Photography - How to Live your Passion!

A Profession, a Passion, or a Hobby?  Or, can it be more than one, at the same time!?!

Hobbies are often confused with Passions, but there's a critical difference.  A hobby (According to the Webster dictionary), is “a pursuit outside one’s regular occupation engaged, especially for relaxation.”

Passions, on the other hand, are not relaxing.  Passions don’t leave you alone.  Passions insert themselves into your life whether you have time for them or not.   Passions soothe you and drive you crazy at the same moment.  One is not better or worst than the other, but what's drives you?

Personally, for over a decade, I've been juggling both a Profession and a Passion, and although it makes for some pretty long hours, every free time I can spare, I grab a camera and get out there and capture images, not for my profession, but rather for pleasure.  I was always weary that if I were to become a photographer as a primary income, would it eventually hinder on the passion I have for the art?  On the contrary, it drives you even more!

So the question of finding your passion is not discovering what you like, but what you would be willing to suffer and sacrifice, to keep doing it!

Yes, hobbies can turn into passions, but a mere hobby won’t provide the drive and determination and fight, necessary to do something for a living.  A hobbyist photographer will love the click of the shutter and the magic of a great image.  A passionate photographer will continue to pursue that magic despite bad days, early mornings, tough clients, expensive equipment, depleted savings, hours of editing, workflow minutiae, business headaches, the stress of tight deadlines, and all other things that would stop a hobbyist, dead in their tracks.  

So, for those of you with enough drive, and are questioning themselves, if they chose this path as a primary income, will they have the same passion... Don't!  Simply find the path that works for you, and keep going at it.