I have a fair idea about shutter speed, aperture and rule of third.... I know how to operate my camera and perhaps nail 60-70% of my exposure right. That's about how much I know. Shots I took when I first started was really "laughable" by my today's standard... but I do have people say, I take good pictures but I don't think so back then. (most of those people are work colleague who don't really want to offend me... :bsmilie
I was learning still back then, but I am an extremely quick learner because I am "hungry" and "desperate" to make it work, as I have a mortgage to pay, but thank God, no children back then.
To make things work, I will need to have a nett income of about $3k per month to ensure I don't fall backward financially and I need to make that happen in 6 months before my saving start getting into the "red alert" zone.
Back then, I don't even know how to process my RAW files correctly... I don't even understand what layers mean in photoshop.
I started from film, not digital, hence the learning curve is a lot "steeper" than as compared to digital world.
To make things work, one will need to be "Desperate" enough... when I moved here permanently, I was desperate enough to make sure I make enough to support my newborn baby and my wife wasn't working when we relocate to Singapore and thank God that I make enough for my wife to stay home to look after our children.
If you are desperate and hungry and have a constant reminder of what motivates you into the trade... and at the same time, doing the right thing from day 1 by understand your market and audience, with a good and sound business planning, it wasn't impossible. But ready to put substantial amount of effort into it.
I made a post before about motivation before but most people don't seems to think it is important to extend people laugh about it. What motivates me was that I was "afraid" of losing my house by defaulting my mortgage and what motivates me back here at first was the look of my child and what motivates me now is level of comfort.
To tell the truth, when I first started doing solely on Children Photography focusing on outdoor only, I was laugh at and being call "Not professional" because I don't have a studio. I do have a studio now, but 98% of my work isn't in my studio, maybe I am still not professional in many regards.
I am still learning today... there are too many things to learn and too many things to do...
As Steve Jobs says... Stay Hungry and Stay Foolish... I was a fool to quit my job and I was hungry enough to make it work.
Hope this motivates those who is on the line to jump when they are desperate enough to make it happen and doing it right from day 1.
I hope I have answer your question and share a little insight on my process?
Regards,
Hart