What to do with photography at 14

[JohnMF]

maybe join flickr or deviantart or something like that?

 

[skieur]

I started at 11. Join your local camera club. It will be mostly older adults but you will learn a lot and it will expand your opportunities for taking pictures. Get involved as a photographer for your school year book or get permission to take pictures of school events. As an elementary student I was given a bulletin board near the office and was permitted to use the school printer to print out photos of students in school activities. As your work improves, jobs will literally come to you, for example the principal needed a corporate head shot, trustees wanted a group photo, parents wanted to buy shots of their children in sports etc.

skieur

 

[Brieff]

hmm.. Just keep practising. I'm 15 now and I've photographed for quite a few years.... And believe me, it really takes time to learn to take brilliant shots... I take photos maybe once a week nowdays and read about the subject almost daily. I have my paid account in Flickr and it's surprisingly hard to get great comments from there XD Maybe my stuff just isn't so good or something... But my family and friends keep me going and I would SO want to make living with it..

I'm hopefully moving to England (currently living in Finland..) new autumn to study Art and Design to get new aspects to my photography.. After completing the course in England.. I will come back to Finland to study the commercial side.. .. all this if they take me in the school.. It takes TOO MUCK TIME TO GET THE ANSWER.. ;D I'm so nervous..

I also took part in few competitions and won 2 of them.. Miracles happen, so to say..

But my tip is to just keep on learning new things and travel around. Shoot something different from your current interest and read about the subject. And try to REALLY unferstand your camera

 

[lakers808]

WOW.. i wish i started photography at that age .. if i did i wouldve been way better than now ... you can actuallly start photography by pratcing and take it one step at a time ... who knows maybe you love photography and u dont know it .. i thnk your just not ready for photography .. but im sure you will do good..

 

[Sam6644]

So, I'm 14 years old. There's really nothing I can do with photography at my age.

WRONG.
My first real job was assisting a videographer. I just turned 15then. It was later that I switched to photo side of the industry. Look around, maybe video/photographer looking for an assistant.

I agree with this.


Also, I'd suggest getting yourself a flickr account. That's a great way to share photos and get feedback on stuff. It's a great community to take advantage of, and its extremely cheap ($25/year is practically free for what you get.)

 

[Rekd]

I'd have to pile on with everyone else. You've got an advantage over most people in that you've got a head start. You've got a ways to go, but it seems you've got a good eye for it. Keep at it and you could make good money doing something you love. That's not always an easy thing to do.

I've got a 7 year old that loves taking pictures. We got him his own P/S for his b-day and he loves it. I hope he stays interested in it until he gets to a point where he can actually do something with it. I would imagine at your age you could easily find something to do with it, especially at your school or even at your local paper.

For now, keep posting here and get as much C&C from the masters here as you can. There are a lot of very good and honest people here that would be more than happy to help you.

Honestly, I think your biggest problem will be with handling criticism of your work. You've already shown it in your reply to bigtwinky, but I was very pleased that you came back the next day and took it for what it was. If you don't get good, honest evaluations by professionals and put them to work for you, you will never, ever, get good enough to make a career out of it.

Like I said, keep posting here and getting feedback, you'll only get better for it!

 

[gsgary]

Get some of your best shots printed, go to the Principle at your school and show him and ask if you could hang then in one of the corridors and have your own exhibition

 

[george elsasser]

While your in this limbo stage just make images for yourself, have fun break the rules. Photography is not only about income it is also a wonderful vehicle for personal expression.

On the other hand it also seems there are a lot of technical things needed to be learned as well as craft and artistic things. A great book that I learned the most from was not a technical book at all but a picture book: Looking at Photographs, John Szarkowski. He was was one of the finest writers on photography period. It was my college text book in my second photo course. Study it. learn about things that give certain images power.

For basic technical stuff there was a book by Barbara and John Upton just called Photography (it was adapted from the Life Library of Photography series). This was a wonderful book I had for my 1st college photo class. I am sure there is a similar if not updated version of this book that includes digital information also.

Find the photographers you like in "Looking at Photographs" and then do further study on them. Really good photography is not easy it takes a ton of work, the only reason I am willing to work so hard at it is because I love it. Begin your study now and if it does not give you a thrill you have investigated 1 of many things in life that one can be passionate about.

After almost 33 yrs I am still learning and I have only been learning what has been applicable to my work. I will always be a student.

Remember there are many different avenues in photography; weddings, journalism, fashion, advertising, institutional, portrait, personal, medical, crime, sports, food, travel, studio work and stock to name a few. Most photographers usually do one of these or maybe 2 well.

If all this is just work you do not want to do at this time - by all means find something to photograph that will keep you going if it gives you a charge remember photography is hard so when we get stuck we need to look deeply and get to work. Take what you can use from all the suggestions above and check here for my reply and at the very least get back to making pictures: http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...w-do-you-cope-winter-photography-blues-2.html

I usually spend tons of time studying and looking at my pictures even more so than I do taking them because they have so much to teach me before I go out to make more.
So if I shoot for 2 hours I may very well study them for at least that.

Keep it fun if you love it you will do the necessary work to always be improving your pictures, so much of photography is about looking, really looking at things. I am still learning how to see and even newer ways of seeing.