It’s worth your time to read The Freelance Dilemma on Editorial Photographers.
A few highlights:
To achieve longevity, you must reconcile the conflict between what you shoot for money and what you love to shoot. Ideally, you get paid to shoot exactly what you love to shoot, every day.
If you create a book that you think will get you work based on your perception of what sells, or on the advice of anyone who steers you away from your core, you have a complex problem ahead.
But by defining what you show based on what you truly are and what you want to do, you create a self-selection process: you are not for everyone. You are different. Be courageous enough to show that you see in a way no one else does.
Basically, without commerce there is no art, no dream, no longevity. Respect the learning curve.
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