History

<p>How important is it that a photographer knows the history of his/her craft? I can probably name 10 photographers at most, and 9 of them are modern photographers. Is that common in this industry? Should I take the time to educate myself on the greats? Is there something to be gained from it other than just knowing their story? Just something that has been on my mind a lot lately as I read modern publications, and I was curious to what others thought. </p>

 

Go out and shoot and stop worrying about trivia, unless you are going to teach a class :)

<p>Oh, I'm still out shooting daily. It's just something that has been on my mind. I'm not losing any sleep over it or anything : )</p>

<p>"<em>How important is it that a photographer knows the history of his/her craft?"</em><br />Technically, not very important. Learning about the great photographers of old is not going to help your skills very much given the newer technology. Having recently graduated from a photography course, where the History of Photography was a mandatory subject, I can tell you that out of all the classes in that curriculum, this was one of the least helpfull technically.</p>

<p>The reason why I say "technically" is that although not much was were derived to improve my photographic skills, there was some benefit in that it brought some type of closure to why I became interested in photography in the first place.<br />By trying to relate to the life stories of some of the photographers, you might learn a little bit about yourself and about your motivations of becoming a photographer as well as picking up on style and technique. I enjoyed this course very much and even purchased the very expensive book twice, because the first one was lost, or might have been stolen.</p>

<p>Another very interesting class was "The History of Art". This class took you to the very beginnings of man's history itself and how Art was allways intertwined, but of course minus all the carnage. It definately gave me a different perspective about life and also something which is very important, how to appreciate and critique images.</p>

<p>Sounds like you at least have some curiosity. There is a History of Photography podcast on iTunes you might find interesting. IIRC the professor's name is Jeff Curto and the class is held at College of DuPage. </p>

<p>Thanks a lot, Jim! I'll be sure and look into that.</p>