Do you recommend going to a photography school or is a community school good enough?

<p>I have always had a passion for photography and now that i graduated college I have been pursuing that passion. I am in a photography class right now at a community college and it is definitely inspiring me to pursue photography as a career. I have little experience and knowledge in the subject of the camera and all the details to everything, but am learning now in this class. However, if i want to pursue photography as a career, do any of you recommend I go to a specialized photography school (ex. Brooks Institute) or would a community college be able to give me the same education i would need? Keep in mind I will have to pay for photography school on my own through loans most likely since i just graduated and do not have a steady job at the moment...... If anyone has ANY advice i would GREATLY appreciate it!! THANK YOU!!<br>

Bridget</p>

<p>Bridget,</p>

<p>This will no doubt become a hotly debated question.</p>

<p>I won't answer your question concerning a photography school as my views are rather hard core and will no doubt drift us off subject. However; in response to something you said, "pursue photography as a career."</p>

<p>To this I say, your money will be better spent in business courses than photography courses if your desire is to make photography your living.<br>

I know many great photographers who can't make a dime in this business. I also know many who make plenty of money with just average skills.</p>

<p>all the best,</p>

<p>Pete</p>

<p>Being that I had gone to UArts in philadelphia for photography, I can tell you that it wasn't worth the money. You will learn basic skills which you can easily learn on your own. They do not teach much at all about business but will surely show you other successful photographers' work. To me, it would make sense to go to a 2 year technical school if anything. Otherwise the best thing to do would be to work for another photographer. Become an assistant. If you want to do commercial work, go to a commercial photographer. Same for weddings, portrats, etc. <br>

I had to wait until my 3rd year in school to learn something new and 80k isn't quite worth one year to me. The flip side of all of this is that you will meet amazing people and make connections that will serve you well in the future.<br>

Good luck to you!<br>

MM</p>

<p>It's better to have a good four year degree in hand than to wonder about the future. Community college is a great way to go for the first two years. Some of the more successful people I know have contained their risk from a business perspective (of purchasing the education) by doing the two years, securing an Associates in a field that got them the job to pay for the next phase of their education. It's an excellent choice. </p>

<p>I will also tell you that my life changed the day I graduated. I quite literally handed in my tool belt the next day. I also spent the next many months unemployed and struggling to land that first professional task. Once that happened, things got moving and fell into place. I have really had some great adventures, and having a degree in hand secured a lot of opportunities that others just couldn't or wouldn't have approved of without it. Credentialling parameters turn back thousands of highly qualified people every day. Meanwhile, education is becoming more expensive by the minute. Be smart and seek containment as you move up through the levels. </p>

<p>If you major in a hard science, like Engineering or Chemistry, those first few years of education are dog years. [They're dog years for us all who live the dream anyway.] If you are pursuing the muse of the arts, really the subject could be anything. Anything that gets you thinking, thinking to research, thinking to focus, thinking to report, thinking to act. And I say that loving it, and really feeling that it's grossly underrated, studying the arts. </p>

<p>That said, loving the arts in all her Muses, I'd say, get ready to get kicked in the gut. Photography is an applied art; when I was working for a day as a ditchdigger, I was applying the art of my shovel to make an excavation. Art is about doing and making; it's work, basically. You're considering a degree in work. That accepted, how many people do you think sing the high praise of, and offer great sums to, the person who is doing the work at the fast food restaurant? No one. That work is as noble as any other.</p>

<p>Study hard and get good grades. I strongly recommend graduating debt-free. I did; I looked like a reject because I was older, but with the bills paid, I had the freedom to accept some challenging adventures as a gentleman. </p>

<p>Most medical schools will evaluate their students' academic performance on topics covered in the first two years of undergraduate pre-med. Those are all basic, core, hard sciences and math. Those same topics are probably taught at your community college. That community college can get you an M.D. It's good enough; picking topics and picking names is splitting hairs. The real power is in the actual activity of going to college and studying.</p>

<p>I love Photography; the basics were taught to me in a junior high school vocational class. I've loved it ever since. Ansel Adams learned in the mud of a streambank and with sweat-soaked clothes on top of a hill back when nobody cared what happened to gawky, big-eared freak-looking moocher who would later become the esteemed grandfather of American Photography. Sounds like an insult to Adams? That's probably what a contemporary detractor would aave insulted him with. </p>

<p>Adams never made it through school. But you, you need to secure a paid-for, good solid degree and keep progressing. Photography is compatible with college, no matter what you are studying. It's compatible with all manners of lives. One is not required for the other; but, securing a degree is a good idea. </p>

<p>No matter what your degree is in, if you've got backbone for endeavor, you'll succeed. </p>

<p>Well to respond to all of the above, i did just graduate college with a degree in Business...... so does that make a difference to all your responses?</p>

