Cards on the table though, I'm like many others in that I'm looking for something other than the 9-5 drudge. I used to really enjoy my work but the world has changed over the years and what used to be a great job doing practical stuff that 'mattered' with a great bunch of mates has transformed into a largely deskbound joyless solitary battle against bureaucracy. So the prospect of perhaps making an income from making films about what I enjoy doing has great appeal. I may never be able to leave my job to do it full time but the prospect of dropping to part time and doing more of what I enjoy is looking achievable in the near to mid term.
I certainly wouldn't want to suggest that folks shouldn't try to make videos for money, for all the reasons mentioned above - and there are probably some semi-conscious sour grapes on my part that so many people are now doing something I trained to do for cash - and from my perspective, not always doing it very well, mainly due to the easy availability of technology and social media giving them an easy platform. So I'm trying to be even-handed! My gripe really is the added 'danger' aspect that these videos purport to give access to - not least as it's true in many cases, but it usually doesn't help our cause or interest at all to advertise it as such - it's certainly not why I got into it. Danger's something to be managed, rather than embraced or monetised. And gravity's a bitch