Where do we go from here

[mysteryscribe]

I have two opinions here... 1 for every photographer that makes it big there are 500 living on the edge. Trust me, you can argue that lady photographer made a 100,000 k last year, and I can take you to meet all the guys working a real job and trying to get the photography up and running. That's one opinion.

I once had a girlfriend whose daughter wanted to be a concert musician. Since I was sort of in the arts at the time, she asked me to convince her to carry a second major in mathematics as a fall back position. I told her no, which was a stupid thing to do, because if you have a fall back position it makes it way to easy to fall back and not pursue your dream.

Now if you had a burning desire to be a photographer, I might say go for it. You really don't seem to have that, so I would say teach photography.

That's my second opinion

 

[GoM]

Mysteryscribe - That's what I'm trying to figure out. I'm not sure if I have that burning desire to be a photographer. I know I have a burning desire to take photographs and love it in and of itself, but I'm not sure if I have that burning desire to go all the way and risk it all for it. Especially as others have said and I'm well aware, there's thousands out there with much more talent and ability and out-and-out dedication that I don't have (or am not sure about), so I mean...I don't know. It's all very....weird. I know I have to dive full out into this if I want to go somewhere with it, and I know that I have to make that decision once I've diversified a bit and attempted things I haven't. But in no way is it pressing. I just like to think that the fact that I'm even considering doing anything more than just a hobby of it means it's more than a passing fling, but...if it doesn't explode, then the safer bet's to stay in teaching. Which is still what I'm focusing on. Just toying with ideas....all part of being 20 and in college, right?

 

[mysteryscribe]

When I was twenty, I was trying to stay alive. It was the most burning issue with me. I bought a camera (my first) at the px and made pictures of all the things that were strange to a mill village kid. I could tell mine were as good as anybody else's. But then theirs weren't very good either.

When I got back to the land of the living, I worked as a reporter for a while with a construction news service. Mostly that was form work so it required no real education. I got sick of it pretty quickly. I went to a tech school for photography because it seemed like an easy way to make a buck and I had a little interest left over from the old days.

It's where I met the person who really turned me onto it. Not the work really, but the way of life. The difference between how people in the "arts" community and the people in the real world thought. So for me it wasn't as much about the camera as it was about the image and what it said.

Not that I think that was a good thing mind you. It's just how I came to the decision to get into it. The business part came later when I was told by my dear friend that I had no artistic talent to speak of. But I was a pretty good mechanic with a flair for handling people. So burning desire might have been a little strong. More like a stronger desire to do that, than to do whatever your other choice is.

At twenty I wouldn't make that kind of decision. The only reason is that photography is easy to pickup at twenty five, but college is much harder to do. I went at almost thirty on the GI bill and it was a pure D Bi**h.

Get your teaching certificate and then decide. Actually I never met him but in our area there is a very successful wedding photographer who is also a high school counselor. He gets all the young brides from the school. Built in clients so to speak.

 

[GoM]

Well, I'm somewhat taking all of your advice's kind of mish-mashed together, or at least that's the theory. I have an (ex) neighbour who's the photographic editor or something of the sort for one of the local dailies in Toronto who I should able to get in touch with for assisting over the summer. As well, I'm sure the advertising side of my family knows some pretty decent people who wouldn't mind having a little greenhorn following them around. So, the summer may be a pretty hectic one, in the best possible way.

 

[GoM]

Got a couple more possible (very very very open-ended as to their happening) links and bit-part gigs this summer at various photography-related places. Things could either go great and I end up having up to 4 part-time photography-related jobs (assistant and the like), or 0. Hopefully one or two will end up happening, and I can see what this damn little business is like on the inside...