The move from skilled hobbyist to working professional starts with a decision most photographers avoid too long: choosing who, specifically, you're for.
"I shoot everything" is a weak position — a generalist competes against specialists in every category, and specialists usually win, because a client hiring for a wedding wants someone visibly a wedding photographer, not an occasional one.
A sustainable niche sits at the intersection of three things: what you're genuinely good at, what you enjoy enough to do repeatedly, and what there's actual paying demand for. Miss any one and something breaks — skill without demand doesn't pay bills, demand without interest leads to burnout, interest without skill isn't yet a business.
Within a broad category, a specific sub-niche ("elopements in national parks," "corporate headshots for tech startups") often faces far less competition while commanding stronger word-of-mouth. And positioning isn't permanent — many photographers shift focus over years as they discover what actually sustains them. The goal early on is committing clearly enough to test it seriously, not finding a permanent identity on day one.