I passed along your info to someone who might bite
I hope it works out for you either way.

--
" Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art."

- Leonardo da Vinci

*giddy* Let me recast with fresh bait just to make sure. *threads a grub*

--
Kill me again...

Hello.
I used to work in photo-journalism, but I don't know how much help I will be, as I was free-lance. My impression of it as a full-time job is that it's not too good.
Newspapers are losing circulation, so there are a lot of journalists looking for work, thus the competition is pretty stiff, and the pay is low. Working conditions are pretty bad, unless you like photographing ugly people at boring events. All of whom are "good friends with your editor, so you'd better make me look good". Personally, I wouldn't touch it as a career.
I made it okay part time, mostly covering law enforcement, for two reasons:
1) My day job had a very flexible schedule, so I could grab my cameras and go, 24-7.
2) The cops trusted me- they knew I wouldn't do anything to embarrass them.

If you decide to go free-lance, pick a field and practice, practice. Make sure you have a well-paying job that lets you cover whatever you want to cover when it happens (day job=school sports, night job=flower shows)

If you decide to cover law enforcement, good luck. Stranger+camera=sumbitch+ratfink in the minds of cops.

I was lucky. I happened on an armed robbery, the cops saw me and didn't like it, but oh well. I went home, developed the film, took the negs and a set of prints to the supervisor and let him look to see if there was anything he needed, or anything he didn't want in the paper. Like the one photo of a cop picking his nose. Shocked the hell out of him. Sold two to the paper, (no nosepicking, per request) think I got around $30.00...in 1977. A few nights later, I got a phone call from a cop- "We've got a bust going down at 2am, you in?" After they learned they could trust me, I was in for keeps. The hardest decision came with a shootout, in which I caught a young cop dying- you could see the blood and brains spraying out of the back of his head as the bullet passed through. Million dollar shot. Pulitzer prize, for sure. The cop had a family, the chief asked me to give him the negative rather than let the wife and kids see it in the paper. I did. It was the right decision, after that I was golden. Go anywhere, photograph anything.

Anyway, my point is, do what you enjoy and sell it. Make sure that your subjects, whoever they are, know that you won't hurt or embarrass them and you'll get farther. And most of all, remember this, whatever you do:

Integrity will serve you better in life than a fat paycheck.
Always have a camera within reach.
And extra media and batteries.
And a voice recorder for notes. No, you WON'T remember.
Spare underwear is nice to have, too. Trust me on this.
A mag-light.

--
I was the type of kid my parents didn't want me playing with...[link]

Wow, you packed a lot of info in there. Thanks very much. I'll just reply to the parts sticking me in the face most. :-D One, I would've kept the negative, but not done anything with it...I mean, you're right about it being priceless, and it's quite entrenching to the soul at the same time. I'd keep it locked away. About the kind of work...I'd love to be a National Geographic photographer, but I can't imagine how hard that'd be to get. You're totally right - I don't want to go take pictures of local festivals with kids jumping in leaves. I see things like that on the front page all the time and I ask, "Why?"

I highly doubt that, if I have a job doing anything code-wise, I'll have much time at all to be doing anything with photography. So I'd have to do both part-time. :-\ Code specialised programs in my bedroom and go out to take pictures whenever I feel like it. :-P Due to the time it takes to code a finished product, and the difficulty in snapping a photograph that will get you money, I'd be dirt-poor! That doesn't sound very appetising. *ponder*

--
Kill me again...