Bursting the bubble....

A hopefully interesting topic targeted towards those who have "achieved the dream" and are professional photographers. For the sake of this conversation, the definition of professional photographer will mean that you make most if not all of your money from photography.....This is what pays the bills and puts food on the table.
Ok....now that we got that out of the way.....lets continue
So many people "romanticize" the idea of pursuing photography as a living. For those of you that have actually accomplished this, what unforeseen (or even foreseen) issues have you found that made you realize that the idea wasn't all that romantic? This isn't to say that you don't love the job overall.....but what about the job do you find that just stinks sometimes (if not all of the time)?

I tend to work lots of weekends and late nights, and have my days off mid week. My wife works mostly weekdays and has her days off at the weekend. We did know that when we met though!

It's difficult to plan a holiday etc.

Actually I do find it "romantic" if anything more so than I first thought. I work my own hours with the exception of about 35 wedding days per year and maybe 10 other shoots. I get good down time in off season to do my own projects. Longer holidays than any previous job I have. I get to travel a lot, meet heaps of new people on the one of the happiest days of their lives. All of that is way better than I ever thought it could be and keeps getting better.

The only thing I'm not so keen on is the industry at large. Way too may people who think they have some God given right to have a successful business and earn good money. Still it doesn't bother me too much as I do my own thing and what others do doesn't affect me. It is a actually a great industry to work in as you can have as little or as much involvement with other photographers as you want.

memoriesoftomorrow wrote in post #15914157
The only thing I'm not so keen on is the industry at large. Way too may people who think they have some God given right to have a successful business and earn good money.

Can you expound on that? How is that a problem with the industry? I've owned a company and everyone believes it's their right to own a successful business.

mdrtoys wrote in post #15914228
Can you expound on that? How is that a problem with the industry? I've owned a company and everyone believes it's their right to own a successful business.

When there are a large number who ignore basic economics... massive over supply, lessening demand, prices dropping etc... then spend their time moaning about the public "not valuing their work" as if it is their right to be paid what they want irrespective of what the market is actually prepared to pay (what it is worth in the public's eyes). I.e. a hell of a lot of professional photographers not being able to accept reality. It is blind ignorance. So what if someone is the greatest photographer on earth...that doesn't mean they'll automatically have a successful business. So what if some very mediocre photographer is doing really well in business.

I do work full-time as a wedding photographer and find that no bubble has burst for me quite yet.

Even during the busiest parts of my season, I only work about 3 days per week, leaving a lot of time for other projects (music, film, outdoor etc); I basically can schedule holidays for pretty much any date I want (ahead of time, though); I don't have to report to bosses; and because of how I have set up my marketing and contacts with prospective clients, I work almost exclusively with laid back fun people.

It's difficult for me to pinpoint the things that are not so romantic about this line of work because so often these things are often also what is the most enriching or best for us. For example, I'm generally a shy dude, but in the context of doing weddings inevitably find myself with a huge amount of responsibility working my craft in front of often hundreds of strangers. That's scary. But working within this challenge, confronting it, really is the best thing I could be doing; and I feel like doing this work has helped me grow immensely.

I can more definitively say that I haven't fallen in love with the business aspect of the, er, business of photography. I don't like facade, pretense and find that business (as does life) often demands some level of this.

jra wrote in post #15913254
A hopefully interesting topic targeted towards those who have "achieved the dream" and are professional photographers. For the sake of this conversation, the definition of professional photographer will mean that you make most if not all of your money from photography.....This is what pays the bills and puts food on the table.
Ok....now that we got that out of the way.....lets continue
So many people "romanticize" the idea of pursuing photography as a living. For those of you that have actually accomplished this, what unforeseen (or even foreseen) issues have you found that made you realize that the idea wasn't all that romantic? This isn't to say that you don't love the job overall.....but what about the job do you find that just stinks sometimes (if not all of the time)?

The thing I loathe most as a photographer is the hours (as someone already mentioned). My better half has a job that is virtually 8-5 Mon-Fri. From my standpoint, that's pretty much my free time....with Saturday being my absolutely busiest day. While she wants to go out on a Friday night, that's usually the one night I want to be in bed extra early

I am a full time photographer but my experience is different from the others posted here in that I have regular contract photography work for many clients that has me working 5/6 days a week with little opportunity to schedule time off or personal time - it's like having a regular job but without the benefits of holiday or sick pay.

I'm not complaining because I make good money but the workload is never ending.

I have been a full-time freelance professional photographer since July 2010. Before then I counted on my normal day job to pay the bills. Today, I am a succesfful freelancer and I love every moment of it. I enjoy meeting new clients, following through on ever-more-creative jobs, and I especially enjoy getting paid. I find that the best thing is the accountability: if my house goes dark and I die of starvation it'd be my own fault for not selling or delivering as promised or alienating my clients. I appreciate the pressure, I love the ability to call my own shots and enjoy the freedom of being able to say "yes" or, more importantly, "no." Also, my girlfriend is unemployed and I find her very helpful on set helping manage on the day. This not only gives us both something to do, but helps us stay close since we generally don't annoy each other too much!

I hate breaking a sweat. So there's that.

But seriously, that's probably the most un-romantic thing about it that I didn't really foresee in a real way; lugging all that gear. Trying to open a door with three light stands and a tripod in your hands plus a bag that keeps sliding off your shoulder and another 55 pounder on your back. Kinda sucks. That's even assuming you were smart enough to repack the cameras you were using rather than let them beat around your neck too.

And before you respond: real men don't make multiple trips.

Coming back from an out of town/state/country shoot & sitting down in the office! ; )
Edit: "Back when" we didn't have cell phones & were totally out of touch with the office, which was just the way I liked it.

I've been at this for a long time, and no bubbles have burst yet, in fact, it's been better than I could have imagined