Are you happy with the field(s) of photography you choose to support yourself ( and perhaps you family)?
So many specialties ....From babies to forensic!!.....From weddings to wars.....By the way what is your field?
I know some of my amateur fellows will sneak in this thread.....So what would be your "Dream field"?
Mine would have been National Photography during the fifties assuming had the abilities....
Perhaps my interest in anthropology...

I am  a full time shooter.

Fashion, including runway photography, high end real estate, corporate portraits, actors headshots and photojournalism.

I also volunteer for the NYC Chapter of the ACLU as a photographer for selected events.

This is what I wanted to do as a profession since I was 13 years old, although I had different careers, before I was able to shoot full time. Less money than on my Wall Street career, but infinitely much more happy and fulfilled, as I am following my calling.

Things have been changing a lot for me.  A year ago I was sick and didn't work for several months.  Before that I was a wedding shooter in the Philippines.  These days I am producing and shooting corporate work which makes a big part of my income.  I stopped promoting my weddings now that my partner left for Japan last month (it's out of wedding season now).  I shoot a lot of politics as well.  I do some catalog work even though I don't consider myself a fashion shooter.

The photography world has changed a lot for me.  It is still a bulk of my income.  Some days i enjoy it but this last wedding season I enjoyed it a lot less.  I don't know if I will promote my weddings next season.  I do enjoy being a private photographer for one of our ex presidents (Philippines) as well as many in public service. 

My volunteer work with Philippine Red Cross is also one of my favorite activites that led me to lots of travels to help the Chinese Red Cross as well.

My background is I was an assistant to some high end photographers back in the day both in the USA and Philippines.  I enjoyed it and learned my craft.   I still love shooting occasionally those jobs but it really hasn't been my pleasure anymore to be on commercial sets.

My dream field would have been to shoot for the LA Times back in the day when there was Magic Johnson and Steve Garvey.  The photographers would cover politics and sports and everything else.

I try and keep a variety in what I shoot  .  .  .  I used to do a lot of highly technical tabletop product photography, with large format film cameras, plex, gels, complex lighting  .  .  .  then did a lot of ad agency "general" work, which progressed into a few years of fashion and brand building work for fashion designers  .  .  .  got a little burned out, the age of digital revitalized me, it gave me a freedom that none of the other avenues did  .  .  .  now instead of having a "team" helping me shoot, it's generally just me and the model(s) for any location shoots, and maybe one or two assistants for interior or studio shoots  .  .  .  most of my commercial work is for heavy construction, I do a lot of compliance images, and "job progress" imagery for large projects, but still find time to experiment with the fun stuff too  .  .  .  just recently started working with a clothing designer in Miami, shooting online content, look books, ad pieces and the like, as well as an international swimsuit company, both are a nice creative balance to the highly structured construction based work  .  .  .  it's nice to look forward to shooting again!

SOS

This is all I do, obsessively.

When I first started six and a half years ago, I thought I would go into fashion. However, I didn't like the fashion world or lifestyle. I produced a couple of editorials for Elle and Tank in NY, and then was invited to Paris by the photographer for a collaboration which didn't materialize. I hung out at L'Officiel with this guy, and learned a lot from watching him shoot. I returned to Los Angeles after a few weeks, glad to be back home.

A gallery in L.A. had seen my work and signed me on for a miserable two years, and though I have done some occasional commercial and editorial, I have been focused on my artwork pretty much since 2013.

At the moment, I am working with the gallerist Timothy Yarger in Beverly Hills. I am also working with an Italian curator, who is who is promoting my work in Europe.

I'm happy with what I do, with its ups and downs. I don't think I would change anything.

I worked as a model and then started to hang out with a photographer friend. It felt like a natural progression to start testing models and building my book. I assisted a couple busy photographers, traveled and learned a lot from them. I moved to a larger market, had a little success but the economic downturns kicked my butt. Then I started shooting food, started to get clients and I love shooting the occasional lifestyle project. Now, I only deal with actual agency talent and stylists.

I'm a corporate and commercial photographer. 

Over the years my path has more or less chosen me rather than the other way around.  Basically I followed the money or rather the work that was most available.

Years ago the bulk of my work was editorial but these days so many magazines have gone out of print and those days are pretty much over.  At least it is for me. Luckily, as some doors close others have opened up.

These days, for the last 10 years, the bulk of my work is political advertising and public relations photography.  I shoot a good deal of campaign advertising for congressmen, senators, judges and other politicians.   I still get a bit of this and a bit of that but perhaps 70% or more of my work is in politics now.

Am I happy?  Yes, I am.

I've been all over the place.  But I have been full tome for over 30 years.  Started as a commercial/advertising photographer.  Switched to portraits.  Still do a lot of portrait work.  Doing some now.  But the last 7 years or so I have kept very busy doing corporate events. Orlando is one of the busiest places for corporate events.   Those also usually include doing a lot of headshots.  I also did a lot of weddings for a few years here and there and just now getting back into them. 

Which one is my dream job?  I did like doing commercial type work but it can be busy and then really dead at times.  No matter who you are.  People work like portraits, weddings, events, is a lot more stable.  At least for me.  But when I shot products for companies, agencies, I could usually take my time and be creative or work with a creative/art director on a layout.  I do miss those shoots.  Might try and get back into that as well.   

