I have recently noticed several advertisements of those that are “teaching” photography. At a school of photography as a guest speaker I was asked what my thoughts were regarding the whole “I can teach you photography” thing. Well here goes. I don’t subscribe to that concept for many reasons. One is how to stunt the growth of a new student by teaching them rules about what is and what isn’t right for a starter. Another is the often over used formulas that in most cases these “specialists” teach the naive student as gospel
I do however have no problem with a school that assists one in understanding technical issues or a school that deals with the historical and artistic aspects of photography. But a school that deals with issues such as cropping, lighting style etc…Well that’s where I put my foot down and say an unequivocal NO, Nein, Non.
I have had so many poor lost assistants whom I would rather not pinpoint specifically, that have no clue what so ever who they are. If they did come into a school of photography with the hopes of coming out an individual, well that notion was sucked out of them by the energy vampires. I’m not saying that all profs are frustrated unsuccessful photographers that couldn’t make it in their field. However from what I have seen and heard, one could not help but make that assumption.
I am saying that guest speakers, workshops and specialized subjects dealing with specific technical issues might be a reason to seek out advice or when a guest lecturer has come in to speak of his or her experiences, as I did at the Orleans School of Photography in France. Do your research. Read, experiment, take tons of photos inspire yourself and grow as a human. Build up your vocabulary in all disciplines and your life shall be richer as a result. It has been proven that the greater the vocabulary the richer ones life. Take a deep breath and do what comes naturally. If you get stuck creatively, take a short break. If you need some technical advice, just ask questions.
Nice Benji!
I am a teacher as well as a photographer and 99% of photography programs I have seen are a massive mess because they do not focus on the right material.
What you said above is the truth and what a lot of schools fail to realize. Schools focus WAY to much on the technical aspects of photography. Now speaking from the mindset of a high school teacher having a beginning photo class that teaches the basics as far as technique is great. However, as the students move on the ones who actually want to further pursue photography need to be getting a better sense of the business than just the technical aspects of taking a pictures. Students need to focus on other things like business, public relations, networking, social media, psychology, etc. All to often students are unprepared for what they will face in the real world when it comes to the photography industry.
You would know this better than me and I am sure you agree. I am a wedding shooter and 95% of my business has nothing to do with actually taking pictures. That is the easy part so to speak. Funny how when kids go through school the percentages are switched.
hardlyboring wrote:
Nice Benji!
I am a teacher as well as a photographer and 99% of photography programs I have seen are a massive mess because they do not focus on the right material.
What you said above is the truth and what a lot of schools fail to realize. Schools focus WAY to much on the technical aspects of photography. Now speaking from the mindset of a high school teacher having a beginning photo class that teaches the basics as far as technique is great. However, as the students move on the ones who actually want to further pursue photography need to be getting a better sense of the business than just the technical aspects of taking a pictures. Students need to focus on other things like business, public relations, networking, social media, psychology, etc. All to often students are unprepared for what they will face in the real world when it comes to the photography industry.
You would know this better than me and I am sure you agree. I am a wedding shooter and 95% of my business has nothing to do with actually taking pictures. That is the easy part so to speak. Funny how when kids go through school the percentages are switched. ...Show more →
That is exactly why I wrote this article and you are spot on when you state..."95% of my business has nothing to do with actually taking pictures."
Thank you for putting this out there, I learned the basics in high school then went through a whole bunch of trial and error & hanging around with other photographers... you can learn stuff from even "bad" ones...
I have always wondered what I had missed by not attending one of those schools..
When i took a photography class in high school and learned about everything from basic exposure to developing my own film and what not, the classes made sense... but now with digital, have someone spend an hour with you and show you how to use the camera and then experiment...
I do think shooting in black and white and having to make my own prints on an enlarger made me learn how to deal with exposure faster as i was exposing each image twice and also having to not let it sit in a solution too long. I think today that classes are useless since pretty much every person i know who tries taking them ends up coming to me asking for a crash course... and generally they come back a week later leaps and bounds better than they were after their paid course...
hardlyboring wrote:
Students need to focus on other things like business, public relations, networking, social media, psychology, etc. All to often students are unprepared for what they will face in the real world when it comes to the photography industry.
You can replace "photography" with any industry and this would mostly hold true. However, schools are typically designed to teach a trade and let people figure out the best way to approach their trade. This really isn't a bad thing.
No specific way of approaching a business is considered "right" or "appropriate" for all situations. Moreover, different sub-fields approach things like "public relations", "networking" and "social media" differently. Sports shooters aren't going to be concerned about the same things that portrait shooters or safari shooters are concerned about.
In the end, if a student really is studying photography in school with the intention of starting a business, then the student would benefit from more generic business classes and learning how to run a business in general. A photography business is the same as any other business when it comes to revenue, costs, etc.
Well, here's my experience...I just graduated with a BS in Media Design-Photography. While there were quite a few courses about how to usea camera and shoot pics, there were also requirements for business, communications law, marketing, portfolio creation, web design...
For the photography part itself there were various subjects/courses available beyond just the basics of composition, exposure and basic camera handling: studio lighting, location lighting, photojournalism, wildlife/nature... plus a couple of student selected topics and an internship with someone in the field. Most of the photography instructors were pro photographers that do still have active photo careers.
Now if I can just get the time to put this all to good use!
