Emerging Student Majoring in Photography

[Alan Gales]

Kyle,

If you truly want to be a fine art photographer then I would highly suggest taking a few regular art classes, especially design I and II. You will be surprised by how much they will improve your photography!

Alan

[Ben Calwell]

Become a dentist, doctor or lawyer, and then dabble in photography. You'll make plenty of money and be respected.

[mfratt]

I'm a sophomore photo major at Massachusetts College of Art. My school has a much heavier emphasis on fine art photography and analog photography (commercialism and digital, while not completely rejected, are kind of looked down upon in general).

But I, too, have been thinking about what to do when I'm through here. I'd like to go for my MFA, and at some point get into teaching, but how does one bring anything useful to the classroom by teaching straight out of grad school? I don't want to do commercial, its simply not my thing and would kill my interest in photography after six months, but where do I go out of college? How do I network, get people interested in my work, get my name out there, and more importantly get experience that I can bring with me when I do pursue a teaching career?

Teaching, for me, wouldn't be a cop-out or a last resort, I honestly believe I'd enjoy it, plus it would pay my bills and leave me some room to pursue my own projects.

I'm fortunate enough to have supportive parents to pay for my college, so I won't get out and be $200k in debt, but I'm a pretty independent spirit and I'd like to take control of my own life as soon as possible (financially speaking).

[Nicholas Whitman]

how does one bring anything useful to the classroom by teaching straight out of grad school?


I honestly believe I'd enjoy it, plus it would pay my bills and leave me some room to pursue my own projects.

Sorry kid, I think you know by the question the answer is "you don't".

A hard assed professor of mine at RIT, Owen Butler, told a seminar of MFA candidates you "have no business teaching until you have been out there for a minimum of ten years". Of course the reason the MFAs were there in the first place was for the degree, so they could teach - because they knew it was the cushy option.

Well a good teacher is someone dedicated to teaching, not some one looking for an easy way to make a living.

Oh yea - so many would be photographers already had this idea that the field is very crowded.

If you are committed to your photographic vision go do it and find another way to make a buck.

If you do make something of it then in ten years you'll actually have something to teach.

[Robert Skeoch]

I've done a fair number of lectures at the Photo Schools in Canada over the past five years. Some of schools are way better than the others. I lectured at one school with a full time photo program where none of the teaching staff had ever worked as a photographer. One person had worked at a major camera store.

It doesn't mean they are bad teachers, or for that matter, that years of experience would make you a good teacher..... but it's not the type of program I would want to attend.

-rob

[msk2193]

Kyle,

I would recommend you test your target-market by exhibiting at art shows, fairs, etc. to see what people will buy.

What is art to you might not be to your market.

A dear friend of mine who had been selling some of the most incredible wildlife photograph collection never really had a huge market for his most beautiful photos. However a slightly out-of-focus photo of a filly in a field sold every single day.

I will give you the same advice I gave my son who has a degree in photography.

Do what makes you happy, but set some time aside to make a buck that affords you to grow your passion. People won't remember you, they will remember something about you. Wear funky glasses, a bow-tie; something that sets you apart from the thousands in a crowd. It worked for me starting out in sales a lifetime ago, and it did for him as a photographer.

He is almost three years out of school and is doing very well for himself thanks to some weekend weddings that have also resulted in more "artsy" work that has included magazine covers, tv advertisements, super-star portraits, etc. "Some weddings" has resulted in over 30 bookings for 2011 - all through referrals from happy couples. This is just 60 days' worth of work (shoot plus retouch) to allow for the passion portion of his career.

After three years of working, his brand new car and all his equipment is paid for, a decent amount of money is going into savings and an IRA, and above all his girlfirend and him are loving life by having plenty of time off to travel before they settle down.

Remember, you're just a kid starting out and no task or area of photography is "beneath you". If weddings pay the bill, bite the bullet and do them, and do them well. Be nice to the couple, as 50% of your customers will end up divocred and many will need a photographer at their second wedding too. (okay a bit of levity to a serious topic - but I told my son the same thing!)

