/u/firewings86 explains why he quit attempting to be a pro photographer

Here is a controversial opinion , just In case you care to see the other side. I am one of those people that for the love of Jesus can not understand why anyone would pay a "salary" to a photographer. I don't think I am in the minority when I say that past a certain point the quality of the photograph is not worth the money. Surely I want the best picture I can get, but if I can get an 8/10 picture for free from my brother/friend/whatever with a professional camera or 10/10 for $200 I would certainly go for the free one. Surely some people have more talent than others but it is fair to say that the majority of the populace has sufficient talent to take a decent enough picture, past that point the price is not worth the talent.

I think this is very obvious from the amount of money being paid, very few photographers make a living wage. It is because the market is saturated with sufficient good enough talent from the average JOe. It is market economy and a professional photographer has a lot more competition than another professional photographer.

On a personal note, I always thought that people that chose to make a profession out of their hobby are more likely to fail. When to have to do something is no longer a hobby, even if you used to like what you did doing it to make others happy, when they want it done, how they want it done, certainly can't be enjoyable. Even if it does not fail financially, you killed something that made you happy. I am certain there are exceptions, but this seems to be more of the trend: once a hobby turns into business is no longer a hobby.

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