What if there's no one to teach you photography? What if you don't have the necessary capital to start up your studio in addition to all of the other expenses that come with being a freelance photographer?

Many photographers find themselves at this point in their careers. It usually goes like this: apprentice, photography assistant, assistant to the photography studio owner.

If you're lucky enough to find someone willing to teach you photography or a master photographer who hires you for an apprenticeship, that's the best way to learn.

You have someone there guiding you every step of the way and answering any questions you might have. But many times this is not the case and you need to have some sort of self-teaching to learn.

If you do not succeed in learning photography through the apprenticeship route, it's possible that there is no one around who knows how to freelance and teach you at the same time. If this is the case, reading books and watching YouTube videos are your best bets for getting it right.

Learning as you go will give you the best education if there is no one to teach you photography, but isn't the most convenient way because it takes too long and costs money. So if you're learning on your own, make sure that you have a decent amount of (preferably more than enough) time and a fair amount of money to spend on your education.

It's also important that you have some goal for learning photography: what photography skills do you want to learn? If you don't have a clear goal, your learning will be unfocused and random. It may take a bit longer than necessary at first, but try to get it straight in your head before you get started.

If you're thinking about freelancing, which is a pretty important topic if you want to become a freelance photographer or just make some extra cash on the side by freelancing (which isn't bad at all), it's best that you focus on learning and doing photography for the money than on your skills.

Freelancing requires a specific set of skills and knowledge (and a bit of luck as well) in order to make any money at all, so try to focus on that before you start freelancing.

Learning photography for photography is a good idea too, but it's much more rewarding when paired with paying clients because then your hard work will be of true value to someone else.

There are plenty of freelancing resources like this one, but they're not very specific or detailed when it comes to the photography-for-money aspect of things.

The best advice I can give you when it comes to becoming a photographer is to focus on learning how to work for clients and figuring out who your target market is and then using your marketing skills (which can be learned) to get more clients and make the money you've always wanted.

If you want to know how to start photography freelancing, I recommend that you concentrate on learning the business side of things first and leave the crazy photo editing wizards for later because it's hard enough figuring out which types of photography projects to take on in the first place.

Learning how to work for clients will set you up for success on your freelancing journey, even if it means doing some other unrelated photography project that doesn't pay much (like local sports events) at first.

You don't need a ton of money to get started with customer service and relationship marketing, but you do to succeed with it more than anything.

If you can get some good experience in customer service and relationship marketing, then you can start reaching out to photography studios and other photographers in your town or city for work. It's best if you have a portfolio of your own work that is relevant to the type of photography project you're applying for, but even with no portfolio, you should be able to find small projects and learn from those before moving on to the big stuff.

Freelancing is never easy, so make sure you have a nice, long learning curve when it comes to figuring out how to start photography freelancing.

It also takes some luck, but it's most likely not anything more than you're already dealing with in your regular job.

I hear that it's good to work as a photography assistant for someone who knows what they're doing because of the learning experience and networking potential, but I'm not sure that it's worth losing out on some extra money that you could otherwise make by freelancing yourself. 

Start learning how to become a freelancer by learning everything you can about photography, customer service, and relationship marketing.

Get some experience with those things and then start networking around your town or city to find some work. It's not at all easy to become successful as a freelance photographer, but it is possible if you're willing to put in the time and effort.

If you want to be a freelance photographer, then put everything you have into learning every aspect of photography that you can and then figure out how to become a freelancer.

You'll need to learn customer service skills too or else no one will take you seriously as a photographer.

Start grinding and good luck!