You should go to photo school if you want structured learning. Groundwork from the fundamentals to the bigger concepts. It will move too slowly for many of you, too fast for others. There are lots of great programs, worldwide.
If you don’t do better with structured learning and you are highly motivated and prefer real world experience, don’t go. Instead, teach yourself, take workshops, get mentors, read books, build your support network, work for other people. And most importantly take a helluva lot of photographs. Dig the long ditch that it takes to learn to make a living with photographs.
If this is too simple a post for you, then go to photo school.
Learning is very personal. Some people learn better with structured classes, others learn by doing and figuring out on their own. Like everything in life I think we all need a little of everything. Structured learning may help you get the basics in the shortest period of time. After that, you may be better off with participating in workshops, mentoring programs or just working in the field. I am an amateur and most of what I’ve learned in photography I learned in structured classes mostly workshops. That is my learning style. Technology has changed teaching and learning dramatically, asynchronous learning is everywhere! I think the key is to never underestimate the delivery method and never think you know it all. There is always room for improvement and learning.
How about become a mentor? It’s easy, once you pick up a camera, to find others that will ask you for help and advice. No matter your or their level, if you are involved with learning / teaching you will learn from each other.
You never know who or what will spark your innovation.
Keep an open mind,
–Mark
Hi! I really admire you Chase but I have one question for you. Isn’t working with a mentor a school too? It is an education too, and it is an education too to buy a lot of books. I have got an education and if I should base my comment on my first univeristy I would say: don’t study photography, do it on your own. But then I got into some wonderful classes and I see that what I have learned there I would have never learned myself if not in many years.
It alla depends on what a person needs and meets. I would rather say too: if you apply for an education don’t bother to see if the teacher have a foot in the branch. They MUST be active photographers. But care more that they are above all GOOD TEACHERS. It is all about learning something and if you choose a school remember it can affect you in many ways. Some teachers I met have a great name among photographers and are totally unable to teach and encourage. I almost decided to give up and that is the sign that the education was a failure. It should not frustrate the enthusiasm.
A creative photographer with a sound education behind is gunpowder. Don’t underestimate what creativity AND knowledge together can do. (This is most meant to the other who commented here and not the author).
There’s a difference I would say between learning and being taught. In a school, you are being taught, the dialogue is for the most part going one way and you are assessed on strict and often subjective criteria. Many educational experts agree that for most people, this is the worst way to gain knowledge. Learning is the seeking of knowledge and the free and open dialogue of ideas and opinions that build and inform ones knowledge.
One of the best pieces of advice that anyone ever gave me came from one of my old photo professors, Bob Ware. I was trying to decide whether or not to take an internship with a major photographer, which meant dropping out of school to be able to work (no pay/stipend with the internship). His words were, “Never let school get in the way of your education.” I know he wasn’t the first to say it, but it was the first time I had heard it, and it changed my outlook on going to school just for the sake of going to school.
A person with a weak background in photography doesn’t know enough about the craft in order to discern a good mentor from bad. Ignorance leads to poor choices. The cliche about “practice makes perfect” is a myth and the reality is that practice makes permanent. Bad habits taught by poor mentors and practiced continuously become very difficult to unlearn. School provides a solid background that can help a person choose a good mentor and also prevents the formation of bad habits. Basically, mentors should not be looked at as a way to avoid school but rather as a way to supplement an already solid background. Also, highly skilled craftsman won’t easily part with their hard earned knowledge. If a mentor is giving away information too freely then there is a good chance that the information isn’t all that valuable in the first place. The most useful insight is usually reserved for those who earn it in order to prevent it from becoming vulgarized.
I was so set on going to school until I didn’t get in. I was looking for the structure but when I didn’t get in, I figured I would see how much I could learn over the next year until it starts again. I learned so much and went pro in a little over a year (after 5 years of shooting). I think school would have been great but in the end I think if you have motivation then you can do it without. Not to mention, the interwebz has infinite amounts of information that is always current and up to date.
Great post!