Is this a good way to set up my own photography business realistically?

I dont want to rain on your parade, but have you taken into account all the thousands of other people your age that think the same? It takes a long time to get to take decent photos, and is not something you learn overnight or by just keeping your camera on 'Auto' setting. Your proposal sounds nice, but in the real world, things are a lot different. Browse the photography on the following site so that you can see what other 'hobby' photographers can achieve. Many, or should I say, the vast majority of whom do not make it big. http://www.redbubble.com/art/featured I wish you all the luck and hope you do make it.

Once you get seriously into the busnness side you will need a 'USP' - Unique Selling Point, and that may well be to do with presentation. Best of luck, but note that photography is an oversubscribed profession, so don't be disappointed if the business does not work as well as hoped. Your most important skills will be your 'people skills'.

Hey - I am a pro photographer with my own self - run business. IT IS possible to set up your own business without taking schooling but it takes more than a good camera to take great pictures. You will quickly form a reputation based on your shots so it is important to actually know what you are doing. I recommend taking some courses so you understand how to use an slr and get to know lights... you don't need to take full university for years, but AT LEAST a few college courses! Important! It's harder than it looks!!! Experience is great to add to this. Try asking your local, small newspaper for work... even volunteer to cover a few events for free and submit pics to them. It's how I got my foot in the door. They even use my website under each photo for credit. Best of luck!

How realistic your dream is depends on a combination of natural flair, desire and patience. Those attributes wont be tested properly until you have an slr and become comfortable with its functions. Only for that reason I would suggest that to some extent you keep your options open for now. As regards desire, if you find yourself motivated primarily by the desire to always improve your pictures that will help you where you want to go. As you start to get results with an slr it will become clearer the extent you wish to take it seriously and do a course etc. An interest in photoshop is pretty much essential as its such a powerful tool [especially for subtle modifications]. As regards patience.. never expect instant results. For instance regarding landscapes, after youve taken a shot of a very nice place but think you could do better its healthy to ask when should I return? Putting seasons, weather, tides etc etc into the equasion helps you to think like a photographer. For example I know that approx once a month at about 7am the moon hangs over St Patricks bridge here in Cork[fitting a compsition that I already like]. I may check the weather coming up to the time to evaluate the chances of a good photo. As regards candid photography I would suggest avoiding using camera flash unless neccessary. Using a high aperture portrait lens is preferential to most good photographers. As for me, Im 28 and have just started my own business after about four years messing around with cameras. I read books, took lots of pics and used to post some on ephotozine.com. I found the feedback from the more experienced photographers on the site invaluable to to this day. I would suggest you could start by doing something similar and seeing where it leads you. Good luck!

I'm going to quote one Mr Paphitis..."I'm out" For the same reason as Vieto has said, you need time to let your photography grow, it's not something you can pick up overnight, and while you've been sensible to leave time to develop, I worry it's not anywhere near enough to get you anywhere, particularly working on your own. If you go to university and study something you like, and spend three years developing photography as a serious hobby with the university photographic society and media groups (like the campus newspaper) you'll stand yourself in much better stead for the future, besides you'll also have a degree to fall back on.

Hey Whilst you are practising you could think about selling your images online at a Mirostock website I sell my photos online at a place called Dreamstime and Shutterstock they are a Microstock websites and sell millions of images. Anyone with a camera and the internet can sign up to sell their pictures - Need to be good quality pictures though!