Maybe nobody cares and maybe I'm dumb to be surprised but I just want to stress how unglamorous actual pro photographers - and creatives in general - are.

A lot of them are kind of losers. The image I had of photographers being cerebral, well-rounded and cultured guys has not proven to be true at all.

I work in healthcare but I run a small business doing sound engineering work. I do very specialized work recording live concerts and classical music, usually working alongside photographers/video crews. A lot of them are honestly just fucking weirdos, at some point I probably was too. It's a bit like pic-related (apologies for normie meme)

I mention this because prior to this I did much more paid photography gigs, but I got sick of it because a) the profit margins are a joke and b) I didn't fit in with the people there and they knew it. I'm not saying I'm better than them, but it was not the focused, intellectual crowd I hope for.

An anon here once saidA that he got into photo-journalism because it is a field that vagrants and ne'er-do-wells can get into and I 100% see it.

Older guys are good though, they're always helpful and polite.