[toni-a]

https://fstoppers.com/commercial/if-you-love-photography-dont-become-professional-491906?fbclid=IwAR3Hu6LR00dBgI_UQf4MBJcTlf3O2siiU9jwnaw9RDYtjdTfhpi03TCQHxA

Dunno if you agree
in my own experience he is right, I did two weddings where I was paid back in 2009 in France and Belgium when I was still a student , it made me lose interest in photography for a while since it became something I didn't enjoy.
Despite being business wise a success, since my clients were very happy and I earned in a single weekend the equivalent of two weeks of my trainee salary, I decided I wanted to keep photography a hobby, and rejected the offers that came afterwards without even asking for details

[mst]

Fully agree. That's actually exactly what I did, too. I want to keep the actual photography part a hobby, as in: something I enjoy and look forward to.

[obican]

Fully agree, even though I work part time as a photographer. Since I don't need to rely on photography as a full time job (and thanks to the fact that the customers pretty much come to my feet without me doing any promotion or anything like that), I still don't hate photography even though it's a job for me. Also helps that I do interior and product photography, both of which have minimum human contact (way easier on my nerves than otherwise) and the venue, product and style to be used in a shoot always makes it more interesting and challenging for me compared to just trying to get another non-model person to pose.

Another aspect of my shooting style that helps me deal with this dilemma might be that I shoot and love both film and digital in their native and hybrid workflows. When I'm shooting architecture, I shoot digital, correct everything to a clinical level in post if the customer demands so and deliver digital copies. When I'm shooting for myself, I usually shoot film, develop and scan at home and most of the time don't even edit the scanned images but go print them in my darkroom instead. That way when I'm dealing with my street photography post exposure, it doesn't really feel like I'm once again in front of my PC as if I'm editing those architecture shots. Even the gear I use for those different genres feel vastly different in use (digital mirrorless vs. medium format SLR, TLR and 35mm rangefinder) so it almost feels like I have two different hobbies in the end.

[Rover]

I can see that the job of press-service photographer may become boring after awhile, photographing the same official mugs all the time. I can imagine that shooting weddings is nerve grating - hunting for contracts, then always wary of failing (and the clientele not liking the shots), then agonizing over the processing... But working in the news? I don't understand how it would become boring since it's always something different. Now, I'm not really into documenting my life meticulously on Instagram but I'm posting various images including those shot in the line of work and some subscribers have noted that my subject matter is really varied: one day it's the election, then it's a medical operation, then some fun public event. Of course it became a bit samey lately, what with the subject gamut narrowing to pretty much only quarantine stuff, but even there I'm finding things to do outside the box.

Of course, if I were to be completely honest with myself, I'm not much of a journalist, much less a photographer, but I do what I do and I like what do, at least moderately, since I'm not seeing an alternative for myself. Another thing that helps me is the wide array of work I'm doing even in the line of my primary job - photographing, writing, editing, and even, of late, translating (again). As they say - find a job that you love and you won't have to work for a day more.