How to be a photographer?

I want to buy a Nikon camera because I absolutely LOVE photography. I want to rent a booth @ the flea market so i can blow up pictures for home decor & such, but its nearly 150 $ to do so, & I don't want to risk losing money. I also don't want to spend 200+$ on a camera & then have no use for it. Any advice? If I can't sell my pics is there anything else I could use my camera for like hobby-wise? Or maybe I could sell more than just my art, maybe I could sell homemade dog treats as well or something.

After you buy the camera and lens, you need to learn the fundamentals of photography as well as the basics of composition and design.

Here is how you can learn how to compose your images

http://photoinf.com/General/Robert_Berdan/Composition_and_the_Elements_of_Visual_Design.htm

After you have those bases covered, then you need to do some market research and find out what it 1) costs to produce high quality images and framing them and 2) what such photos sell for at other art shows.

With those skills and that information, you will be able to decide if your business model will provide you with enough income to buy a better camera.

For the quality images you will find that sell in such a booth, you need to have at least an entry level dSLR and a few lenses, usually a super wide angle for landscapes and a macro lens for closeups of nature.

Your $200 budget will barely pay the tax on the equipment you need to follow your dream

Do the research by visiting art shows and talk to the photo artists. They will give you realistic insight into doing what you want

Before you can use the camera, Please read all instruction from starter guide.

So let me see if I understand correctly.

- You want to start a business selling prints of pictures you took.
- You don't own a camera.
- You have no understanding of the cost of running a small business.

This has fail written all over it.

Your cost for starting this business is going to be way higher than 400$ (camera + booth).
You'll need GOOD printing equipment (large format printer - 3000$, screen calibration 300$, frames)
You'll need a good camera.
You'll need business cards.
You might need to register your business.
You might need professional liability insurance (check with the flea market).
… So on, so forth…

On top of that no one is going to buy your images… No one. Even if you manage a couple of sales a day, you'll never recover your costs. Your images aren't going to be good enough for people to want to buy them and you are competing not only with proper galleries but places like Costco have gotten into the interior art prints market with a massive gallery of interesting art printed at their labs for next to nothing.

http://costco.pnimedia.com/album/gallery_selection_main.aspx

You can't compete on price and you aren't going to be skilled enough to compete on quality so you can't compete. You might be able to get a couple of impulse buys but for those couple of purchases to be profitable you'd need to charge an arm and a leg for the print.

THIS ISN'T GOING TO WORK.