Do you know how to load a roll of film?
Work a light meter?
Edit slides on a light table?
Scan film?
Color correct scans?
Track a photo inventory?
Submit photos to clients?
Work with a stock agency?
Make prints?
Pack a camera bag?
Ship equipment?
Set up lights?
Scout a location?
Drive on the left side of the road?
Order food in French?
Clean a digital sensor?
Work in Photoshop?
Create a workflow?
Edit a Portfolio?
Build a creative brief?
Create a composite image?
Shoot from a helicopter?
Work 30 days straight (with a hangover)?
Use a prototype camera?
Shoot and edit video?
Manage a huge equipment inventory?
Develop filters for a photo app?
Layout a book?
Film a TV show?
Write a magazine article?
Build a community?
Hang an art installation?
Survive in Manhattan?
Film a Live broadcast?
Write a blog post?
I didn’t. When I started working in photography as Chase’s assistant, I was a blank slate. I like to think I still am. Many of these skills have become obsolete. Others did not even exist when I started. Knowing how to do everything is not the goal. Knowing that you can learn is everything.
Great post. I’d love to read a followup post about HOW you learn. I have my ways, but I’d love to hear yours. I suspect it is very helpful to have a community of people you trust to ask. I mostly use google, which has some limitations.
you nailed it! “Knowing how to do everything is not the goal. Knowing that you can learn is everything.”
Well said my friend!
I realized while I was still in college that WHAT I was learning was not as important as that I was learning HOW TO LEARN.
I am a chemical engineer by degree and my outdoor pool is the extent that I use WHAT I learned these days.
However, I run the computer network for a $2.2 billion per year company today.
I graduated college before ARPNET was invented.
That was exactly my experience. It was more important to learn where to go to find out something than it was to stuff your head with knowledge.
you nailed it!