First a quick disclaimer. This post is not meant to be sensational, controversial or other wise. I am just sharing my experience as a photographer. 🙂 I am also NOT implying you do not need an education in any manner or that you don’t need to know your stuff! I am one that does believe that business should come last and you should really know what you are doing before you hang your shingle. 🙂 I am just suggesting there are other means of education or ways to learn! (And by saying business should come last I mean you should know your stuff including the non artsy more technical proficient end of photography before charging people and becoming “officially in business”)
When it comes to photography and pursuing it as a profession there is generally one big question. Do I need to go to school. Is school absolutely necessary if you plan to have a career in photography? Do you NEED some sort of accreditation or degree? Does having a degree REALLY make you a better photographer? In my opinion. In MOST cases…No. Should you go to school for photography? That is entirely and totally up to you. Some people feel its necessary to be taken seriously (and maybe it is with some people), or they feel that its a personal goal or something to be totally proud of (and it is!!) That is totally okay! Have I thought of going to school for photography at any point? Yes! Why? Because I thought it would feel good to have something like this under my own belt. I am one with a thirst for knowledge and photography pretty much consumes me. I want to learn and know everything I possibly can. I do feel that with photography you can never honestly know everything there is to know though. So do I need to go to school? In my opinion.. Nope. I am a firm believer in to each their own though. If YOU feel you need to go to school that is totally fine! I actually believe if you do go to school more power to you! I am not referring to workshops or things of that nature but a sturdy old fashioned college education. Now let me explain why I feel you do not NEED a college eduction. (And of course this pertains to general family portraiture etc. The kind of photography I specialize in.) I get a lot of questions of this sort from people starting out and I have even had some great conversations on sessions with my clients. I thought I would take a second to kind of shine some light on the subject.
You of course will learn all the essentials of taking a great photograph including things like Shutter Speed, Aperture, Iso and White Balance. (Assuming so anyhow as I haven’t actually been to school!) I am sure you will really learn the essentials of taking a great photograph. Will you learn the essentials of making a great photograph? In my opinion.. Most likely not. You see to me there is a huge difference in taking and making a photo. Making a photograph is something that can not be taught. It can not be explained, or described or learned from others. It must be self nurtured and learned through creative vision, and a “eye” for the things that are seemingly mundane to others. It comes from the soul. College can help to teach you components to be creative but it can not teach you how to see what others simply do not. YOUR vision, your style and your way of “making” photographs. Making Art.. As for the technical aspect with the digital age and access to the internet you will be absolutely amazed at what kind of knowledge is at your fingertips. I bought my first DSLR in 2007. I put it on Manual, stalked every photography forum and article on google till I was blue in the face and never gave into the norm or pressure to conform to any standard. I simply relied on my instincts and drive to be a better photographer. My goal when I take photos is not to take a nice snapshot. (All the time anyhow because those do certainly have their place especially as a mother or parent) I want substance and emotion behind them. I want you to be able to look at a session and feel connection, emotion and a story behind my images. I want to be able to deliver something to my clients that they will look back on in 10 years and go ahhh I remember when Mikey used to do… or Suzie used to love…. I want them to have beautiful, timeless and unique images that they can cherish of their children, of their family. I want images that sustain and memorialize what will not always be. Here is something to think on and what I believe is a bit of an example of what I am getting at.
I am a mother of four. Many of course know this but some do not. I guess being around such amazing little human beings has taught me a lot about connection, emotion, personality and imagination. I am inspired by it all. I am exposed to whimsy, doll play, bath times and silly stories on a constant basis. This I totally believe carries over to my photography not only in how I approach children but how I see children. These are things I know I wouldn’t learn in school. Its pure life experience. Its MY experiences. I take it to work with me each and every session I am on. It carries over in every step of my workflow from the session to the photo processing. My sweet husband has often referred to some of my work as a “fairytale style” lol! Bless his heart but in many rights he is being honest. That is totally what I see when I look through my lens! My methods, my style, my love for children and passion for photography is all self nurtured. Would a photography degree REALLY teach me any of these things? I honestly don’t believe so. I found for myself I started with the creativity and as I learned the technical end of photography that really blended and bled together to really establish something special to me, something special for me and hopefully something special for my clients!
I love people. I absolutely love the dynamics of family. I love the diversity of cultures, and I love how different one person is from the next. That inspires me. I love religion, I love nature. I love photography. There are SO many aspects to photography. SO much more then just taking a photograph. So I hope that when you are looking for your next photo session, or even if you are the individual behind the camera you will take a second to see beyond the obvious. Whether you have a degree, are working towards one, or simply have no plans to get one we are all connected. This is a personal business. An amazing, beautiful, special business. I think a perfect example is take a moment to browse various different professional blogs! You will find different processing, different posing, different colors, different subjects and locations, different angles, different clothing and styling, different props, different lighting. That is because Photography is subjective. Its extremely personal. Its extremely unique and one of the only businesses you can really specialize without NEEDING a college degree!
Now I do feel the need to say this much. You do NEED to know the basics and technical aspect of taking a photo. I stand behind that one hundred percent. But I do not believe that you need to go to college to learn this. I learned from trial and error (LOTS of error lol!) practice, amazing support from peers or other photographers (Photography forums especially!) and google! I also learned by trusting myself and my instincts. I learned the rules, then I learned to break them. Once you learn to break the rules properly you will never see things the same again.
And because I feel this post wouldn’t clearly make my point without at least a couple of photographs heres a couple of my favorites!
Now go out and take a lot of photos!!! Share your story, your journey your walk and learn to love and relish every second of it! These moments are a gift.. that we will never ever get back! Whether you are in the very beginning of you journey, or have hung your shingle for decades there are things in life we can only teach ourselves!
Thanks for letting me ramble!
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