<p>and thank you all so much for all the words of advice so far!....</p>

<p>Standard Community College? You likely won't get a photographic education from the basic photo classes they offer. Something like a <a href="http://seattlecentral.edu/programs/photo.php">Commercial Photography program at a Community College</a> ? You could do very well and get a great start in photography for a fraction of the cost of going to Brooks or a similar college.</p>

<p>I know plenty of Brooks grads who didn't make it in photography professionally and I know plenty who did. I know plenty of professionals with fancy degrees plenty with community college degrees and know plenty with none at all. It's more about who you are and how hard you are willing to hustle than what piece of paper you have.</p>

<p>What type of photography are you interested in trying out? Where are you located? To answer your question, these are both pretty important.</p>

<p>Please don't let the following discourage you, except in regard to one school, which has sometimes failed to serve its students well. I live in the Santa Barbara area and sometimes run into former Brooks students, usually through Craig's List, when they're offering their photographic equipment for bargain prices. Too many want to get rid of their tripods and cameras and meters and have nothing more to do with photography. This isn't true of all Brooks grads, of course, but I keep running into those for whom it is true. Brooks is expensive, and living in this area is expensive. There must be better choices.</p>

<p>Well i would looooove to do travel photography would be my ultimate goal. I am located in Orange County, California right now, but I am willing to relocate......</p>

<p>and thanks again to everyone for the advice! keep it coming!!!</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Well i would looooove to do travel photography would be my ultimate goal.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>That is a tough market. You can get there, but it's going to take a lot of work and talent. There simply aren't that many jobs in that "travel" market because it's something that everyone wants to do. And what's worse, so many people want to do it that they will give away their images for very little cash. Making a "living wage" takes a lot of creativity and hustling.</p>

<p>The quality of education depends on the staff. One of the best photography programs I've seen was offered at one specific branch of our local community college district. At the time (more than 20 years ago) the program was run by an excellent photographer. When I got back into the b&w darkroom in 1981 after a hiatus of several years I took one course at that community college and was back up to speed quickly because the instruction staff was top notch. The fees were a bargain.</p>

<p>At the other extreme I've known people who attended a very expensive arts college in San Francisco who didn't seem to learn much. They appeared to be paying a high price for the prestige of having a piece of paper attached to a particular school, the ambiance and opportunities to network with others who might have helped their careers.</p>

<p>You might also check with SCAD in Savannah, GA. Impressive facilities, beautiful town. Not sure what they offer in photography.</p>

<p>As Josh explained, the business of photography is business. Be sure to devote at least as much effort to learning about marketing and running a business as you do on studying photography.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>You might also check with SCAD in Savannah, GA. Impressive facilities, beautiful town. Not sure what they offer in photography.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>SCAD is as pricey as any of the "big name" photo colleges. I do believe they offer photo education of some sort. But you're still sitting there and deciding if your $50k education (or whatever 4 years at these schools cost) is really worth anything in the real world.</p>

<p>There is a real temptation for me to say "Take that $50k and use it to support yourself while you work for a crap wage assisting any photographers you can find for a year or two".</p>

<p>In my personal opinion, one of the best photo schools around is the Maine Photographic Workshops in Rockport, Maine. They have a Masters of Fine Art program, and also a non-masters two-year certificate program. A lot depends on what kind of photography you want to do. If you were setting up a portrait/wedding studio is one thing, hoping to be a National Geographic travel photographer or newspaper photographer or an advertising photographer is each another. If you didn't already have a four-year degree in business you would need to go for a program with business basics, but since you do have that degree you can probably focus more on the photography per se. Check out Maine. In addition to the two-year programs they have summer Master Classes in a wide variety of subjects. As others have said, many photographers are self taught and much of the learning really happens on the job. But classes at Maine or other schools, especially in a specific subject rather than trying to learn all of photography at one time, can give you a great jumpstart.</p>

<p>Bridget,</p>

<p>Since you are interested in travel/leisure photography, you need to understand that you are interested in an editorial field. Editorial doesn't pay a lot per job so you need to hustle a lot to earn a living. Also, travel magazines are more inclined to hire someone who can write the article and shoot the photographs-two people for price of one. But you will need to advertise yourself as a write who can shoot more than a photographer who can write.</p>

<p>You will probably also need to shoot for stock (another field that has plummeted horribly in the last few years due to a lot of cheap images on the internet). Some people will try to combine the travel/leisure with another field such as architecture, or do some advertising shots in related fields (boats, jet skis, fashion, etc)</p>

<p>As for schools, since you have a business degree, that helps a lot. If you go to a community college (in your area, OCC is a top notch fine art photography community college) you will probably get little, if any photography instruction specific to your intended profession. You will learn to conceptualize, critique and grow your general photography skills, but that's about it. However the instruction is very good. Another community college that has a good photo program is Santa Monica College. They have a little more of a commercial direction to their curriculum. They are a good feeder school for Brooks or Art Center. But I don't think they have a travel/leisure type of class. They offer more technical types of classes-how to really work with your camera, lights, etc.</p>