I can enjoy a really good wedding as long as I have control and have the right bride/couple.  A lot of them or not so I don't take them on  They don't believe in the price or don't really care that much about the photography.  Yes, some don't.  They use want cheap.  Same with portraits.  So I market to people who see the value and appreciate better images.  There are still a lot who do.  Just got to find them.

Some can make it doing one genre.  I feel today it's easier to keep food on the table but doing a few genres and doing them well.  Corporate events are slow now (summer) but weddings and portraits are busy.  So I keep working.

Opened my studio in 1965 in LA. . . . still there.
I mostly shot editorial glamour, erotica and art-nudes, but also a lot of advertising, food and people as well.

Still love working . . . Still love photography . . . Love digital technology . . . Still Livin' the Dream !

However, I'm not so sure the opportunities in professional photography are as enticing and plentiful as they used to be. I would be hard pressed to encourage a young person to get into this field at this time.

KM

35 rolls a week. Wow. I only shot 10-15 a week for grad school, and I was one of the heavier shooters. I can't even imagine what 35 a week would look like. I don't think I'd have the wherewithal to bother dodging and burning anything after that!

I can see how that would make everybody pretty samey. When you have that much stuff, and you're (presumably) running on no sleep, it's easy to just print whatever the instructor likes and call it a day.

To the OP ... I don't shoot professionally any more. I did for a few years, and I didn't really like it. I didn't like that I was spending my whole week on work I didn't care about, and I didn't like giving up the security of a guaranteed paycheck, even if the amount on my taxes was about the same. I was also in my 20s, and not mature enough to handle making a ton of money one week, and nothing the next. And the way I was operating (see below) , it was only getting worse.

I was shooting whatever I could do - mostly weddings, events, and professional portraits. I did some senior photos here and there, and some art reproductions. Once in a blue moon I'd get an actually interesting gig, and enjoyed myself.

I've recently decided to try my hand at it again, part-time. My goal is to have a couple gigs a month; we don't have a lot of good work around here, but there are enough downtown revitalization projects that I could pick up enough to buy some of the goofy shit that I want but could never justify, like new lenses and speakers when my old ones are already pretty great. I'm basically just hoping to elevate my standard of living slightly without affecting my retirement. I'm not there yet, but I'm on a good path. I'm focusing on advertising work for new businesses, since it can be shot any time, and I have personal relationships with a couple different advertising firms.

I agree with Ken ... It's not a great time to start out as a pro photographer. You have to be willing to be broke, and to accept that you might always be broke, and *maybe* you can get a decent living, if you don't have too many student loans, and/or you marry someone with a real job than can support you until you reach that point.

More to the point, you either have to be so stupidly good that you can win awards and grants every year, or you have to be willing to make the same trendy images over and over, while putting on your Customer Service hat and assuring clients that they were getting something unique and beautiful. I couldn't do that ... I'd just say, 'so you want photos like your friends'? Okay, I can do that.'

I was a good enough photographer, but a really shitty businessman. I'm not afraid to say that as a full-time professional photographer, I was a failure. Just because you can make the work, that doesn't mean you can make your car payments with the work.

These days, you CAN earn a good living by just being you, but it's exceptionally hard. We've got kind of a Catch-22 going where you can't really afford to pick your jobs and be yourself until you're established, and you can't really survive long enough to get established without selling out. Not with student loans being what they are, and so many people being willing to work for next to nothing.

Full-time professional here. Now I primarily shoot corporate and commercial and I'm quite happy with it.

I have been a full-time commercial photographer since 1989.  When people ask what I shoot my answer is "drugs and money" since a large portion of my clients are pharmaceutical and financial corporations.  I primarily know for lifestyle and portraits.

For the last couple of years, the amount of major image library and ad campaigns have fallen a bit and I am doing a lot of straight-up corporate portraiture.  I also started a branding agency two years ago.

You can see what I do at:
www.zavesmith.com
www.xhilarate.com

Not so much happy as ecstatic. 

I got my first professional commission in 1973. 

Photography has given me a wonderful life in several completely different genres. 

Documentary portraiture (almost all done then and now, more as a compulsion than a vocation) leaving me with a huge archive which I now have to manage, day to day.

25 years as a, more or less, full-time rock photographer and latterly as a fashion photographer.

October sees the arrival of my tenth book - all traditionally produced, not vanity publishing.

I’ve been incredibly lucky and I’ve had some very valuable help along the way. 

I don’t take any of it for granted for a moment.

I shoot a little bit of everything but 80%'ish is now special events around the country.

I'd love it if I could devote my life to photography. I know that it would be a while before I made a fraction of what I do in IT and software development, if I ever did at all. So, strictly a side-passion at this point. One compromise is that I'm spending a lot of my free time developing a web-based application for managing darkroom inventory, the film development process and the lifecycle of a roll/sheet of film among other things. Even if only 2 people ever use it, I'll be happy because it's been great for me.

Professional Photography status is not only restricted to one who does photography exclusively.
I'm currently a Media Designer and that incorporates photography, video, web and print design.
IT and digital jobs in visual communications have definitely changed the job description landscape
in the 21st century. Photography as a career is definitely not dead, it has simply evolved into the
content business and with that evolution comes more (tax deductible) tools, skill sets and a variety
of billable hours for creative services. 

Digital makes being a professional creative a lot more fun! (IMHO).