Do professional photographers enjoy photography

Shank_ali

« on: June 28, 2011, 16:43 »

#link

Some people enjoy there jobs.Most find it a means to an end.
Do professional photographers enjoy photography???
I enjoy photography but it certainly aint my job which is in engineering..welding.


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Perry

« Reply #1 on: June 28, 2011, 16:48 »

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Photography can be as exciting or boring as any other job.

I often find my shoots (and especially post processing!) boring. But sometimes a shoot can be very exciting, interesting, inspiring, funny etc.
I'd still say most of my shoots are boring routine work, 1 percent inspiration, 99 percent perspiration.

Of course it would be more interesting to shoot bikini models under palm trees, but I guess even that would become boring after some time...

(Photography is still one of the best jobs there is!

)


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elvinstar

« Reply #2 on: June 28, 2011, 17:03 »

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I might be different from most because my models are most often friends, but I generally enjoy the shoots. Post-processing, no so much.


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lisafx

Premium Member

« Reply #3 on: June 28, 2011, 17:06 »

#link

For a job, I still like it better than I would most other jobs. But it is a lot less fun than it used to be when it was a hobby.

Not sure how much of my decrease in interest is due to it becoming a job, and how much is specific to micro and the BS from the agencies.


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click_click

« Reply #4 on: June 28, 2011, 17:15 »

#link

Quote from: lisafx on June 28, 2011, 17:06

I think a lot of the decrease in interest is iStock's fault...


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WarrenPrice

« Reply #5 on: June 28, 2011, 17:37 »

#link

some do; some don't
Roll Eyes


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velocicarpo

« Reply #6 on: June 28, 2011, 17:48 »

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I love photography. Surely sometimes I have to push myself to do the postprocess, to do a boring shooting etc. but in general I love it.

What is a real downer at the moment is the business side, means the BS from the Agency side.


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jbarber873

« Reply #7 on: June 28, 2011, 19:37 »

#link

I love it. It's always changing. Grin


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steheap

« Reply #8 on: June 28, 2011, 21:45 »

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I love it as well, although I focus more on travel and landscape images and I love being outside in interesting places! Go with what you enjoy - that is my motto!

The development of the images is good as well, but I slow up a bit with the keywording....

Steve


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Shank_ali

« Reply #9 on: June 29, 2011, 01:03 »

#link

So if we had the choice we would focus on the shooting and hand the editing over to A.Other.


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RacePhoto

« Reply #10 on: June 29, 2011, 01:38 »

#link

Quote from: shank_ali_reborn on June 28, 2011, 16:43

Some people enjoy there jobs.Most find it a means to an end.
Do professional photographers enjoy photography???
I enjoy photography but it certainly aint my job which is in engineering..welding.

What? That and your third re-incarnation on the MSG forums, which you seem to enjoy too? Wink

Yes I like what I shoot and that's not the Micro stuff or things that I try to create to sell. Shooting sports is not "fun" it's long days and hard work, from Sunrise until Sunset and editing, uploading, meeting deadlines during that time and later. If you take a break, you are going to miss something. The shows go on all day long, even if the scheduled events are at specific times.

Yup I love it! No complaints, it's a challenge and that's the main driving force. Standing inside shooting well painted and shaped models with electric lighting may have it''s moments, but sports... you snooze, you loose. The game is always on. It doesn't come to you very often. Most of the time you have seconds or less to catch something or it's gone forever. Great Stuff!

Anything where people get paid to do what they love, music, photography and the like, is not a job. A job is what I do to pay bills, the rent and other things.


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sharpshot

« Reply #11 on: June 29, 2011, 02:14 »

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I used to love doing the micro stuff, because I could see my earnings going up every month and I could set myself targets that were possible to reach. Then StockXpert was closed and istock started messing things up. My earnings fell and suddenly doing isolated objects and concept photos became less like fun and more of a tedious chore. I've now almost ground to a halt with producing images for microstock. More sites have mass rejections and it's really hard to stay motivated. I could increase my standards but is that going to be good enough in the future?

