I spend a lot of time these days teaching photography. And at almost every workshop I teach, at least one person comes up to me and asks, "How can I turn photography into a career?" I always give them some suggestions, but I also ask them to think long and hard about whether they truly want to do that. They may find that photography's more rewarding as a hobby.

I got started in photography as one of many, many hobbies I tried as a kid. Stamp and coin collecting, astronomy, rock collecting, sewing, knitting (some truly bad work!) - you name it, I tried it. Then in my freshman year of high school I borrowed some money from my parents and bought a 35mm Ricoh SLR. My best friend bought an Exakta, and with some plastic reels, trays, cheap enlarger and chemicals, we turned his mom's laundry room into a darkroom. Seeing that first print come up in the developer, I knew I was hooked.

I could never draw or paint. But I could take pictures, and this gave me a way to be creative. I loved the ability to freeze a moment in time. And it was just technical enough - shutter speeds, aperture, ASA - to intrigue me without making me think too hard. And of course, it fulfilled my male need to pursue gadgets. I loved nothing more, at that time, than to wander the area around my home looking for interesting scenes to shoot.

Fast forward a few decades. In 2009 I'll have been a professional photographer for 30 years. I started my first full-time newspaper photography job in the spring of 1979. And the longer I did it as a job, the less I did it on my own. It became work, not play. Now don't get me wrong: I still enjoyed photography and often loved my job. But it turned into something I did for pay, not play. On my time off, even on vacations, the last thing I wanted to do was shoot pictures.

That changed when I left newspapers in 2000. As I did more and more teaching and consulting, and less photography, those times I did photography became more precious to me. I rediscovered the joy of going out to shoot pictures just for the sake of shooting pictures. To play with light and shape and moment for the fun of it, not trying to please a client or boss.

For the last ten days I've been on the road, teaching schools in San Diego, Seattle and Syracuse, NY. It's been a long trip with a lot of travel and little sleep. For twenty years I lived and worked in upstate New York (Rochester), so the last leg of the trip to Syracuse was in many ways a chance to go home again. While living there I came to love the Adirondacks, and it killed me that on this trip, I'd not have time to visit them. Or so I thought.

Thinking about this on Friday night, I realized I could. I'd be done with Saturday's school at 4:30 in the afternoon, which meant I could leave by 5pm. Old Forge, a beautiful small town in the southern Adirondacks, was only two-hours away. The weather was going to be beautiful, and I'd be getting there just in time for the last light of the day. If I was smart, I'd just head back to the hotel, have an early dinner and get to bed. Once I got this thought in my head, though, I couldn't pass it up.

So 7pm Saturday night found me driving into Old Forge. No editors to please, no assignments to do, just there to enjoy the evening and shoot pictures that pleased me. And with that freedom came the freedom to avoid carrying lots of gear. One camera, (Nikon D80) and one lens (18-200mm), shooting JPEG (why bother shooting RAW). Two 1GB SD cards. I'd just pull over at any scene I liked, snap some photos, and move on.

In the ninety minutes I was there, I shot a little over 200 frames. And had a blast. It was what got me into photography in the first place, the chance to explore with my eye and capture with my camera. Dinner was two slices of pizza and a milkshake while driving back, and I was exhausted. But happy.

And that's the last thing I tell anyone who wants to turn photography into a career. Yes, you can do it, and it can be fun and rewarding. But it will also be work, in a competitive field (everyone can shoot pictures, right?) and you have to approach it as a job and be good at marketing and selling yourself. In the end you may find photography to be more rewarding as a hobby.