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The wastage rate of people entering photography as a career is huge. A rough thumbnail is that over 60% are out of the profession within three years and a massive 90% of the rest end up doing something in photography that they would not have chosen to do. There are very few employed jobs in photography, the vast majority of photographers are freelance or running their own very small business - with all of the accompanying worries that a lack of fixed income brings. Being a freelance doesn't free most people, it enslaves them to a life where they are scared to take holiday just in case they miss work or even lose a client to a competitor who could not or would not wait until their return.
The various branches of photography have their own pitfalls and joys and I only know about the newspaper and magazine sections, but old friends from my College days (left in 1986) tell me that their experiences pretty much mirror mine in their fields. A qualification in photography never got me any work and never got me through anyone's door. Time spent in formal photographic education is not wasted, it provides a breathing period during which you can refine some of your skills, get access to working professionals during work experience and generally spend time working out what your career path might be. The chances of anyone hiring an enthusiastic amateur as a "trainee" are non existent in publishing and pretty low elsewhere. That's the end of the bad news - reading on makes you determined if nothing else.
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To be a photographer you need many things - the ability to take good photographs is just one of them, and if you look at the work of some professionals you realise just how small a part of the job it can be. A good business brain, energy, enthusiasm, determination and the backing of friends and family are far more important - especially at the beginning.
I would suggest that the first step is to take a good hard look at your financial circumstances. If you have £20k in the bank and no huge outgoings then you may well decide to get yourself into a good photography college and do a three year degree. If you are less fortunate then you will be best advised to make a gradual transition from your current career to being a photographer, taking regular self critical "time out" sessions on the way. You need to decide what kind of work that you want to do in the long run, what you are good at now and work out a way of getting from 'A' to 'B'. The many branches of photography may start to narrow themselves down very quickly when you start to think about the kinds of work that you like by other people. if you have a good technicaal background then you might find work as a dogsbody, then assistant to a top photographer. This is a tried and tested route (and one that must sound very familiar to you) and inevitably leads to high end magazine and advertising work. Photographers like me don't have assistants, although I occasionally get students on work experience for a week or two.
Here we get a bit Uk specific, but the idea is pretty universal. London is the centre of most things photographic, although Manchester, Bristol and Glasgow all have big communities of photographers. The smaller towns have more "general practice" sorts of photographers who do weddings, portraits, press events and commercial work in even amounts to survive. Not a life I would fancy, but I have met those who love the variety and enjoy living in a small town.
Big decisions to make. The top 15-20% of photographers earn great livings, another 40-50% are comfortable and the rest quite frankly struggle. If I could give more specific advice I would, but until you decide which direction you want to go in then it's a little difficult for me to be more precise. While you are making your mind up, keep taking pictures and keep looking at how other people's pictures are being used. Keep samples of what you like and if you have got what it takes you should be able to work out which branch of photography you want to go into. I have been very lucky, and I hope that you are too.
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