I'm just about making enough money to get by and I'm trying to reignite my enthusiasm but I can't see my long term future in microstock. I'm going to spend the rest of this year working out what to do next. I still love photography but I'm going to try and find a way to make money from what I enjoy doing most, instead of compromising and doing work that I really don't enjoy.


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microstockphoto.co.uk

« Reply #12 on: June 29, 2011, 02:19 »

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photography is still fun, and travelling with the excuse of microstock is fun

microstock photography in itself not so much anymore

I am not shooting a lot lately for stock - I was able to increase my earnings by 3% by uploading full port to all minor sites, and that's probably more effective than shooting new pictures - and especially the boring part is done by an FTP client at night, not by me


« Last Edit: June 29, 2011, 02:23 by microstockphoto.co.uk »	Ignore \| Logged

grp_photo

« Reply #13 on: June 29, 2011, 06:44 »

#link

yes
a lot actually still love photography more than anything else, could just be a little easier to make a living Roll Eyes

but if I would be a full-time Microstocker I would get crazy and would probably loose my love to photography, but as one of many photography income streams it is okay.


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dehooks

« Reply #14 on: June 29, 2011, 07:03 »

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I used to love photography when it was just a hobby. Since I started in micro, every time I pick up a camera it's like I'm punching a time clock. Not so much fun anymore. I do enjoy the benefits that come with it though.


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Lagereek

« Reply #15 on: June 29, 2011, 07:18 »

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Dayrate photography and especially in advertising, following layouts etc, is IMO, the very best, extremely fun and challenging.

Stockphotography is equally fun but only when things are going smooth, at the moment with all the hickups and problems from some agencies: NO! not fun at all.

However, there is a vast light-year differance outside the world of Micro to what I call the "real" world of photography.


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Perry

« Reply #16 on: June 29, 2011, 09:25 »

#link

Quote from: dehooks on June 29, 2011, 07:03

every time I pick up a camera it's like I'm punching a time clock.


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Pixart

« Reply #17 on: June 29, 2011, 10:00 »

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For the most part photography is fun, I hate the admin part - reporting taxes, leger entries, chasing down bounced cheques - I can't say I love post-processing, but it beats gettting dressed up for the office. But sometimes something comes together in post and it can be really exciting. And photographers get so many rewards than say - office workers - we get to open up a batch on our computers and sometimes we find a gem that is so beautiful it can make you cry. I can't say I ever cried when I typed up venue agreements or took messages for my boss. (Not because of beautiful surprises anyway


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mlwinphoto

« Reply #18 on: June 29, 2011, 10:15 »

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I've been a full time nature stock shooter for over 20 years and enjoy it just as much now as I did back then. Having said that, I do find it much more challenging and much more difficult to make a decent income in today's marketplace. 90% of my imagery is placed in RM and there is still money to be made there. The remaining 10% is handed over to RF including micro. Personally I don't find microstock very gratifying nor do I have the motivation to attempt to make it so. Busting your tail to make a few pennies per sale doesn't sound like much fun to me.


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Lagereek

« Reply #19 on: June 29, 2011, 11:19 »

#link

Quote from: mlwinphoto on June 29, 2011, 10:15

Its not like that. Ive also had RM stock since late 80s but enjoy RF as well, Micro was a terrific way and you dont have to bust your ass at all and a few pennies can add up to 10K per month.

trouble right now is that some agencies are giving the whole industry a bad name, bad reputation which is beyond our controle, its run by computer-geeks, probably not even intrested in photography but the money. Need I say more.


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madelaide

Premium Member

« Reply #20 on: June 29, 2011, 18:26 »

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I am not a pro, so I can just still enjoy photography. I can't imagine myself carrying hard cases of photo equipment and having assistants around me.

But then, in any profession you have a good and a bad sides.


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