Many years ago (I was estimating '92 but actually it was around '97), I hatched a dream of becoming a photographer, perhaps a wildlife photographer because I was so into bird watching.  I was doing software for a living, and though I was pretty good at it, I wasn't getting the satisfaction out of it that I once had.  Friends I discussed the idea with encouraged me to pursue the dream, and so I started researching the equipment.

On line discussion fora were not as prevalent in those days, back then USENET was the place to go to ask questions.  (When Google first appeared, once of the biggest deals about it was the ability to search USENET newsgroup postings... now that functionality doesn't even appear on the main page.)  So it was on USENET that I began to do my research.  I noticed a lot of messages from people getting started in photography and wanting advice on what equipment to buy.  And I noticed anyone professing a desire to become a professional would receive at least some discouraging messages along the lines of this industry is very competitive, and it's very hard to make a living doing this, and various other messages that basically amounted to you will probably fail, so don't get your hopes up.

One of my initial forays received a few of these sorts of messages.  At the risk of reliving a dream that died, here's a link to my original query on rec.photo.technique.nature.  And among the positive responses, there were a couple less positive ones:

...there's some chance you can supplement your income someday, but if that's a primary motivator, better to take a course in
becoming an auto mechanic where you can get $60 an hour for labor...this field is ultra competitive and over saturated with very talented people who love what they're doing, work for nothing or close to it, and turn out fantastic images by the ton...anyone who NEEDS to supplement their income would not choose this as a way to get that done quickly. it just doesn't happen that way.  i don't mean to insult your abilities or anything, but i do believe that you've really got this figured as being much easier than it really is...

...You need to learn the basics before you do anything else. And not to discourage you, by all means pursue your passions and dreams, but what the publishing world really doesn't need now is another 'great' photo of that bear or moose. You will find that taking great photos, and selling them are two entirely different things. Unless you are a prodigy of some sort, it will take you years of hard work and learning before you will even be capable of matching the quality of work that the industry is already inundated with, so start with learning and mastering the basics before moving on to the 'big game,' and in the meantime start saving your $$ for those big lenses. Once you do produce publishable quality work, your skills and talents at marketing will be more important than your photographic skills, even if you are only trying to 'supplement' your income...

 Messages like these left me very discouraged when I started trying to become a photographer and I began the journey with a used Nikon 8008s 35mm SLR expecting to fail.  After only a couple months of dealing with the exorbitant cost of film developing, I did indeed give it up.  I just couldn't afford it.  But the dream of becoming a photographer never went away, and resurfaced a few years later when I purchased a used Konica Q-M100V digital camera which took appallingly low resolution pictures.

Eventually I graduated from the Konica to a Canon Digital Elph S500 PowerShot, still a point-and-shoot, but it took better quality images.  Now 10 years later, I've come full circle and have gotten an SLR again, but a digital one this time.  And again I am nurturing the dream of becoming a photographer full time.  So (almost on impulse) I ordered the MOO cards depicted above to use like business cards as I begin trying to turn that dream into a reality.  Maybe nothing will come of it, but this time I feel a little more urgency, as I am now pushing 40, not getting any younger, and very conscious of my mortality.  I've already come a lot further this time than last time, and I hope to go further yet.

I was kind of stoked when the MOO Cards arrived... like my Dad, I am excited by possibilities.  So I posted the picture you see at the top of this article to my flickr photostream, and let slip that I was thinking of turning pro.  I received two comments.  One from my best friend, James, and one from an online acquaintance I met on flickr.  James, being a friend,wished me luck in a manner I know was heartfelt.  The other person?

You better find another way to earn a living. None makes money being a photographer these days, unless you intend to do weddings.

I give this other individual the benefit of the doubt, but, what is it with torpedoing people's dreams?  Is this a common occurrence?  Is it just that other people have pursued a dream and it hasn't worked out and they want to prevent others from experiencing disappointment?  I thought about it for a long time.  Then I heard my daughter come downstairs and called her into my study.  We had the following conversation:

ME: Do me a favor.  When you get a dream for what you would like to do with your life, don't ever let anyone try and talk you out of it.

HER: What did you read online?

ME: Huh?

HER: Usually when you talk to me about something serious like this, it's because you've read something online that offended you.

 Smart kid, huh?  So I told her about how right after she was born I began trying to become a photographer, and how some people had discouraged me, and how I had let those discouragements color my thinking.  And yes I had found some of those original comments online and had just received another.  I told her that it is a two way street, that people can try to talk you out of your dreams, but only you can let them do it.  I think she got the message.

And as for me?  I have nothing against shooting weddings.  I think I would like that.  When I went digital, I started shooting portraits and discovered that I love taking pictures of people and particularly faces, and went a little nuts doing so.  So if I get to the point where I feel competent enough that I wouldn't produce crappy photos, weddings would definitely be something I would want to do.

And as for the guy who encouraged me to become an auto mechanic instead?  Well his business website (started in 1997, btw, same year I posted on usenet about my interest in wildlife photography) hasn't been updated since 2000.  So maybe he was experiencing difficulty in pursuing his dream, and that motivated the comment he made to me.  I also note from his website that he seems to have rejected digital photography.  Interesting.