Can I start a career in photography with a Kit DSLR?

I've had this kit for quite a while.

It's a Nikon d3000 along with a AF-S Nikkor 55-200mm and AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm VR. I've always been interested in Photography and now after spending a few years trying to find my niche in College I've decided on being a photographer. What type of Photographer is still up for debate however.

Though I'm finding it hard to make the effort to move forward. I don't want to enter college courses or attempt to get into freelance photography at a paper somewhere with gear that screams "Don't take me seriously!"

So do I need to invest in expensive gear to start down a photography career path, or am I exactly where I should be when it comes to gear?

Good lenses are more important than an expensive body. I don't know enough about Nikon lenses to comment on yours, except to say that kit lenses tend to be at the lower end of the scale.

Gentlemen, to quote an old sage "It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools"

The magic of photography is in the eye of the photographer not the equipment in his bag.

Develop a style that is appreciated and you will succeed.

Get out there and shoot shoot shoot… Create a web page show off your work and see what flies.

Look at it this way.

Is it possible to become a lead mechanic with a set of basic tools, but no training or experience?

If you don't go to school, how do you expect to do your job?

Here is how my career path started:

I was given a camera by my employer and asked to learn how to use it.

I read the instruction manual, cover to cover until I could adjust the exposure properly and focus, both very quickly… Until it became intuitive.

I was able to get the photos my employer needed with a minimum of wasted shots.

They sent me to a ten week school so I could refine my skills and learn how to use other equipment as well as learn special processes.

I worked for this employer for another two years and then moved to California to start a new career.

At this time I had NO camera of my own.

I was quite successful in my new career, but photography was calling.

I saved some money and bought a nice used 35 mm SLR with one lens and continued from where I had last been, photographically speaking.

I took one class in photography at the local community college and with the little portfolio I had assembled, approached a small local newspaper.

I was rejected. Why? I did not have the experience, nor the schooling they required of their staff photographers.

Dejected I put away my camera for almost six months.

The manager of a local camera store called me one evening and asked me where I had been (I used to drop in a couple of times a week to look at some of the new cameras and talk about the new films that were being introduced at the time).

I told him of my disenchantment with photography and he invited me to lunch the next day.

He had a friend with him and the guy just graduated from Brooks Institute of Photography and after hearing my tale of woe, suggested I at least visit Brooks and talk to them

I did.

Six months later, I became a poor student with a 4x5 inch view camera attending one of the top three photo schools in the nation (and only 30 miles from home)

With an education in photography, that allowed me to be able to use ANY camera, anywhere, under any conditions, I was now able to approach the public relations departments of large companies, newspapers or magazines and a few of them were willing to take me on as an assistant staff photographer.

About ten years later, I had honed my skills and accumulated a good camera system with lenses from extreme wide angle to super telephoto and was able to start shooting on assignment from time to time for AP and local newspapers, still keeping my day job with a large company.

There's NO substitute for a good education and a lot of experience, whether a photographer or mechanic. Any job that needs specialized tools and skills, usually involves 1) some kind of training and 2) a lot of experience working with journeyman pros.

Your plan presupposes that you own your gear to be a photographer. Being hired on a paper or magazine, allows you to use their equipment (some if it things you may never really need to buy like $10, 000 lenses, etc)

Take one step at a time and use your fine camera to hone your skills and in the mean time, find a job as an entry level assistant photographer and work from there.

If you have the skills and determination, you will soon find yourself getting the good assignments, but until then, pay attention and learn all you can on the job