Are u a photographer thats frustrated with the lack of job options?

I dont like kids & dont want to work in a walmart or sears portrait studio the rest of my life barely making over minimum wage. I do not want to be a wedding photographer either. And i dont want to work for minimum wage in a Wolf camera selling cameras.

I want to take pictures of what I like & be making a decent living. I went to art college for 2 years, took some photography classes & got my associates degree. I have been taking pictures of anything & everything for years. I like taking pics of automobiles, landscapes, sunsets, wildlife, flowers, etc....

And thats not enuff experience. Seems like everyone wants at least a 4 year Bachelors degree. I dont have the money for anymore college. Theres no hope. I'll never get a photography job, therefore i'll never really enjoy my job. And careerbuilder, monster, hotjobs, groove, indeed, jobkabob, etc are no help whatsoever.

ive worked at the bottom already. My first job I only got less than $200 a paycheck. My lowest paying job was at walmart for $6.20 hr. Now after my raise i will be making about $12.50 hr, maybe a little more...at my current job. I do not want to go back to walmart or a retail store, been there done that (walmart, lowes, & jo Anns). Gettng barely over minimum pay, barely able to make a living & all the crap u gotta put up with, no thanks.

First, you need to zero in on what you DO like, instead of all that you don't. Something you'll enjoy that will pay the bills while to gain knowledge in your hobby work.Then you can learn what you need to do to gain that position. Perhaps police photography, food,text books, in house for a large company, catalog,etc. Look at the WHOLE field, then hone in.

If you are truly that gifted and talanted a photographer, you should have no problems selling your work on sites like DeviantArt, or others.

If you don't like kids or weddings, you are just about going to have to just do freelance spec. stock photo work.

I guess you don't want to invest a couple thousand dollars into lenses and equipment either, that would enable you to do some action sports photography.

As far as Sears and Walmart go, hey, you HAVE to start somewhere! As an intern, apprentice, or whatever, OR, get more education, or BOTH! Continue to build a quality porfolio as you go along.

Sorry kid, but I don't think anyone offferd Ansel Adams $100,000 to start before he had a portflio, or any experience.

You placed limits on your options. By eliminating portrait and wedding photography you eliminated 90 percent of the jobs. Then, with no professional experience, expect to compete for the most competitive jobs in the market. If you want in product (autos) or nature you can have an impressive degree and a good portfolio or a kickass portfolio, either can get you an assistant's job. If the portfolio you have isn't working you need more knowledge - that can come from school or practical application of what you know.
Forget the job searches. Do what you are best at and take it to the people who hire for that job. It takes work to get what you want, some of which you may not like.

This site has 100s of photography jobs world wide (all the jobs ain't dream jobs but it is a good place to start looking)
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/selli...
You need to start shooting stuff you like like crazy to excel in a direction you want to go and to keep you out of wall mart but to make it in photography you may have to do the odd wedding, kiddie sit-in or football match, look at the magazines you are interested and the stuff you like to shoot and your interests or hobby's. Tie it together and market your self freelance. You may have to do the Wall Mart thing till you get up and running, think big and start today
the site has a great SAFE community with lots of help for people looking for work in photography and people starting out in freelance
Good Luck

"There's no hope. I'll never get a photography job."

With a completely defeatist attitude like yours you may as sell your photography equipment and apply at McDonald's. If working in a Wal-Mart photography studio is "beneath" you then where do you plan to start? At the top?

I know of only one job where you start at the top - digging a hole. All other jobs/careers require starting at the bottom.

Have you tried selling your photography as stock? It sounds like the style you have would apply well for stock photography. Here are some sites that can get you started: http://istophoto.googlepages.com/

While the price per image may seem like a turn off, in reality if you upload lots of images you will make a decent amount of money each month from the collective sale of many photographs.

You have to start somewhere buddy. working in a camera store will give opportunities to meet professional photographers in the form of customers which could lead to contacts for assisting gigs. You can learn a lot and potentially get paid assisting.
Invest in your education.Student loans will motivate anyone to find work and you will have the relative skills for your field.
Working at Walmart may not be glamorous but it teach you customer service which you need and is better than nothing on a resume.
Weddings are a lot of work but pay well and as a business
will never dry up.
So stop being negative figure out what you most like to photograph, make some goals and start working towards them.
Thousands of people graduate from photo schools
every year and thats what you are competing with. You have to stand out somehow. Nothing come for free thats really worth having.

Maybe you should get your head screwed on right. Your value as a working photographer is only what you do for other people and they may want you to do things you don't like - like get up early in the morning. They may want you to photograph things you don't like, in ways that you don't like, to be used for a purpose that you don't care about. They may not like you, you may not like them and you both may really dislike each other. IT COMES WITH THE TERRITORY.

Ansel Adams hated commercial photography, but guess what? Yep, that's how he supported his art. Almost 95% of what he did was commercial photography.

Sit down, work out specifically what you really want to be doing, what the compromises are and then formulate a plan. Come back here, say 'Here's my plan, how can I make it work?' and see what you get. At the moment, you're just whining.