Self-directed study

[joe_zammarelli]

Has anyone used the self-directed approach? I can't afford

university training, nor even New York Institute, so I embarked on a

self-directed approach. I used John Hedgecoe's Complete Guide To

Photography and I did three lessons a week for about 20 weeks. I

shot two rolls of film (or more accurately 2-rolls-worth with my

digicam, except where an SLR was required). I shot one, evaluated

the results, then shot another. Which means I was shooting six days

a week.

 

I found the experience very enlightening and was wondering if anyone

else had a home-school approach.

[gpdno]

I think you will find a lot of folks here are self-taught. I have been shooting for 15 years,

taken a few classes here and there but most of what I have learned has been through trial

and error.

[fivetonsflax]

I am largely self-taught as a photographer. I did a little film stuff when I was a kid, but I

didn't keep it up. Now I shoot digital photographs almost every day. I am still mastering

exposure as well as finding my style.

 

I would like to take some classes at ICP or SVA or the like, but between their standoffish

treatment of non-matriculated students and their extensive film requirements before one

can take any "interesting" class, I get the feeling they just don't want my business.

 

I haven't done anything as structured as your use of the Hedgecoe book. One idea I had is

to go through a book of photos by HCB or Kertesz and try to shoot a "response" to each

photo in turn. I have not done this yet, but perhaps if my efforts to find study partners

bear fruit, I can get a small group interested in this.

 

If you're in the New York City area, perhaps we should talk.

[joe_zammarelli]

Sorry, Ben, I'm a few hundred miles south near Charlotte.

 

One gripe I have with NYIP is they say you can use any camera, yet how can you learn photography with, say, a single-use piece of crap. Sure, you can work on your composition, but to get to know the relationship between f-stop, ISO, and aperture, you should use a bare-bones film SLR. Never could get an answer from 'em.

 

Maybe I'm just being like the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz, got the smarts, but no piece of paper.