Why Become A Photographer? – An Update
by William Lulow
Last year, about this time, I published an article about becoming a photographer and, I find that every year I think about it only reinforces my notion that I made a good choice all those years ago. People choose their careers for many different reasons. Some kind of fall into them. Some inherit businesses from their families. And some even find businesses or professions that they had never even heard of in their youth.
In my particular case, I was just drawn to the whole idea of creating pictures. It was partly because I had kind of grown up with cameras my father had and also because I was captivated by the process itself and all its trappings. This was in the days of film and darkroom processing, enlarging and printing.
There are many reasons why people are drawn to certain professions. These days, there seem to be more and more folks who just want to make money for the sake of making money. So, there are countless folks who go into banking or finance or investment. Everyone needs to be able to support themselves and their families, but these people want to be where the money is because they think that money may be the answer to their aspirations in life. Well, for some, I guess it is and if you have a passion for money, that should fulfill your dreams. If, on the other hand, you see money as a means to an end, then being in the “money business” might not be as fulfilling as you might think. Anything you wish to become really good at requires a lot of hard work and devotion. So you had better have some passion about money if you want to become good at making it.
For me, money, for the sake of having it, was never a prime motivator in my career choice. Once I settled on photography as a career, I was lucky enough to have made a fair amount of money from the beginning. I certainly wasn’t a millionaire, but I always seemed to live comfortably and have the things I wanted or needed. Commercial photography as a profession, is fairly equipment-intensive. You have to rent a studio and have all the lighting, processing, equipment, staff and knowledge necessary to produce professional quality photographs if you intend to make a living from it. (Note: I have written extensively on what it takes to succeed in the photography business in other blog articles, so you can refer to them for a detailed analysis of costs and other commitments involved. I will also re-publish this information from time to time).
And, those expenses have only grown with the coming of the digital age, because now you need not only a digital camera, but storage for all your digital files, editing software and expertise, a good, solid fast computer that can handle your files and, of course, the knowledge of how to use all this stuff. Most of the equipment I have has been accumulated over decades in the business. As a matter of fact, much of my lighting equipment is over thirty years old now and even though it all still works properly, it is probably time to invest in new equipment. Needless to say, replacing all my lights will cost a pretty penny these days. In addition to all of this, manufacturers of various kinds of photography equipment have undergone changes in the last twenty or thirty years as well, as you might have expected. Now, the trend has been toward mirrorless cameras which give a different photographic experience than the old 35mm cameras with penta-prisms on top. And, as you might also have suspected, their prices are quite a bit higher than the “old fashioned” cameras, which, by the way, still work well to produce professional results.
With all this being said, there has been no substitute for the feeling of accomplishment and pride I have when a shoot goes just as planned and the resulting images are used for the purposes intended. It is actually quite a “rush” which I have felt many times and continue to feel to this day. The creative arts have always been spiritually rewarding if not always financially. So why do people still pursue the arts? One answer is that art is a noble profession akin to teaching because it has an uplifting effect on people. It also has a certain lasting power. There is a saying etched in stone above the entrance to the Philadelphia Museum of Art which says, “All Else Passes, Art Alone Endures.” It just about sums up why there are artists. It is a calling. People are drawn to be artists because they feel that they have a talent and also have something to express in their art form, whatever it may be. But one caveat that I learned a long time ago before I really learned to do photography as a profession is “Do your business as well as you do your art!”
Having been affected by the Impressionist School which emerged in France in the late 1800s, I began thinking about creating more “individual art”, meaning more images that appeal to me on a strictly artistic level without wondering if I’d make any money selling them. (It turns out that I did sell quite a few of them) But these impressionistic images I call solarizations, have been personally rewarding for just the effect they have had on me and other folks. Here is an example:
These images are created first in the camera, then with various filters applied to the images in Adobe Photoshop to render the original images as almost impressionist paintings. The creative process is never an exact science and these images are testimony to what that procedure can accomplish. I love making these images because there is a “surprise” element involved. You can never be absolutely sure what the outcome will be of adding various electronic “filters” to any image. So a good deal of time and tweaking must be done in order to realize a particular goal with one of these images. Here is another example:
Of course you need to find just the right type of image to work on. Usually reflections or other shots involving the sky and water add very interesting results.
For me, photography has always been both a calling and a passion. One can always do this. You don’t have to make it your career. And I have had many students who wanted to learn more about how to do digital photography as an avocation in order to perfect their skills, without necessarily wanting to pursue it as a source of financial remuneration. In order to make almost any art form into an enterprise for making money, you would need much more than a “calling” or a “passion.” But it certainly would start there.
