All you pro's out there.

BA Hons in Editorial Photography.

Utterly useless to me now - all my relevant knowledge has been garnered doing the job of taking photos.
Uni gave me an opportunity to practice my photography with better kit than I could afford at the time, but I doubt it helped me to 'see' images any better or helped me improve my business.
Uni was useful as a means to networking but that info is pretty-much all irrelevant to me now as it was too long ago to capitalise on for more than about 5 years.

I think courses now are probaly better than mine was at the business of photography, so choose the course wisely...
 
Arkady said:
BA Hons in Editorial Photography.

Utterly useless to me now - all my relevant knowledge has been garnered doing the job of taking photos.
Uni gave me an opportunity to practice my photography with better kit than I could afford at the time, but I doubt it helped me to 'see' images any better or helped me improve my business.
Uni was useful as a means to networking but that info is pretty-much all irrelevant to me now as it was too long ago to capitalise on for more than about 5 years.

I think courses now are probaly better than mine was at the business of photography, so choose the course wisely...
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I looked into the BA Hons Press & Editorial Photography degree at Falmouth uni. The real world projects and suchlike would be great experience but the costs just seem to high for a degree that doesn't get you a job as such. Including food/accommodation, fees etc it would come to around £40,000-50,000! :eek: If it pretty much set you up with a job like engineering degrees do then fair enough but otherwise it's a massiev investment that might not really get you any further than if you went it alone.
 
Ive always been into photography all my life, ever since i stole my mums old Canon AE-1 :D

When i was 16 i was offered a job fitting video screens at a television company on the weekends, i worked along side their camera crew. Learnt alot just watching and listening to the guys. Decided then to do A Level photography, i looked at taking photography to university level but the guys i worked with previously offered my a job with them as Cameraman/Photographer and eventually earned about 5 years experience using DVcams/XDCAM (F350) but my main job was the photographer and did alot of commercial stuff.

I spent ALOT of my time reading magazines, going to events, meeting other photographers and getting sent on free courses through the company i worked with.

Recently a few months back decided to take the big jump and went self employed!

I think if i had taken the university route i wouldnt be in the position i am now, i have friends who took the university route and they are all just getting their degrees, most of them are working in tescos and asdas currently wondering what to do with their life. I have one friend who has just set himself up similar to me but he doesnt have a clue what to do because he doesnt have the buisness experience.

Also company i worked for previously would pick university graduates as their last choice when employing somone new, mainly because when it comes to work they work about 100x slower. The way they teach media the students feel they have 2 hours to shoot a simple shot when they have about 20 minutes to get the shot.
 
Guess this thread has gone a bit off topic actually as Jenny said she can't go to university. I guess the what we should take from this is as long as you have the drive and passion for photography and this isnt just a wim then youll do fine in either route. uni or not.
 
I've learnt from studying the work of others, pestering several people who's work i admire, shot loads of crap, studied some more work, shot a bit less crap, pestered people again.......
 
next said:
Guess this thread has gone a bit off topic actually as Jenny said she can't go to university. I guess the what we should take from this is as long as you have the drive and passion for photography and this isnt just a wim then youll do fine in either route. uni or not.
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Thank you!! Yes i do have a passion and drive for it have done for a good few years now.

But its great to hear how everyones where they are and the so many varied backgrounds.
 
Ah right.
In that case, just read tech books to teach you the craft; look at images to give you inspiration; go out, take photos, make mistakes and learn from them.
 
BA Hons in photography

The fact I was a graduate got me my first two jobs (web page layout and sub-editor at South Yorks News group) but the company I work for now totally went for my photography education, so it (the degree) paid off.

God knows what uni courses are like these days - probably have more to do with multimedia (web, video etc) than in my day - but mine gave me an understanding and an enthusiasm for photography and little else. Yep, i could dev my own films, do my own prints and set-up a mean studio shoot, but for editorial work it taught me nothing compared to what do the job actually taught me. On-the-job experience is second to none I think.

