistently take better pictures than I'm taking now, and having a DSLR will allow me to practice much more than I ever did before. (I used my film Nikon quite a bit last summer visiting Australia, but that was the first time I'd taken any pictures since our trip to Hawaii five years earlier.) I do manage to pull off a decent shot every now and then, but I'd like to get to more "nows" and not so many "thens".

No formal visual art training for me. I've been a geek all my life (currently working in semi-conductor design), so lots of math and science. I have been involved in music quite a bit and feel I have a little talent there, but the wife and kid are more visual than I am (wife is better at drawing, kid - who's planning on engineering as well - seems to stumble across photos that I would give my eye-teeth to take.)

 

[SNBniko]

For fun!

I am in school for Chemical Engineering, so I just want to be able to pay for stuff. I have no aspirations to work a super high pressure, big business job (my mom hates it when I say that... 'Don't you have DREAMS?!' yeah, ma, I do, but they don't involve being worried about what huge distillation will go wrong next).

I took an art class here at college... does that count? =P I don't have any artsy background. I can draw (as in, direct render) well, but that's because I'm super attentive to detail in those regards.

Really, I am just trying to capture each and every day, the little things that I tend to miss when I'm rushing around trying to get stuff turned in or study for exams. It's great fun!

 

[vtf]

Excellent thread Bitter. I have spent 30 years in retail usually in soft lines seasonal type business, Im done. I've always had an artistic flair so I think its time for a new path on my own and I've always had an interest in photography, what kind is still being debated but feel confident I can make it a business for me. I still have time but my patience with the retail world is growing thin.

Wow, it's almost been a year. Terminated in July of 2010, unemployed for 6 months, got new job with crappy company and paid less than unemployment.
I have been admitted to the University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC) seeking a Bachelors of Arts Degree. I am pursuing a duel degree program in both Graphic Arts and Art History/education and with my already earned Associates in Business Management I look to leverage into Art Director or Studio Upper management.
In the mean time I'm hoping to get promoted soon back to Management with the company I'm currently at and spending the next year to 2 years to recover from the economic losses I've taken this past year while attending courses at school.

 

[Ron Evers]

Looking forward to another 20 years after heart surgery last year - I am 70 this year.

 

[Gaerek]

I haven't been around here lately due to real life interfering, and my work blocking most discussion forums (tpf included, but curiously, YouTube isn't blocked). But I'm glad I happened to catch this thread. It's interesting to see what people's skill level is now, and what their aspirations are for the future. For me, I haven't really thought much about my end game. I'm sort of a live in the moment type of person, so trying to foresee where I'll be in the future is a bit foreign to me. Short term, I just want to find more time for shooting and processing. Between work, school, wife and kid, I have very little time. The little time I have to shoot is usually doing it with another event, hiking, or whatever. And even when I do shoot, my RAWs sit on my hard drive for weeks or months before I'm able to find time to do anything with them. I don't really have any desire to go pro. I certainly wouldn't be against selling some of my work, but that opportunity hasn't presented itself yet, and I don't really have the time to make it happen right now. I have had people tell me, "Wow, I'd pay for that shot!" But of course, even when that avenue is pursued, it's ended up with a comment like, "Oh, well, I don't have the money right now."

So basically, my short term goal (no end game in mind really) is to:

1) Find more time to devote to my photography
2) Continue to better my skills
3) Potentially sell photos (not going to worry if this never happens)

 

[behanana]

I would like to do automotive photography, more as a hobby for now, maybe someday as a second income or profesionally. I work on cars for a living so it seems fitting. I have no "art background", so I'm learning along way.

 

[manaheim]

I have absolutely no idea what I'm trying to accomplish or why I even do this.

My best guess, to date, is that I'm trying to recapture some of the soul I lost through years of public school and corporate IT work.

Other than that? Not a clue.

I still don't know what I'm doing this for.