I’ve noticed 4 key traits shared by all the assistants and students I’ve taught who’ve gone on to make a living with photography. In order of importance:
Ambition
Enthusiasm
Tenacity
Talent
Don’t get me wrong, talent is a great thing to have and without some talent it would be much more difficult if not impossible to succeed, but for some reason talent gets better PR than these other characteristics. Ambition, by far the most important indicator, can even be seen as off-putting but more on that later. Without exception, every ambitious student and assistant I’ve had has been successful in earning a living with some aspect of photography. However, I’ve known many talented photographers who lacked either ambition, enthusiasm or tenacity and gave up their dream and are now doing other things. (They may be perfectly happy doing other things, which is great, but they’re not working as photographers.) I’ve also known plenty of photographers who in the beginning were discouraged because they ostensibly didn’t have enough talent but they had ambition, enthusiasm and tenacity and have become very successful.
Instead of worrying whether you’re talented or not, consider - “How badly do I want this? How much joy does it bring me? How willing am I to persevere when things get difficult?” The problem with talent is you’ve got very little control over it, either you’ve got some or you don’t. No amount of effort will make you more talented. But you do have some control over how hard you work, how dedicated you are and how willing you are to endure obstacles.
A word about ambition… I think most photographers like working with ambitious, enthusiastic assistants but no one wants someone projecting an attitude of, “I could do this as well, if not better than you can.” I’ve only had a few of those and can now spot them a mile away. They may be accurate in their assessment but nobody wants to hear it.
So don’t rely too heavily on your talent - be glad you have it. Your ambition, in the long run, will be your most valuable asset.
Oh, and luck helps too.