what happens after photography?

[mahleu]

I've had it beaten (figuratively) into me that I should be investing at least 20% of what i'm earning, more if I can. And it makes sense, as long as I can feed and shelter myself (and run my equipment:) ) then a fair amount of the surplus doesn't towards a new car, or random things that don't need upgrading, it goes into shares.

This way, when I retire (if ever) I'll have some funds to play with.

[jjj]

I always try to give my clients something extra, something they don’t expect, and something they did not even think off, something I want the client to have.
I don’t think luck has anything to do with it - just the work - it is as simple as that.
Torben
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A famous golfer [Lee...?] overheard someone comment after a tricky putt, 'Wow, lucky shot!' His response, 'It's funny, the more I practice, the luckier I get.'
Torben obviously 'practices' a lot.

[samuel_js]

At the top of my game at age 39, I quit my last career.  Independent, sought after, earn-as-much-as-I-want sort of thing.  I threw it in the toilet so I could get my soul back -- with photography.  Like my artist's bio says, I smile a lot more frequently these days.  I think that's the key, ronno.  Keep a roof over your head, keep your family fed, and make sure you smile more days than not.  That's what success really is.

I must confess that sometimes I feel that nasty old frantic feeling, but I try and take a step back and have a walk or a beer or something and go out and take some pictures and walk around in the sunshine, and it's all better again.
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Sean, how old were you when you quit your old carrer? Did you have this feeling... "maybe it's too late to even try"? I've been photographing since '87 but I entered the proffesional field just a few months ago. I started my bussiness etc, but I still work with music beside the photo work. Now photography is getting more space in my life and I'm thinking about deditate everything to it. That's what I really want. But there's a lot of things to think about of course. 33 years old, wife, a boy, nice apartment and car...

[David WM]

They move on, maybe stockbrokers, real estate, whatever. I think the point is that enthusiasm and passion is the recepie and when that is gone, so are you.  
In a lot of businesses your network is critical.  It sounds like the work your getting at the moment is largely fueled by the network you have and your age has a bit to do with that.  
In most pursuits people quit. People change their minds or their circumstances change and maybe the business they have developed doesn't suit their lifestyle choices anymore. I don't see any reason why the quality of your work cannot continue to improve as you age if that is what you want to achieve and work at it. Its not like we are sports people who have a definite use by date, the barrier is a mental one.  I think the population as a whole is doing more at a later age nowadays anyway.
Don't forget to enjoy the moment too.
cheers
David
 

You are making my point. There are a few older stars, but for every one of them, there are thousands who are not stars, and not working anymore. What have they moved on to?
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[rainer_v]

Sean, how old were you when you quit your old carrer? Did you have this feeling... "maybe it's too late to even try"? I've been photographing since '87 but I entered the proffesional field just a few months ago. I started my bussiness etc, but I still work with music beside the photo work. Now photography is getting more space in my life and I'm thinking about deditate everything to it. That's what I really want. But there's a lot of things to think about of course. 33 years old, wife, a boy, nice apartment and car...
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Photography is my second career also.
My first was music, i wrote many years film-music and produced. long time my hearth was 100% in this but the last years i felt in a way i did not liked. i have had early success starting with 28 years, and 10 years later i felt that i had moved myself in a dead road,- feeling isolatd and repeating my own stylistic. although my income and my projects were not bad i decided to stop,- i also was really fed of of work for television, films and art directors....
i stopped with app. 40 years, took some time to think about how i would like to go on and started afterwards to shoot my first portfolio of architecture. i was running three months around to get first jobs, but i got my first assignements and fast they grew up a little bit and the things started to run somehow from alone. this sounds too easy,- not from alone, but much easier than ever in music. projects grew and grew, exactly in the speed that i felt able to fullfill them.
i felt great after this move and maybe its a part of this experience, that i am not frightened for my business future. it gives me  selfconfidence to see that i can do other things as i believed, because all my life before i thought that music is all i can do and so i have to go on with it to live in a good way.

[SeanPuckett]

Sean, how old were you when you quit your old carrer? Did you have this feeling... "maybe it's too late to even try"?
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39.  (Two years ago.)

And no, why would it be too late to try?  Does age really have anything to do with being unsuccessful in photography?  Personally, I'd like some more grey hair -- the grinning professor look really helps a lot (as our host undoubtedly knows).

[mahleu]

And no, why would it be too late to try?  Does age really have anything to do with being unsuccessful in photography?  Personally, I'd like some more grey hair -- the grinning professor look really helps a lot (as our host undoubtedly knows).
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Grey hair can definately be an advantage. My lecturer and I shot the same high profile music event on consecutive nights, he was free to shoot as long as he wanted, I was restricted to 3 songs...

[jonstewart]

A famous golfer [Lee...?] overheard someone comment after a tricky putt, 'Wow, lucky shot!' His response, 'It's funny, the more I practice, the luckier I get.'
Torben obviously 'practices' a lot.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=143784\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

The original is attributed to Samuel Goldwyn, when someone suggested to him he was a very lucky man, he replied 'The harder I work, the luckier I get'

It's one of my favourite quotes, and motivational as well!

The golfer was Gary Player (prob others as well).

[David Sutton]

Well, it is simply not  my nature to write seriously, but this thread by those who encompass light, resonates deeply. I left a highly paid career as a sales manager. Looking back now, had I not done so, living in an environment that did not value creativity would have broken my spirit.
So at 30 I started learning classical guitar in the clear understanding that I would probably not make enough to retire, but if I was doing what I loved, would that matter? So now at 55 (I think), I am teaching music privately 40-odd weeks of the year and to my surprise being in demand enough to live modestly well. The other 12 weeks? Playing at weddings and with my Spanish dance group, riding old bicycles and attending Victorian balls.
I have discovered photography again (having had a darkroom and shooting b&w in my teens), but oh the expense! and oh the learning curves! But the desire for expression cannot be stifled and certainly nothing else in this world gets me up before dawn. So who can say where it will lead? I hope in a few years it will start to pay for itself.
My point is that soon I will be dead. Fifty minutes or fifty years, my life will seem like a puff of smoke. And then when I am talking with the Giver of Life about the things of the heart, it won't be the things I have tried and not succeeded at (I am quite ok about these), it will be the gifts He has given me that were unused, and and the things that I didn't try to do, that I will be asking forgiveness for.
So now with the camera, as I did with the guitar, I will do it and do it and do it, and not compare myself with anyone else, but be happy with who I am now and where I am now.
                                                                                                  David

[Mark_Tucker]

The original is attributed to Samuel Goldwyn, when someone suggested to him he was a very lucky man, he replied 'The harder I work, the luckier I get'

It's one of my favourite quotes, and motivational as well!
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“Chance favors the prepared mind!”

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[sid_v]

So, I have been wondering what people are doing once their cache as a photographer is gone.
I am now at the height of my career, making plenty of cash, and already I am thinking I should be gaining more skills so I don't end up moving into my mom's basement when I am 50...  :-(
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Here is a guy i admire...was at the top of his game in the eighties. Stan Malinowski. His website www.modelpix.com is filled with behind the scenes and some trivia.