I've been in business operating as a solo photographer for a few years now without ever having been apprenticed. I will have to reaffirm that it has been a very hard few years, not just technically, but also in the marketing side and the most boring side of all the business administration.
The first couple of years were the worst, with what felt like bad business deals and nightmare shoots due to the lack of experience in handling certain client temperament. During that time I spent more time doing test shoots than chasing for businesses whenever a new type of commission came in. That was really learning the very hard way.
So I started aiming lower and did mostly editorial works instead. Lower income, higher volume, more creative freedom which allowed me to really learn from experiments (by experiments here I mean that editorials do not have as much technical constraints as commercial jobs).
One day my single Profoto monolight became two, and later on accompanied by powerpacks, and even more light modifiers.
Then another day my business turned into a proper private limited- but I only discovered that, despite having more credibility, it only meant more paperwork and taxes, and does not gurantee that clients, especially the commercial ones, will be retained. A change of committee in the client's side and chances are the account is lost.
Even till today, the most common activity of mine seems to be chasing after cheques and sitting through job pitches. Or sit in front of the computer and do nothing. Or sleep. One week could be packed full of shoots, then for the next 2 weeks, nothing, not even meetings.
As you can probably guess, aye, I am still doing all these tasks mostly alone (when I am really busy my old man helps with the deliveries and paperwork).
The only advantage that I've probably gotten from learning the trade almost blindly, if only I know how to market it, is that I've managed to produce a set of aesthetics that are different from my peers who have gone through the big studios system (I am from KL and most commercial and fashion photographers seem to have graduated from the same 3 or 4 big studios).
Last year, my works suddenly started winning awards in both editorial and commercial sectors- but they seem to mean nothing at all for the business!
I've mostly been a location photographer, and if the job ever needs to be done indoors I'll do it in my home studio or rent a space- but finally, after the last few years, I'll be rewarding myself with even more headache in the next few years with a business expansion. I'll finally be moving into a properly designed studio space, with a whole new set of equipments too, all to be paid for.
(and yes, not only does skill makes a difference- equipment makes more- lots of high end clients in KL are gear snobs!)
