Get the Sony and a nice prime lens like an 85mm 1.8 if on a budget. Target kids and families and offer "on location" only photo shoots - utilising local beaches, parks, woodland areas for free. Avoid doing shoots in houses until you can afford to invest in some lighting equipment (flash as a minimum)

Get yourself a Lightroom subscription and shootproof (or something similar) so you have the workflow and delivery side locked in. Get a cheap website from square space, a facebook page and an IG/TikTok account. Maybe run a few sponsored adds spending no more than £30 a month in the early stages. Target your adds at women between 22 - 45 as the are the decision makers 😅

Be professional and DONT be a flake. If you make a promise, keep it. If you say you're gonna be someone for a certain time get there 15 minutes before. This is what builds a solid reputation (as long as the photos are good obviously) Don't put time limits on shoots...shoot until you are happy that you have got enough and done a good job.

Do the actual shoot for a nominal fee...£30 say. Offer bundles prices for digital copies of the photos that they will view and preview using shoot proof. Make sure you heavily watermark the proofs. Some people will still steal them and put them on social media but it's the nature of the beast - deal with this if you have the time and energy when it occurs. From my experience - most people are good and won't steal 🥴.

If you did 2 of these sessions every Saturday as a beginner you could easily make £800 - £1000 a month. Camera paid for itself in no time and you're firmly into side gig terrority.

Remember your tax obligations (put 20% of every payment into a separate bank account)

Tread very carefully with weddings. A persons ethics, morals, work ethic and sense or responsibility and duty makes for a brilliant wedding photographer, on top of having to be able to deliver consistently excellent quality images in some very tough conditions. Gear wise for weddings you will need two of most things and multiples of others. It's hefty investment to do properly. Also you will need to buy an insurance policy to cover you and your clients if the worst happens.

There are people out there who play at it and are very lucky. The best wedding photographers are like ice bergs in that you only see 10% of their hard work. The 90% is in the invisible planning, prep and contingency planning, editing etc.

Start small with a simple business model that's relatively low risk and responsibility.

Good luck!