I don't really know all the legal ins and outs, but you are the artist of the pictures you take and you own the copyright. I'm sure you can work as an employee

I don't really know all the legal ins and outs, but you are the artist of the pictures you take and you own the copyright. I'm sure you can work as an employee and you can always sell the copyright along with the work. It used to be back in the day that photos were taken on film, so photographers could retain the film and sell you prints or just give you the film so you could make whatever you wanted. I've mostly been out of the loop since those days, so I'm not sure what the conventions are like these days. The most interesting legal questions around this recently are regarding monkeys or other animals who take selfies, and whether they can own those works.