HOBBY or FLYING COMMERCIALLY?
I live in a small town in Texas. My project is to gain as much experience as possible by going to friends and taking pictures of their homes or farms. I will work with local businesses to take photos and videos of their properties. I will be talking to the golf course manager to do fly by photography of the course and talking to the city manager to take photos of the water tower and other municipal points of interest. All of these shoots will be done using the commonly accepted safety guidelines. I may even place an ad in the community newspaper. I will charge NO FEE in any way. No donation or editing expense or anything like that. NO CHARGE. Of course, I can't accommodate anyone who comes along and wants aerial shots done, but I will pick and choose the projects that look interesting to me. I have a real job that pays the bills. What I receive is experience and pictures to post on my website, and what they receive is a flash drive with several nice photos and videos to do whatever they want with. I have no 333, no pilots license, and no insurance. My associates will know this. Corporations and large facilities won't be interested, but the used car business next door really liked the canvas print I made of his property. Again, NO CHARGE in any way.
Am I a HOBBYIST or operating COMMERCIALLY (subject to 333 exemption and pilots license rules)?