[aluncrockford]

There is a very simple rule to working as a commercial advertising photographer, it is to work harder than anybody else you know,always being aware that however much you do somebody else will be doing more, to look at every image you can get your hands on take thousands and thousands of pictures and eventually filter the work you are proudest of,then take that work to photographers who have a similar interest to you and work as an assistant, then throw your first book away and re shoot the entire thing again . Take that book out to potential clients listen to the advice throw that book away and do the whole thing again .Whilst doing this remember you are not in this for the money ,when you are good enough the money comes to you , if income is your main focus then you will be a lot more content to do something else and keep photography as a hobby , professional photography is a very tough job to break into and to stay in .I must also add that to dismiss digital photography is to condemm your self to failure before you start . As regards the art world I suspect that without an MA you will find it very difficult to be regarded with any merit ,take a look at www.parisphoto.fr to give you a guide to the work that is being sold in that market and see how that compares to what you are producing

all the best


alun

[Kirk Gittings]

Kyle,

for a broad view of the photo biz from people with a huge diversity of experiences and approaches read this long running thread:
http://www.largeformatphotography.in...ad.php?t=31539

[JMB]

Hello Kyle,

I began photography about one year ago. I simply opened a studio in Shanghai, China before I had even established a darkroom or printed a photograph. Sales of my photographs depend almost entirely upon European buyers and collectors. The studio already makes money, and I will move it to Paris in March. But I would not change a thing even if the studio was driving me into the poor house. Indeed, some visitors recoil at two of my photographs because [at least in my view] they are are honest and very challenging. I have no doubt that I lose money because these particular photographs divert attention away from other photographs. Yet wild horses could not make me take them down because I believe in them. A good deal of the success of the studio has also depended upon the large format silver gelatin work of another photographer [Per Volquartz].

I work exclusively in black and white silver gelatin. I have resisted all sorts of almost daily pressures to print or show digital photographs. When I first opened the studio a fairly large number of fomer silver gelatin photographers would visit and push me to make the same sort of move. Always the rationale was that digital work was much easier and far less time consuming. This conclusion is no doubt correct. But I did not become a photographer because I thought that it would be easy. Moreover, I still have not found a master work produced in a digital format, including lambda prints. Mostly, I have seen grossly commericial looking items, and even the prints that I have seen with interesting content suffered badly because they had a machined, harsh, commerical look to them. Hence, I believe that your college is doing students and photography a great disservice.

After a year of work I have reached a few conclusions: 1. The success of digital photography depends entirely upon the public forgetting what silver looks like; 2. Large format photography is new again [the post-60's generation has never seen them--some visiters even ask if the large format photographs in the studio are paintings, even though the photographs are examples of very straight photography --nothing pictorial at all --they are simply confused by the detail, rich blacks, and unusual light renderings that Per achieves]; 3. Large format photographs are extremely distinctive, especially when contact printed [and the more you work on a single print with your particular vision, the more unique and therefore difficult to reproduce the photograph becomes]; 4. Many digitial photographers miss the texture of silver gelatin and are returning to the art, and 4. Digital photography, inkjet printing, and and attempts to sell photographs on the Internet are hurting photography and undoing the important work of Stieglitz [Adams, Weston and others]. These workers erased the idea that photographs were merely machine products and unworthy of the name of art. They also established the independent artworthiness of photographs and eventually overthrew their own early tendencies [Stieglitz's and Weston's early pictorialism] to make photographs look like paintings.

Now, digital photographers are actually making the old public complaint legitimate. Digital photography is deeply regressive, not progressive. These products and Internet sale invitations convince the public that the photographer simply pushes a button and mass produces prints at a cost of about ten cents apeice. Hence, the public is encouraged to expect to pay $100 - $300 dollars for any photograph.

Accordingly, from my seat, I recommend throwing yourself into large format silver gelatin work and that you personally show it yourself to others in printed form in studios, your living room, offices, cafes, or anyplace else where one human being can meet another and enjoy, criticize, and reflect upon the photographs.

And I wish you and all other earnest photographers a little luck. --Joe

[Jim Jones]

. . . Digital photography, inkjet printing, and and attempts to sell photographs on the Internet are hurting photography and undoing the important work of Stieglitz [Adams, Weston and others]. . . .

Since the advent of digital photography and printing, the top prices for Stieglitz and Weston have topped one millian dollars (US), with Adams not too far behind. That's not hurting too much.