Photography: one of the 10 worst majors for your career.

<p>Apologies in advance if someone has alreay posted this link:<br>

<a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/worst-college-majors-for-your-career.html?page=4">http://finance.yahoo.com/news/worst-college-majors-for-your-career.html?page=4</a></p>

<p>With the exception of anthropology on the list, I think the remaining disciplines should be better classified as broad-base knowledge which anyone can acquire outside of an academic environment - the gap between a schooled expert and well informed but not formally educated is so narrow as to be meaningless. <br /></p>

<p>A photographer who is not a businessman (or woman) is not going to benefit from a degree in photography. </p>

<p> </p>

<p>Yep, given our current cultural (capitalist) values, you should absolutely forget about following your heart or your passion. It is only important to find a career that will pay a lot of money. THAT is the best, true road to happiness and fulfillment!</p>

 

 

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<p>A photographer who is not a businessman (or woman) is not going to benefit from a degree in photography.</p>

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<p>This is nonsense. There are plenty of jobs in photography that do not require any business skills. I know corporate photographers, I know photographers who work full-time for stores or product companies, there was a great job here in San Francisco for a police photographer. The assumption in the statement above clearly doesn't reflect any kind of market view.</p>

<p>Majoring in photography has always been iffy, there are plenty of other ways to get into it. </p>

 

 

<p>That's quite true, Jeff. I've noticed a common misconception among many people that "pro" photographer is somehow equated to "wedding" photographer. A large segment of the population have no clue what a corporate, forensic, medical, industrial, technical or museum photographer does for a living or what it takes to succeed in those careers. </p>

 

<p>Louis has made a good point, and it is supported by the [u.S.] occupational wage data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.</p>

Don't forget military photographers -- full-time, trained-up pros, for sure. Their great (public domain) work can be found at www.af.mil, www.navy.mil, etc.

<p>The number of full time jobs - the ones where you get a salary rather than run your own business - have dropped substantially over the last ten years.<br>

Newspapers have severely dropped the number of staff positions often giving digital cameras to the reporters going to write the story. In house corporate photographers have suffered too. How much talent does it take it shoot a grip and grin or a ribbon cutting these days - secretaries or even VPs with a photo hobby often are asked to do it. <br>

Supply exceeds demand. It is that simple. If your heart and soul demand you be a photographer, I would first suggest you be a part time photographer like, I will bet, easily more than half the "professional" photographers are these days. I would bet the number of photographers with a web site promoting their services that support their families is less than 10%. It is turning into everyone's second job. Or even better do it as a serious hobby. It is a great hobby but it has turned into an almost impossible job.<br>

Now I am sure there are going to be postings from people, often anonymous, telling about their great success and of course there are success stories. What has happened though is that the odds of success have gotten longer. Just take that into account and take most of the stories of success from workshop teachers, photography schools, photo book authors, or anonymous internet posters with a grain of salt. They all want to sell you something. Most of them are ex pro photographers who can no longer make a living shooting and are desperately looking for another income stream.</p>

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<p>Most of them are ex pro photographers who can no longer make a living shooting and are desperately looking for another income stream.</p>

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This isn't new, other than the "ex" part. And it's not just photographers, it's all the arts. Teaching has always been an option. My grandfather played full-time with one of the greatest symphonies of the 20th century but always taught to make ends meet. A friend of mine with incredible commercial photography success had to supplement his income doing voice overs. Another friend, a painter with considerable success, work in museums etc., works as a sales rep. Even within the photography world, it's never been easy. A great documentary photographer like Mary Ellen Mark had to make money shooting celebrity portraits for Women's Wear Daily.<br /><br /><br>

But that doesn't mean people shouldn't major in it. There are many ways to make a living, and enjoying college and learning about things one can be a great experience, and jobs can be found outside photography.</p>

<p>Believe it or not the first 6 were my top choices prior to enrolling into college those and Park Ranger...</p>

<p>I have very little business sense and was a succesful photographer for 20 years, my way in was as a photographer with the RAF. I got some great training and when I left all I had was a piece of paper saying what I did for 20 years no degree and I've never had trouble finding employment. The RAF very rarely took on photographers who had any formal training as they wanted you to be moulded their way. The downside was we were taught great technical photography but we weren't allowed any artistic expression.</p>

<p>I would have to agree that it does not take a great amount of skill to learn how to point a camera, but I am sorry, the majority of the comments posted sound like they are coming from people who have not had any formal training in photography. Let me ask you a question. Where do the photographs come from on the Ritz cracker box? What about the photographs of Treadmills, peanut butter, iPods, office furniture, etc? They had to come from somewhere and I guarantee you that they didn't get it from iStock photo or stole it off the internet. Someone had to be paid to photograph it, and they didn't get the receptionist who just bought a "nice" camera to come in and photograph it on her day off.<br>

The purpose of a photography program at a college is to train professionals, and when I say professionals I am not talking about weddings. These are the photographers who get the good jobs, like commercial photography, medical, etc. Some of us do end up shooting weddings and portraits and that is fine.<br>

Getting a degree in photography is also more than just photography. There is a whole year of foundation and design courses that deal with composition, color, design principles and art history. We learn from the past so that we can create the future. Because of this, many photographers are employed in areas related to photography as well. I know many graphic designers who got their degree in photography. <br>

Now I want to point something out. Not every person who gets a degree in photography is an immediate photo genius. And on the flip side, there are quite a few photographers who make beautiful work who have never had any formal education. <br />It swings both ways.</p>

Hello. Not all is so bad. While the 'average' earnings for most kind of reportage photography are modest, there is a lot of

money in advertising, fashion and corporate photography. Some of the good, famous, advertising photographers make

upwards of USD 10,000/- a day as assigment fees alone. Of course, you need to be really good with a proven portfolio,

but its not impossible. I know a very humble but talented photographer who landed an annual contract worth almost a

100,000 usd to shoot for an oil company.

 

So, one can shoot advertising and/or corporate for a living, and perhaps one's personal projects on the sides. There are

more galleries and art outlets today than there were 20 years ago. I am sure if one's images are appreciated, theremwill

be a market for them.

<p>I guess I would ask who actually thinks you have to major in photography in college to be a photographer? Seems pretty silly to me. I started out shooting pix in the 1960s and there were publications and jobs that paid real good money, I don't see them out there today waving big checks. I see them stealing any images they can get their grubby little hands on. Why not go to college to learn how to repair typewriters?</p>