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.
Thanks to photographers like you Chase, and many others out there who are willing to share their knowledge, I was able to teach myself and continue to learn every day! Couldn’t agree with this post more..
Yes you can learn a lot from the internet and books but for the majority of people that will only get you so far. Surrounding yourself with other like minded professionals helps out more than anything else. If you get that in school then good on you, if you get that another place good on you also.
I was fortunate enough to go to a photo school. I found that some of the best things that I got out of it was hands on learning with actual equipment that professionals use in the field. On top of that I was in a network of other photographers that helped me get a full time job in a commercial studio.
Funny you bring this up, my cousin just asked me about this. I pointed her to some online courses.
I never went to photography school, but if I made my living from it, perhaps I would feel differently about it, or perhaps not.
Great post
CWDaly
Well , another benefit beyond the structured learning is the people you’ll meet there and learn with.
ALSO, the access to different types and kinds of equipment that you might otherwise not know about or have access to is something worth considering.
I learned/ing molecular biology at Graduate School while i learned/ing photography by trial and error.
Knowledge is always there. task it how good you are apprehending it.
Good post Chase!