narrowing down which field of photography

how do you make the decision of which field of photography to go into? i like several, nature/plants/animals, portraiture/fashion/gl​amour, sports, live band/performances, stock, to name a few.
i mean obviously noone can be super great in all fields, they emphasize on one, and still probably occassionally shoot some of the other things.

I decided first by deciding what I did NOT want to do. I have less than 0 interest in doing weddings and portraits.So the retail studio went out the window. So it was easy to start to narrow it down. Retail customers can be a pain in genral. So I went business to business.

After that decide what you like to do as a hobby or interested in. Can you shoot it and make money? Then add you next hobby/interest etc ... etc

I dont know anybody that shoots only 1 thing. All the fellow photographers I know have vast ranges of subject matter. Just play with them all and see where have a knack for getting consistant results.

At least 90% of my photography is at The Rocky Horror Picture Show, because it's what I do every weekend, it provides perpetually interesting subject matter, and everybody participating in it likes seeing pictures of themselves performing (at the time at least... I typically get a few requests each year from old cast members that want to pretend it didn't happen now that they're older and have respectable jobs). I've just recently started doing photography while hiking also. For the most part, I enjoy combining multiple hobbies together (i.e. photography + <insert other hobby here> since that makes it the most enjoyable for me. Plus there's always the odd pet, family, vacation, sporting event, friend's wedding, and similar photos of course. But I think that's a given for most people.

I started with sunset photography because I live near some wetlands and I saw the potential of beautiful sunsets.

I was most drawn to newspaper photojournalism because it was practical way to make money. I'm now the assistant photo editor of the university's newspaper, and who knows where I will go from here?

Why worry about it too much? Chances are that one will pick you if it seems that you really shine in that field. Some people have a knack for capturing great reportage style shorts and some have a natural flair for action shots.
I know sports photographers who have little interest in photographing anything else - especially as that brings in relatively decent money and other fields don't pay.
Perhaps when an area becomes lucrative, then you naturally devote more time to that area and slowly start to specialise...

Just get out there and shoot everything. You might find that you're attracted to doing particular things, or not. Me, I'm a generalist, I'm keen for anything.

I like all kinds of photography but lately I have been feeling the pull towards what I call Urban Portraiture. I want tattoos and piercing and body mods and clique fashion, skaters and buskers and street performance artists. I want graffiti and tagging, stenciled art and garbage-strewn alleys. Weeded lots, broken and rusted fences, abandoned buildings and falling-down factories.

Unfortunately, I live in Charlotte, NC (the buckle of the bible belt) and despite the claims of being a 'world-class' city, the truth is that this is the tamest city I have ever lived in, not to mention one of the cleanest. I am talking with a couple of tattoo artists I know (and have done work on me) about doing shoots for their portfolios.

Hopefully, it will grow from there.

jmcder53 wrote in post #6024107
how do you make the decision of which field of photography to go into? i like several, nature/plants/animals, portraiture/fashion/gl​amour, sports, live band/performances, stock, to name a few.
i mean obviously noone can be super great in all fields, they emphasize on one, and still probably occassionally shoot some of the other things.

I do have a couple of comments here, but please accept these as strictly my own opinions.

First of all, I believe you are going on the presumption that "you can't serve two masters" and I really disagree with this sentiment. Aside from being a photographer, I'm also a musician. If one were to simply accept this sentiment at face value, then as a "guitar player" this would imply that I couldn't or shouldn't play drums (or bass or keys), but I do. I've been playing guitar -and- bass for well over 20 years now and I've been playing drums for about 8 years and I've had equal success and equal "proficiency" at all of them. More over, this also implies that since I'm a musician, that I shouldn't be a photographer either (or vice-versa), but on that issue, I will let my work speak for itself .

And for the record, while I consider myself to be an "artist" by trade, I also cook, I write, I do woodworking, I'm an avid naturalist, I build my own computers, I do auto repair and around the house as a "do it yourselfer", I've installed insulation, electrical, fencing, windows, a new furnace, rebuilt the porch on the back of my house, rebuilt the front attic wall of the house and just last week installed new carpeting in the living room!

I am a very firm believer that a person (man or woman) can do whatever they want to do if they are willing to learn and put in the time and practice to do it right. The only limits we have in this life are those which we impose on ourselves. If you think you can only do one form of photography, that's all you will ever be able to do...and your life will probably be pretty boring to boot! LOL!

