I feel like I am being shot out of a cannon. The second and final year of my college photography degree has begun, and I feel overwhelmed by the business class (Photo 200). The first year of the program focused on learning technical skills for photography, and although I knew that the second year would weigh heavily on business and learning how to be a professional photographer, I did not expect to so immediately determine what my career in photography should be.

In fact at the time of writing this, I am late in turning in the completion of the foundational assignments on what the vision and brand for my new career as a photographer will be. I have to specify things like what kind of personal and professional life I want to live, what kind of assignments I want to take, what a typical work week would look like for me, and such. Honestly, I have been so broke in the last two years that I have given little thought to my ideal life and just wanted to have enough income to not be concerned with my current bills and expenses and to accumulate savings.

Now I have to imagine what kind of life I want to live, determine my niche, and build a brand in just days. Certainly, I am going to receive feedback on my vision statement, branding, and such, but the part that is hard for me is I entered this program knowing that I wanted to pursue photography as a career but was uncertain what I wanted my business focus to be. And now I need to know. Actually, I needed to know a few days ago.