As a photographer, I believe personal work is very important. Either you are just starting out or a professional making a living out of it, personal work play a vital role in both growth and for marketing as a photographer.
Something I have learned from my mentors is, personal work should be taken as seriously as a paid job. You never know when your personal work will pay more than your any paid work. I should say, I recently came across a similar incident.
A portrait I shot in Nepal which was my personal work was chosen as a winner of CG PRO Portrait Photography contest. I was amazed to find out my work won when I received a twitter notification. What a moment !
The winning shot took me around 10-15 minutes to shoot and 3-4 hours to edit. On the final image, I really wanted to show the innocence of the girl her love towards her pet chicken (How many of you here in the States have seen a live chicken?). It was all natural light shot, shot around 9 in the morning in a beautiful small village of Nepal called Matikuri.
Honestly, my paid work normally pays me dollar amount to make my living, but this personal work took my work to hundreds and thousands of other photographers and photography lovers nationwide which is just priceless.
How has your personal work paid off? Do share your story in the comment.