Should You Go To College To Become A Photographer? This question get’s asked a lot these days and there is a debate as to what the correct answer is.
Allie asked this question so I decided to make a video with my thoughts. In my mind there are a few different schools of thoughts for this question. Either go to the largest four year school possible and take classes in not just photography or skip school all together.
If you decide to go to a four year school I would not take just photography. I would focus on business, marketing, branding, advertising along with photography, video, audio, editing and anything that will make you a better creator.
If you decide to skip school altogether I would look for a business you are passionate about and see if you can get someone to take you under there wing even if it means working for nothing. Keep in mind, if you don’t go to school you are saving tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. The idea would be to learn in the real world as much as possible as real world experience in my opinion means a lot more than getting a grade.
The truth of the matter is you don’t need to go to school to become a photographer. There are a ton of ways to learn including my free videos and my guides. The choice is yours of course and there is something to say for the experience of going to a four year school though I never actually got to live that life myself.
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sorry, i went through job placement programs, they don't place you shit, they pretty much say, here's your certification, here's a job site, good luck
I say go into porn to make money and enjoy photography on the side. That is if you’re hot, of course. Your parents should be supportive.
every time i hear that intro i die alittle inside
Agreed.
Do not go to college to be a photographer. Don't go to college for most trades but definitely not photo. I have a AAS & BFA in photography from FIT and even with all those connections and getting 4 years to shoot a portfolio I think maybe 2 of the 14 kids in my graduating class actually work as a photographer.
Everything I learned was completely outdated by the time I graduated because tech changes so quickly these days. It's true that most photo students don't actually do photo. Maybe 5 of us worked at a photo studio and assisted for a few years before giving up.
It is also true that you need to go to a well-known school but I would say you need to go to a well-known art school because the only reason I ever even got interviews with certain photographers and studios was because I was coming from FIT. Also you need the four years to create a book before you graduate and not be wasting time taking English Lit or 19th-century American History.
If I could do it again I would have done things very differently and taken it much more seriously than I did when I was doing it. If you want a job or take money in the photo industry you should mainly focus on digital tech. All the jobs are for digital techs and retouchers. I mean unless you want to be a wedding photographer or do Christmas photos.
I live less than 15 minutes from one of the best photography programs in the US … It's almost stupid of me to not go, but they only offer a full day degree… I can only do night/online because I work full time… They do offer a few outsourced online classes which have really helped and having a certificate on the wall that says "RCC", really does help me with locals.
I think this was great advice, not just for photographers, but in any field of study.
So..
1. Going to a photography college, won't guarantee a career (of course)
2. If you go to school, go to one that's popular and has courses that take lots of time to finish, so you can get experience
3. Make connections
4. Don't just expect your school to provide the skills. Practice on your own.
5. You don't gotta go to school. Get an internship in a job, so they can teach you (plus real world experience), or gather some money to buy gear and teach youself.
if you switch from a hobby to a professional photographer you will need a new hobby 🙂
I went to college for filmmaking and ended up dropping out as I ended up learning more on youtube and through NoFilmSchool.com, the only good thing that came out of film school was getting some on set experience. Now a days I'm doing photography nearly daily and learned how to properly use my camera (5D Mark II) while just taking photo's, basically just go and shoot and learn with experience rather than just go to school.
So basically you can’t make a career with what you want it to be but what society needs
Some of the best life advice I have seen on YouTube right here. I went to college twice, separated by 30 years. I failed on the first attempt for numerous reasons. Everything Fro mentions here is solid advice, building networks and contacts, molding yourself for what is available and paying, learning more than just your intended goal but tie into it. Having skills and knowledge that employers are seeking cannot be overstated. Being one dimensional in a field that is heavily over saturated will pretty much guarantee failure as mentioned in Fro's video. Whether or not you go to school or learn on your own will be determined by how much of a self starter you are, this is where a person must be brutally honest with themselves. Can you self start and learn what you need or do you need a course handed to you each day. Most of all, do not give up, even if it takes 30 years.
You’re a good dude Jared. Had respect for you before but your well thought out advice here took it to the next level. Very sound advice! 🙂
Great advice. I went to photography school and I am glad that I did but that really only wet my mouth to photography — Most of everything I learned was on the job. But I guess that is the same way with many other careers too…….
Always choose go to college. If you don't make it as a photographer, you'll be able to pay your bills by doing something else.
God damn…!!!! So well said….that I want to enroll to a photography class….
Do I ever require a degree for shooting some pictures of very good wildlife;select some of those best picture and sell them to make some pocket money as 21 year guy doing some other job already?
Hello Jared and fellow Philadelphian! I'm wondering if you'd suggest either Philadelphia Photo Arts Center or CCP?
I would suggest that she looks into Architecture, it sounds like a far off from picture taking but it will have the same skills if not more when it comes to art side of the photos and math.
It will also help with structuring your portfolio, if anything… they can always use that degree to hhave a job while they are pursuing their passion through less expensive means even if it means that you won't be able to have it transfer to a job in a business beyond contracts to you.
I'm learning to be a photographer the free way, using websites, reading books, challenging myself, failing and moving on from failures when I learn from them, many people would charge for things but don't get upset when people charge for absolute beginners but offer courses on how to use lightroom for free, because they need to earn money… but I'm not saying you have to pay them, you in your own right can google how to do things.
Jared, Excellent advice. In fact, it was some of the best career advice I've seen. Some additional advice I was given 40-years ago: Volunteer with a non-profit as their photographer (for me, it was marketing and PR roles). I might also suggest to some is to consider two-year community college as a more affordable place to help carve out a path to the future before transferring to a four-year university. I did both and it helped me get my dream job when I graduated from USC, leading to a unbelievable 40-year career in marketing.
I’m going to go to Community College to get my photography, business and marketing.
One last point the thing I get most out of the schooling is someone to constructivly critique what I'm creating and help me learn from mistakes I didn't know I was making. It helps step your game up very quickly from good to great.
Hey Annie the one thing that I would caution you with is that when choosing a four year school look for a creative program that is on content creation you are passionate about I tried to go to a school program as a design major and struggled a lot with areas I wasn't interested in such as sculpting and 3d non computer related media I am currently getting assosiates degrees in photography and video production and am much happier. Know also that if you decide a 2 year photography program is for you that many jobs require photo or video experience, or both, allong with a 4 year degree regardless of what its in. So that being said I agree with Jared that a 4 year school is best just don't bog yourself down with creative course work you don't want. Instead go for Business and get your photography studies along the way. Photography and Videography change so much in software and equipment that coursework gives a really solid base but you will be doing outside reaserch to maintain you competency.