You may have a bad teacher or you may be running into a reality that all creatives face when they try to take a hobby beyond that… at some point it does become work, and you have to learn how to manage that transition.

I’ve been a pro for 27 years. When I was a student, the gains came so damn quickly because I knew absolutely nothing. A year or two in your gains slow down very sharply and you have to work harder to make those incremental improvements. You can learn 75-80% of what you need to know to be a great photographer in a year. That last 20% is gonna be a bitch. If you want to take it beyond a hobby, you have to realize it won’t always be fun, and you will have to learn how to work at some point. If you can’t get past that jump it may not be for you. …. Or maybe you just have a bad teacher.

A good lesson to learn from your experiences here is that a lot of professional photography is creating what the client wants, not what you want. Open yourself up to learning and becoming competent at even the things you don’t like, and it will make you better at what you enjoy.

Keep in mind photography and film teachers are only teaching because they can’t get by making a living doing it for real, or they are just lazy and see an easy job.

I got a college degree in it. YouTube these days is a better resource than school teachers when it comes to creative arts.

Teachers tend to have a stick up their a$$ and act like their way is the only way in a field that is completely dynamic and has no rules, not even camera settings should be considered a rule, it’s all about how you use your camera and your creative mind

Nothing makes you hate something faster than school.

Most people here will disagree but I do all types of photography almost (sans James Cameron) fuck paying for those classes get you tube premium there are so many people that give you that for free and join your local photography club and socialize a lot. Most photographers don’t fail because they fallow ever rule. They just don’t figure out the business part. I sold a print for 3k once that I thought was horrible. But photography is subjective to the people that buy. Sure learn the basics but i completely think the current curriculums and styles are boring and outdated. I want to push the envelope. But for networking it’s very important. Like I said you could sell iPhone pics for more than people pay for professional pics.

They all go on instagram and non commercial clients don’t give an f

Just my opinion. Wish you the best

If your main issue is the due dates then I’m sorry to say doing work on behalf of someone else always takes away at least a little joy from it. Regardless of the field.

Yeah you learn to either have some beautiful balance between the two and everything is going great, or you can’t prioritise either one and they both start going to shit. Quite literally the first week I finished college I went on to work with Converse doing my photography and doing what I love, come out of college with a D in photography, doing better than ever in the real world!

Holy smoke! That mess reads like it’s written by an undisciplined 8 year old child.

Quite the rant, I’m impressed.