>>4149350honestly I gave up on being a pro and just photograph things I want to enjoy photographing. Like if I wanted to grind hard I could make a good living out of photography but I also make alot with my other skill (low 6 figures).
This is gonna sound kinda mean, but I don't want to photograph people that i find unattractive or people that I don't feel comfortable around, or do photography that I'm just not interested in. Weddings don't really interest me because of the amount of worked put in but I find doing fashion, costume and fine art way way way more rewarding, because of the amount of effort and time parties put into it, if I can keep doing this on the side great!
I once did a collab shoot at the beginning of my portrait career with this young russian girl and it was a nightmare, I had no creative input, she was incredibly toxic to work with, wasn't aware that me having 20k of gear was more valuable than her just showing up to the shoot dressed up. She would flame other photographers and call them creeps (and honestly yes some are, but others weren't she just made baseless accusations). Like why would I ever want to work with this person again. It taught me alot about who I want to work with and what the power dynamic in a collab is.
Infact photographers constantly get the low end of the stick here, the models tend to be the commodity because theres no shortage of dudes with cameras to compete with. Once a model finds a "favourite" photographer to work with they just keep producing content and its hard for them to break away from that photographer without some type of incentive. The expectations are generally high and alot of photographers will front the bill of outfits, makeup, maybe buy some meals or drinks for the people they are working with. They usually need an assistant, they need to maintain their gear. The expectation from photographers is alot higher than from everyone else.
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