Becoming a Photographer with Nothing

I started in photography when I was eight years old. I will never forget the stunning electricity I felt when I saw that old rusty Nikon camera in my Grandfathers garage, But I never thought I could become a public photographer even though that year I won my first photography competition. 

Why? I have no idea. Maybe it’s because I was told college, work, die, in that order. And that dreams and passions are just things to give up on. Nobody ever said to follow your passion or to do what you love. I was look at as strange because I wasn’t into cars, I despised football and had no interest in being into those things so I could “fit in.”

I like being by myself, I never thought about looking cool, and I didn’t know it, but I LOVED cameras. I loved the mechanics, the art and the sound and feel of a camera. And nobody could understand why I would spend money on film, back then, and not a sweet car. But I did love taking pictures of sweet cars and football and people that look cool. I didn’t know I was a photographer. I felt it. 

Enjoying and talking about the things others thought were “cool” was what I was into. This was a theme for my life. Always thinking there was something wrong with me because I couldn’t, could NOT, be like everyone else. And I tried so hard to be like them.

It wasn’t until I was a grown man that I was able to put it all together. I had two children and NO money to get a camera, or start a company, or website or anything. So I quit. Or I should say, I quit, quitting. I decided to follow my vocation, my calling, and it was a calling because it had been a voice in my head telling me to come twards it and I just couldn’t listen. 

But when I quit quitting, when I decided no matter what, no matter how hard or how long it would take I would become what I am now. A professional photographer.

So here I will talk about people, places and things that I found work, or don’t to get you the needful things of a photographer with nothing and I will link my affiliates to the products that helped me. Most of what I will talk about is for the person starting out with nothing. 

You know “cheap.” But don’t get excited, because these things are cheap or free you will have to pay for them and the skills you need with sweat, blood, sacrifice, time and endless hours of study. At first. As you climb the ladder and fall forward, everything will fall into place, money will come, and you can live that feeling I had standing in my Grandfather garage.