The dream of making a hobby a job

We’ve all probably done it. We find a hobby and think, “I wish I could do this as my job.” The problem is that we often fail to realize that we started the hobby to relax from working. The hobby was our way to disengage from the workweek. If the hobby becomes the job is it still a hobby? Do we then have to find a new hobby? I’m sure there are those people that exist that can separate work and hobby when they are the same, such as photography or painting. As for me, I’m not so sure I could separate the two.

My start in photography was quite an accident. I was given a 35mm camera as a gift. I hadn’t ever really done any photography before. We had cameras but they were mostly for family events, birthdays, Christmas, and such. When I got the camera the more I experimented and played with it the more it became a hobby. It was a way to escape my work, which I really enjoyed at the time but the work was often stressful.

I have attempted to start a photography business in the past. What I found was there was more work than mere photography. It wasn’t all taking photographs. There was marketing, client meetings, deadlines, product delivery, and product review. There were emails, phone calls, accounting, and a whole plethora of other office work to be done. You also have to maintain insurance, contracts, websites, and equipment. Everything had to be triple or quadruple backed up in case of failure. It was, well, a job.

I decided that, for me, it was better to keep photography as a hobby and if during the course of performing my hobby someone wanted to buy or pay for my photographs it was great. If not, it is also great because I’m doing something I like the way I like for enjoyment, without pressure to perform or deliver.

If you are thinking about doing photography as a business because it is currently a hobby consider all the things that it may involve beyond taking photographs. It will save you some headaches and heartbreak if you find you’ve lost interest to continue your hobby because it became a job.