A year and a half ago, I was able to get a DLSR and have even be able to upgrade a few things, and feel like the major technical hurdles are behind me (f-stops, shutter speeds, focal lengths), what remains is putting emotion, soul even, into images. How does one translate inspiration into a .CR2 or .jpeg (or a print)? Faster lenses and large sensors help, but they don’t do any more than they’re told.
I enjoy taking photos to help tell the stories of climbing and skiing and the back-story of a big day, however living in Salt Lake City, the market for such images is utterly and totally saturated. I have a day job that I’m good at and am not interested in leaving (I love design), but I would like to find a way into the part-time-photographer world. There seem to be lots of ways to get paid in photography, but far fewer ways to get paid shooting what I love.
Trying to figure out the non-technical side of photography feels similar to angst of being inspired (or in my case, not feeling inspired) to climb things that are above my ability at the moment and require more of you as a climber than you currently offer (think the mantle on the 5th pitch of Nutcracker in Yosemite Valley).
If I knew what directions to start jumping, I could work on the courage to jump. And that about sums it up.