I have been a member of OSP for about a month now....and I am totally loving every minute of it. This place rocks! Everyone has been soooo helpful and friendly. Thanks so much!!! But when I signed up I was under the impression that I was the ONLY one still working out there in the corporate world and doing photography part time.

So my question is how many photogs do this part-time, and and how many do it full- time? Just curious! If you are doing photography full time, how long did it take you before you made that transition into full time status? The talent in this place is amazing!!!

You are definitely not the only one here! I am a full time photographer/full time Mom, but there are a lot here who are still in the corporate world!

As far as how long it took me - I was a stay at home Mom who second shot 15-25 weddings a year for a few years before starting my business. Once I started my business it took me about 8-9 months to get really busy. I am fortunate that my husband's check covered 95% of our needs... now it covers 100%+ after paying both our cars off a couple months ago.

Part-timer here! I teach anatomy to help pay the bills, work hardest being a mom, and do photography to have fun, be creative and earn a little extra money. Right now part -time works for me so I am not sure what it would take or how long it would take if I decided to try and go at it full-time.

I have a full time job, go to school full time.... and have my photography business. So you are definately not along.

b

Haha, Mike is the MAN!

Hi Crystal,
I am in the same boat as Autumn, full time photog, full time stay at home Dad. Shot 20 or so weddings last year, 5 solo but still for another studio and now it is time to go on my own. I shot commercial work last year on my own as well. Things have been picking up enough, and my son is getting old enough, that it is time for him to go to "school" 3 days a week. It sure will be nice to have all that time to focus on and grow my business and not feel like I am neglecting him when a client emails or calls.

Yeah, I'm definitely still "the man's" biotch. I'm working 72 hours a week to save up for my 5d's, lenses, and whatnot so I can do this thing right from the get-go. My goal is to do photography full-time, and I hope it doesn't take too long to get there.

Part time

Although I quit my full-time 'day' job last August and have been shopping for a new one since. Thankfully I'm able to be picky.

Full-Time.

I was a biochemist for 7 years as I developed and grew my business. Starting out in Sports with a rented 10D. Moved into weddings, and bought a sweet Mac G5 Dual workstation, lots of 'L' glass and a 5D and two MKII's with the money I earned. Never touched my savings or used the regular job $$$ for the biz. Grew it from scratch, slowly. Never advertised, never went into debt.

Went Pro when I quit my day job. It was the scariest thing I ever did - giving up a month of paid vacation, great healthcare benefits, and a guaranteed paycheck. But at the same time, the quality of my images went through the roof. I also can process a wedding in less than a week. That's Shooting a wedding on Saturday, editing 3000+ images and getting an album together, before the next friday. 6 DAYS.

Last year I sold all my Canon stuff, and went to Nikon.

Loving every minuteof it.

I've been wondering if anybody here has done that... completely switched over. What were your reasons and how do you feel about your choice? (I'm a Nikon girl, but crossing over to Canon has definitely passed through my mind a few times).

full time here.

but i am just transitioning into shooting weddings this year. until now i've been shooting mostly editorial.

The color is so much better. Richer, sweeter, more vibrant. You can see the differences on my website, or read more about it on at banquetBuzz.com - links are below

I work in technology full-time at a boarding school and photography part/full-time (depending on the season). I have no desire to leave my full-time job for many reasons, but for 1, I love it so much! I also do a lot of photography for the school and they are actually very supportive of my part-time work and business. Not many places are that open to your outside activities.

It's incredibly hard, especially when trying to balance everything. But you just have to be sure you say no when you are booked (I burned myself the first couple of years because I just kept letting more slip through and couldn't say no!) and you have to take time off to get yourself together or else you'll completely burn out. This is my off time. Dec (no weddings, because it's crazy enough getting holiday orders and albums finished. And no weddings for January, Feb, and March b/c the weather is just too crappy and unpredictable. So it gives me a good time to get caught up and take a little time for me.

You are not alone!

I started doing photography about 2 years ago so that I could eventually quit my corporate gig. (I was NOT happy - I'm in commercial real estate and worked on a difficult account.) I wound up booking 22 weddings last year but ... in the meantime I also got a promotion to another department at my corporate job. It's now a job I like with people I REALLY like. And also a salary that I can rely on. So I'm torn.

But I'm also pregnant and due in June which I know is going to change everything for me. I didn't take on as many weddings this year because of it, so I'm not as confident about being able to do photography full time next year because I feel out of the loop and with other priorities on my mind. And I certainly need to stay here at the corporate job because of insurance. (My husband owns his own business so sometimes I feel like I need to be the "steady" one.) Anyway, my new goal is to go full time first of next year hoping I have lots of weddings booked up and I'll be able to be a stay at home mom. But boy is the thought scary considering the corporate world is all I know and there are things about it I do love (the people, set schedule, benefits, etc.) We'll see how it goes I guess!

i work for quite a few photographers around indy as well as trying to get my own stuff started. it's been craaaazy.

That's a full plate, Sherry! I feel ya, although for now our "kids" are of the 4-legged variety

I still work regular week hours, some mentoring/tutoring hours at nights, and shoot on the weekends. Guess I just can't stay idle for long..

I went full time right away. I actually started two companies at the same time with slightly different markets and was working immediately. Sometimes I think it is easier to do if you are in a city like I am in which is a huge destination spot. There are lots of tourists, destination brides, family reunions and of course the locals are great too

I work full time in the television world... then go home and work basically full time doing the photography thing =) Hoping to work for myself full time in the next year or two!

I started out last year, while still teaching preschool part-time. I'm pregnant and due in September, so I won't be going back to teaching. Luckily, I make next to nothing teaching preschool, so it shouldn't be too hard to match it with photography!

full-time photog with a full-time engineering gig on the side!

Full time here.

In hindsight it all makes sense. I remember ridiculous numbers of hours spent crawling around in the Ohio woods of my childhood taking photos of anything and everything with my parent's old Olympus SLR, or chasing my horses around in a circle in the meadow to photograph them running through the wildflowers. But photography, as a career? That's crazy talk.

So I went to college studying psychobiology for medical school, and when money issues forced me to take a school break, photography reentered my life. I've never taken a class, never studied it, but in two years I was paying the bills (barely) with photography. For the first year I was still working part time as a paralegal. The flexibility allowed me to really move forward with figuring stuff out, and about a year ago I made photography my full time job.

No kids, just a cat and a boyfriend to look after. Definitely found my calling, and though my business is new enough to still be struggling, it gets better all the time and I make fewer mistakes each month. Wouldn't have it any other way!