LongWindedInNJ

It all depends if you’re set up as a business or not. Your last sentence regarding shooting weddings is kind of vague.

You would need to talk to an accountant to get any real advice, but I would imagine they would first ask how you’re currently conducting your photography.

Whether you sell your MLS pictures or not, if you were a legitimate business you could absolutely deduct certain expenses related to that. Working photographers shoot personal work all the time and if it’s in support of their business then there is a path for a write-off (in some capacity.)

Pro-tip: just because you aren’t selling these MLS pictures now, doesn’t mean you can’t sell them later.

70-200 (and esp f4 version) will somewhat limit you to outdoors and relatively bright scenes. I’ve travelled a lot, both for work and for pleasure. In the beginning I would take a ton of lenses for “options”. If you want one lens for travel versatility: 24-70mm f/2.8.

But if and when you get into prime lenses: 35mm f/1.4 is my lens of choice for travel. Those are the shots that I consistently return to and truly love. For example: inside food stalls of Singapore, inside cafes in Italy, etc. these are all relatively low light as well …so the ability to opening up your aperture will give you nice creamy backgrounds but also the ability to use relatively normal ISOs.

Landscapes, interiors, macro, product/still-life, etc. Pretty much whenever I’m on a tripod. With regard to landscapes, I use manual focus to nail hyper focal distance.

Knowing what I know now: ASSIST. As early as you can. You will only be better for it.

I studied photography for 4 years (earned a BFA) and I loved it. It was great. But it wasn’t until I was a photo assistant after college that I really learned what I needed to become a photographer. Obviously I learned a lot in school, but seeing it done in the real world made it click.

The internet is your friend. Find working photographers in your area. Assisting will teach you so much:

• how to plan / pack what you need
• how to talk to clients / subjects
• what you do like about the business
• what you don’t like about the business
• how to light
• how to edit
• how to hang (what you talk about and discuss during downtime… arguably the most important)

Be available, be an asset, and learn to be a sponge and just soak up info on jobs. You will be a better student.

One caveat: be aware that to work in photography doesn’t mean you have to take pictures. You can be a retoucher, producer, stylist, camera tech, or any number of other things. That is yet another thing to be learned while assisting and/or studying photography. Working in the business early will help you decide sooner.

Good luck!

Try the HiTi brand dye-sub printer (or similar) if they still exist. I had a photobooth business for 10+ years and that’s what worked best. I own 2. They can be finicky, but they’re snappy and are built for speed and volume. Don’t bother with inkjet if you have any intention of moving quickly.