Life changes and second doubts

So, I am in the midst of a life changing action, moving from one job to another. Along with this direction change, the usual introspection and doubts about what exactly am I getting myself into. I wonder about whether this disruption in my life was worth it.

In a financial sense, I have improved greatly with a significant raise and the tuition reimbursement benefit. Career-wise, I also seem to have stepped up to a higher level that comes with the new job. Yet, with all the obvious benefits in my job change, why do I feel like something has been lost? Why don't I feel any excitement in starting a new job?

It could be that with the blossoming of my lifelong hobby, photography, the grip of a new job doesn't hold a candle against the fun and challenge I am having shooting pictures of complete strangers. I find myself looking at the latest photography magazine trying to learn just a tidbit that might increase my skill set. I have worked long hours getting a set of pictures I shot to the point where I find them acceptable sometimes when my client liked the original. I will find excuses to stop what I am doing, just to work on the latest shoot that I've taken.

Recently, I read on one photography site that I frequent, that there is a set demarcation of five percent of one's income from photography as a good point to consider oneself a "professional" photographer. On a whim, I roughly calculated the amount of income I had earned in the past six months from doing just photography work. It amounted to twenty percent of my gross income during that period. I was blown away by that statistic. While I think that I have quite a bit to go before I accept that moniker, it has become apparent to me that I might have the potential to be good enough to be called a professional.

As an example, I did photo shoot recently, a sweet sixteen in upstate New York. I had a target of two hundred good and useful shots for the client. Out of the five hundred pictures I shot that afternoon, I ended up with over four hundred and thirty that met my requirements. With this many good pictures, I had to cull the pictures down to a more manageable number (some of the shots were duplicates in case someone moved). This was before I even tried to fix any photos that I thought were underexposed.

I was amazed that I had so few bad photos. Typically, I have about one third of the photos being no good because they were blurry from low lighting or fast movement as I shot the picture. Add to that, (I may have said this before) I have other photographers complementing me on the quality of photos that I am taking.

This head first dive into a new field (well, I've always had a hand in, but now I'm much more serious about it) that I have taken is the reason I can't wait to work on some new aspect of this "hobby". Yet, who knows, it could merely be another hobby that fizzles as the fun and challenge fades. This won't be the first hobby that I've exited after investing a huge amount of my time and energy learning.

I only have to look at the many different directions I have gone in and which I eventually decided that it wasn't for me. I've been theater stage hand, stage manager, assistant director, theater technical director, television broadcasting technician, video editor, audio visual installer, sound technician, audio engineer, lighting designer, roadie, computer repair specialist, system administrator, network administrator, computer scientist, customer support representative, salesman, carpenter, electrician, mechanic, air smith, and the list goes on and on. And soon, I will be an engineer.

If something has a manual, I can probably learn it. (Which is probably why I don't understand women? If only there were a manual... O:) So, with all this potential, I find it hard to be excited about this new job I am starting. Am I having second thoughts about this? Should I pursue this hobby? Do I hold to doing the work in the field I have worked so hard to get into?