Career in photography

[equisage]

Thanks to everyone for all the advice, I think I have a better idea of how to go about getting the information I need.

I'm not entirely committed yet, no. But I can't panic too much about that, since most freshmen in college have no idea what they want either. Right now photography is a hobby of mine, and I am pretty much unknowledgeable in it... That's why I'm taking courses at a community college this coming semester, to kind of get my feet wet and see if its something I want to pursue. Also I want to kind of judge and see how much I don't know. I've also been in contact with a few of my friends who are or were in the business.

I've considered the fact that I don't necessarily need to get a college degree to be in this field, but whether I choose this field or anything else I want to go to college because I've been home schooled my entire life.

Perhaps instead of looking for art technical schools w/ photography programs, I should be looking for more of a liberal arts college where I can study business and/or management, and get an internship in photography? I don't want to waste money on an education I don't really need, but I truly do want to experience college.

If any of you could do over the way you went about getting started in a career in photography, what would you do?

 

[camz]

If any of you could do over the way you went about getting started in a career in photography, what would you do?

I actually started photography as a hobby when I was ten thanks to my dad who gave me his pentax SLR. He had upgraded to a Nikon(Boo!LOL) at the time so he was kind enough to let me have it and let me shoot along side with him. So I feel fortunate that I got started at young age and thanks to pops who was an above average amatuer for showing me the ropes as I continued to shoot throughout high school. I then discovered the field of Electronics which I chose to pursue for my undergrad and fell in love with it from the get go which currently remains to be my primary career.

As of now I shoot gigs on the weekends and edit pictures during the week nights but I sure wouldn't mind doing this full time. I think it's great and find it more satisfying then what I'm currently doing(though I still love electronics). Besides my pops showing me, I am pretty much self thought in photography. I agree with cloudwalker, it's one of those things that for me I had to do in order to learn. My learning curve doesn't work with theory but hands on training. I've never interned or assisted for a professional, just went balls out and learned from my mistakes throughout(not recommended)

So to answer your question of how I would've pursued it otherwise..I think I would've been better off shadowing/assisting for a pro. That would've saved me alot of grief. It's just unfortunate that I didn't have the time b/c of my job but that's what I would've done. There's nothing like getting some industry experience and getting paid for it at the same time like cloudwalker mentioned. You stated that you were homeschooled so it might be ideal for you to start off this way since you're accustomed to a smaller teacher to student ratio. The flipside is you might also find the classroom learning as a great experience.

Either way get get a mentor who knows the ropes and pick their brains. There's just too many things to learn in the business to go about doing it on your own I think. Starting off with a mentor will also help you descide if this is for you which the classroom environment fails upon.