Commissions.
I've finished the second photographic commission I've ever undertaken, this one the graduation photographs of a coworker's daughter. I rarely pursure portraiture--I don't like the staged artificiality of most portraits I've seen, and it's simply more my nature to coax the personality out of a place or moment than to attempt to draw that mood out of a human being. There are too many cultural imperatives to act or perform in front of a camera, and it's ultimately quite disappointing to attempt a portrait that cuts through the subject's impulse to hide, to withdraw.
I'm not entirely sure I hit a genuine note with the photographs I took that weekend, but for graduation pieces they seem to work pretty well. I got the thumbs-up from the subject, which is always good, and from her mother (who pays the bills), and that's even better. What's more is the interest this job has generated among my other coworkers. I've already received three requests for estimates and price lists.
Perhaps this "side business" thing really will take off.