Now if you truly feel that you are really only capable of pursuing just one form of photography, then I honestly have to say that which ever you choose is simply up to you. Most people have very individual views on this and it really depends on your own personal goals. If you want to be "successful" and you measure that success in terms of dollars and "making a buck" is all that really matters to you, you might be better off sticking with something "commercial" such as wedding photography. "Fine art" photography is fine and wonderful and all, but it's really hard for most people to make a decent living with! LOL!!! In comparison however, speaking from my own personal experience as an artist, I have never been willing to "compromise my art" just to make a buck. Again as a musician for example, I could easily be playing drums in a "country band" (in my sleep) and be working steady gigs every weekend or I could simply be recording "beats" for local rap musicians and could probably retire in Barbados within a year...but I don't like that kind of stuff and have never had any desire to play that kind of crap. For me it's not about "making lots of dough", it's about being happy and my own personal self expression as an artist. If I make some money at it, great. If I don't, at least I've done something that I truly love doing and when "my time comes" I can look back at my life with very few regrets. Too many people look back and say "If only..."...I don't want to be one of them. I am very much a firm believer that it doesn't really matter how much money you make, if your NOT happy, it doesn't really matter and it's simply never worth it. I would much rather be poor and happy than rich and utterly miserable. I know there are people in this world who believe that money=happiness, but I'm not one of them.

Until recently as a photographer, I've done mostly "fine art" stuff such as nature, landscape and particularly wildlife work. Animals are simply one of my greatest passions in life and I get a great deal of joy out of working with them. As I said though, it's pretty hard to make a living doing this...when I shoot a great image of a coyote for example, it's really hard to get him to buy prints afterwards! LOL! As such, I'm also in the process of setting up my own studio so I can do more "bread and butter" work like traditional portraits. I -do- like doing this kind of work too...and (I've been told) that I do it as well as the other work that I enjoy doing, so it's not really a compromise for me. If anything it will allow me to do even more of the work that I really love doing. On the other hand, I will NOT do weddings...I shot one last year and I HATED EVERY LAST MINUTE OF IT! For me to do that kind of work simply to make a buck would be a compromise.

My advice to you is simply don't worry about being "super great" at any one given thing and just follow your heart. There are many ways to measure success that don't involve money and life is way too short to worry about such drivel in any case. Do the stuff that you really enjoy doing and let the rest take care of itself. Decide what makes you happy and then pursue it with all your passion and simply do the best that you can...in the end, that's all any of us can do.

Peace,
Jim

good words. thank you. i've always heard the phrase :jack of all trades, master of none".
i've grown up around automobiles, my grandparents owned a starter/generator repair shop, i've helped wire houses (other grandfather, dad, uncle, were all electricians) i do woodworking, i like sports, wanting to learn how to play golf (not as a professional just looks like a fun way to spend an afternoon)
i've tried to do some metalworking. I grew up watching the herbie the love bug movies, and i had a 65 bug in high school, got a more reliable vehicle for college, but always wanted to get another bug. so i did, and it needed alot of work. i wasn't cut out to do the body repairs so i got someone else to do it. i would have had to learn how to paint, so i let someone else paint the car. later down the road, i might could do most of the work on another restoration project, but just wasn't feasible in my parents' garage. i started thinking about building the motor for the car myself, but there is alot involved, tolerances, micrometer measurements, etc. it's something i could probably do myself, but would need special tools. guess the same could be said for someone who wants to shoot a relative's wedding. wouldn't be feasible, sometimes things are best left to the more experienced, if that analogy makes sense.
i didn't mean to make it sound as though you couldn't be good at more than one thing. i'm good at alot of things, but i would be spreading myself thin if i tried to be GREAT at everything. sometimes i've tried to do too much, and then get overwhelmed. i just try to keep myself in check and in reality.
i kind of gave up on the reality of having a 20 car garage and an astin martin vanquish, and being married to cindy crawford. i'm not looking to become a millionaire, I just want to be able to do what i enjoy and be able to live comfortably. i want to be able to take pride in what i do. and i doubt there are many photographers who do stick to only one aspect of the trade, there's slower times when it isn't wedding season, school and sports photography,,, well i'm just saying what is common knowledge. basically just to say thanks.

For me, it has also been more of a "what don't I want to do" I knew that professionally I wanted to do mainstream-ish portraiture and events and that I didn't want to take my other stuff that I do for fun to the level of trying to sell it. There are a couple of things I've tried and decided I didn't like, so they're out. There are also things I've tried and really liked, so now I'm looking at focusing my marketing on them.

short story: try them out and see what fits, on a professional level.

Go out and shoot everything and anything to see what you enjoy and what you are good at..

yogestee wrote in post #6031173
Go out and shoot everything and anything to see what you enjoy and what you are good at..

^ Nail. Head.

yogestee wrote in post #6031173
Go out and shoot everything and anything to see what you enjoy and what you are good at..

Nail on the Head award seconded. I was going to say that less effectively and with more words....