is school realy worth it?

[among_the_living]

I was told by a local photography agency, or, i think its one guys company he does most of it himself that theres "no such thing as an apprentichip in photography" and my heart sunk as im 17 and dont go to college and i really love photography and want a career in it.

I though tthat the only way to get into i tthen would be an assistant.

 

[Willc73]

Well, an assistant is an apprentice. Assisting is where you really learn. I assisted one person for 5 years after art school and that is where I learned how to do business and to work on my skills for that type of photography. Most photographers are very open to letting assistants use the studio in the off time.

 

[jstuedle]

I know I already answered this thread earlier. But one thing not mentioned until Bill breezed by it, business basics. I went to school 35 years ago, the big thing missing was managing a business. If you don't understand basic economics, learn it. I have seen to many who open a studio and price themselves out of business. To be a photographer, and not be on the staff somewhere means you are an independent operator. And as such your business will live or die based on every decision you make every day. You will hire and fire, it better be the right personalities and skills you decide on. You will be the janitor, clerk, bookkeeper, boss, gopher, photographer and many times basic slave labor. Be prepared to wear many hats, and learn business management before you open up shop. It will save a lot of grief.

 

[panzershreck]

I know I already answered this thread earlier. But one thing not mentioned until Bill breezed by it, business basics. I went to school 35 years ago, the big thing missing was managing a business. If you don't understand basic economics, learn it. I have seen to many who open a studio and price themselves out of business. To be a photographer, and not be on the staff somewhere means you are an independent operator. And as such your business will live or die based on every decision you make every day. You will hire and fire, it better be the right personalities and skills you decide on. You will be the janitor, clerk, bookkeeper, boss, gopher, photographer and many times basic slave labor. Be prepared to wear many hats, and learn business management before you open up shop. It will save a lot of grief.

so true

my father had a similar situation that virtually all artists/designers have - their respective markets are so small, it's difficult to make ends meet and get jobs at the same time... so since he got out of college in the 70's, he's had to learn business/economics from scratch, and over the course of 30 years went from slave labor, to architect, to managing departments and consulting in various companies (few of which are still around), and now he runs and owns his own company which develops properties (he's now both developer and architect, good combination)

*but* it took him 30 years and he had to learn from scratch, he's also made a lot of mistakes, leading to bad business at various times, hence now he constantly asks me to take business courses now that i'm in college

the end result? out of the 600 who went to architecture school, only 30 graduated... out of the 30, only my father and maybe 1 or 2 others are still in architecture (according to a decade ago)

better to learn how to drive now than when you're at the grand prix

(the ironic thing of course, is that by going independent, you can very easily bypass what got you into your field in the first place... my dad talks to people and does spreadsheets all day, and drives to places every week, but only gets a few chances a month (if at all) to do what he loves - designing/drawing architecture, and says he'd much rather be doing that all day than making phone calls, doing spreadsheets - but drawing itself doesn't bring in money)

 

[will turner]

thanks for all the advise, i have spoke to one of my teachers aswell and they said stick at it untill you find some full time work, then go for it because thats where you realy learn. i have found a full time assisting job close to me in a studio in london, i emailed them and should hopefully hear back from them after the weekend, but im still not sure weather to quit collage. im not realy learning anything at collage and theres is no buisness course avaliable and like jstuedle said, thats what i need to learn.
i would love to quit collage and start assisting but something is telling me i will regret quiting collage, i want to be 100% sure before i do.