Despite having a degree in Electronics and having extensive training in programming, I decided to scrap all that and pay for my Architecture studies as a photographer.
Weddings or whatever kind of receptions, portraits, and product photography are amongst the things I do. Corporate receptions are potentially the most interesting because I often get promotional swag. Electronics vendors are the most fun. I've been given pretty much anything, from flash drives to complete audio interfaces I have no use for. Should have sold the stuff while it was current.
I started out by helping a friend of my mum with his work shooting wedding videos, running cables and setting up lights. He preferred to sit aside and look after the booze, so eventually I wound up doing all the work. I liked it. His photographers often ended up with him, and since I didn't mind because I always liked photography, I also ended up taking the photos too. I never took a photography course, this is how I learned everything. The hard way, probably. But it helped me see the business side of it.
I'm glad I'm going to be an Architect, though. I love photography, but people are cheap. Especially lately, with all the smartphones and tablets and facebooks and twitters, a photographer's work is underappreciated, so most people think of it as unnecessarily expensive. I consider my prices average for the quality of the work I'm offering, but most people still try to haggle down to 20-30% of my rates. I end up refusing jobs and they end up with crap photos taken by some nephew that just got a 1100D.
I wonder if people do the same with buildings.