<p>Brooks can be a problem for you because it does cost so much. You can go with the "Professional Photography" route. This is the traditional photography curriculum but they do have classes specifically for travel/leisure. Or you can go with the "Visual Journalism" program. This might be a good choice, but it isn't specially for the travel /leisure profession. It also doesn't teach the advertising type shots. One major issue is that Brooks has a specific lower division curriculum that requires students to go through the same program. You can apply for advanced placement where you can skip some of the first year classes based on a test that is the lower division comprehensive exam and a portfolio review.</p>

<p>Hector mentions Brooks students who find that photography isn't for them and are dumping their equipment. This is similar for all photo schools/programs. Most people that start the programs don't have the drive or hunger to sustain them through the profession. They think that photography is fun, they are good at photography (at least their friends and family tell them they are), etc. They don't understand that photography as a profession is hard work and requires a lot of sacrifices (money being only one of them). Brooks prepares the motivated and quality students for the profession extremely well. It also reveals when students are not right for the industry.</p>

<p>Full disclosure here: I taught in photography/photojournalism program at a small liberal arts college for 7 years and taught at Brooks for 7 years. I don't teach there anymore so I'm not trying to sell it, but know its strengths and weaknesses. It is a great school for the right person and a horrible one for the wrong one.<br>

I'm also on the Board of the Society for Photographic Education West Region and have a lot of communication with photo instructors across the country.</p>

<p>John may be correct when he says that Brooks students drop out of photography as often as those who attend other institutions. Nevertheless, Brooks, and living in the Santa Barbara area, make for a very expensive route to learning whether a photographic career is appropriate.</p>

<p>I should add that I have no complaint against Brooks other than the number of disillusioned students I've met. As an amateur, I have benefitted from the presence of the school -- there is no other way that our modest population could otherwise support two excellent camera stores, branches of Calumet and Samy's. It also seems that local residents are more comfortable when they see a photographer setting up a tripod -- they accept photographers as part of the landscape.</p>

<p>If I can weigh in, I would suggest not doing photography as a career at all. I would go to medical school or law school or some other BS career school and make your money doing something else and keep photography as a hobby. This way you can use your other career to take holidays away and go visit places like Yellowstone or Africa and go on photography safaris and come back with really excellent images and it will all be fun. If you take on photography as a career, it will cease to be fun and you will spend more time on the administrative side of things and not nearly as much time behind the lense. Just my $0.02 worth.</p>

<p>Many of my former students love their photography career. For them it is better than some BS law career.</p>

<p>Bridget,</p>

<p>I would suggest taking a travel writing course. I know that UCLA extension has some good weekend classes. I've sent students there and all came back with positive feelings about the information they learned. As for the photography part of travel leisure, you can take workshop or maybe even research photo trips (National Geographic has photo trips that are led by travel photographers). While these trips aren't cheap, they can offer a lot. But with these trips it is important that you are self motivated.</p>

<p>One last caveat, if you are a travel/leisure photographer, you won't go on vacations anymore. Every trip is a work trip or is planning for a work trip.</p>

<p>I don't see school as providing much basis other than for the most technical applications of photography, which I think Brooks provides well, and for networking through the staff to potential employers, but, once again, that calls for a photography school. On the other hand, plenty, in fact most, professional photographers got there without going to a specialized photography program. What would probably take you much farther would be to come an assistant to a working photographer and learn the ropes through that.<br>

<br /> I would add on to the other comments about travel photography that more publishers are looking to local sources for photographs. The reasons include ones that you can probably figure out, like the cost of getting a photographer somewhere and often the ability to pay with a local currency, and ones you may not have thought about such as access. A lot of people wanting to be photographers fail to understand the value of access as an enabler to the photographs people want. In the case of travel photography, a local who speaks the language and may have friends or relatives in the area will get much better access to almost everything, and will not spend a lot of time negotiating to get into homes, special locations, events. Even with what I do, primarily freelance sports photography, access is key to getting the photos. This is something that you just can't do without certain business and personal skills, and, as I mentioned, sometimes special connections.</p>

<p>I highly recommend the <a href="http://www.nyip.com/info/photography.html">New York Institute of Photography</a> (NYI) correspondence course. I learned a lot from taking the course and I feel that it was "the best bang for the buck!" It was very reasonable, very easy to follow, the instructors were great and you can learn in the comfort of your own home.</p>

<p>Jesse,</p>

<p>I realize that my response to you might have been a little harsh, but I've usually heard that argument from people who didn't go into the business, ones who are afraid to become professional and want an excuse for not trying it, or those who weren't prepared for the differences between avocation and vocation. It would be like someone telling Kobe Bryant not to become a professional basketball player because it would take the fun out of the game.</p>

<p>If you want to make the argument that very few people realistically will make a good living as a professional photographer or that you will need to work much harder than most people realize, you would have a valid point. But to say a person won't enjoy photography anymore borders on absurd. If Bridget is really passionate about photography and wants to see if she can make a go of it, she should. I think it is much better than looking back with regret that she didn't try.</p>