Now, 10 years after joining the company as an editorial assistant, I'm photographic manager, managing a team of one (myself!!), shooting every day around the UK and loving it. I couldn't imagine many better jobs for me because i can mix fishing and photography an it beats having to drum up work as a freelancer or self-employed photographer.
 
Wifey runs a succesafull studio, wedding photography and all.
self taught with O levl, A level and C&G at college while our kids were little.
so you dont HAVE to go the uni route.
a creative side, and a nose for biz helps too , she became a pro 8 yrs ago. after rearing our brood and working full time in a direct mailing company.
i work part time for wifey and i have had no formal training.
just the boss, and lots of practice.
i started off carrying her camera bag and now i am assitant and second shooter at weddings and eventssoon starting studio work in my own right too.
 
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MrDishington said:
I went through the education process, college then uni and passed adequately but I learnt far more from going out there and actually doing photography than I did in class. I think so long as you study it in your own time and take it seriously there shouldn't be a problem in you matching training photographers.

Even though I went to uni (finished 2 years ago) I'm still not a pro so that just goes to show that the system clearly doesn't work as it's supposed to.
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This is just your example, and it doesn't show that it doesn't work for everyone. I agree that a degree doesn't help everybody on their way to becoming a professional photographer - but the reason being is there are too many courses offered and not enough jobs in the industry to cope with this. I know plenty of people who went through the university route and are now working as full time photographers - but at the same time I know others who haven't. Talking from personal experience I would go to university, it gives you a chance to explore your work and decide which route to go down. Just make sure you choose a course that offers a module in business so that when you leave, you understand what it takes to be a success.
 
adsayer said:
Did my masters in Aerospace engineering, so no. But whilst I was an undergrad I worked my way into photographing for the students union and now the university/student union is a paying client... so in actual fact, go to uni and study whatever and use the free time if you get any to mess about with the camera, plenty of posers to practice on and plenty of interesting opportunities to photograph.
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Exactly what I did...I have an Architecture and Town and Country Planning degree (that's right I can call myself jamesb84 MRTPI if I so wish!) but spent 4 years photographing anything and everything for the SU, including sports. Which is how I got started with that.

I had been photographing stuff for the degree which got me contacts with my lecturers (all of whom we're working architects) and it's ballooned from there.

The architecture side sustains me during the week (as well as some magazine work) and the sports side keeps me out of trouble at weekends.

Never undertaken any formal photographic training in my life, and the business training was something for final year undergrads which I did while at uni. That was probably more valuable than the 4 years of studying architecture only to graduate just at the point when the bottom was falling out of the construction industry.
 
Rovers_Andy said:
I've learnt from studying the work of others, pestering several people who's work i admire, shot loads of crap, studied some more work, shot a bit less crap, pestered people again.......
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Yeah, don't I know it...
 
If you have a great portfolio whats stopping someone from hiring you a job, be it one of freelance or a job in there business .
 
I am self taught, but that does not mean that uni is a bad thing.

But I am replying to this thread to give you an important piece of advice that so many new photographers simply don't follow these days -

and thats whichever or however you learn you need to learn properly. You need to have a proper 'old school' understanding of photography. That means all the basics of shutter speeds and apatures etc.

Digital is not even remotely important and doesn't even need to be understood until you have mastered the basics. There are no short cuts!

And attempting to shortcut steps by using the digital aspects of photography as a crutch, will ultimately lead you down a path that makes you a poor photographer.

As a professional you still need to be able to turn up and take stunning photo after stunning photo without even thinking about photoshop or even looking at the screen on the back (because in the real commercial world there simply isn't time)

Paul.
www.photographybyriddell.co.uk
 
I started a 3 year c&g photography thing when I left school, year 1 got the "o" level, year 2 got the "A" level then half way through the 3rd year I got a job as an assistant and promptly learned more in 1 week than 2 and a half years at college. I never did complete the course.
As a word of warning however, 22 years further down the line I do regret not getting that piece of paper to wave under somebody's nose. Despite having my work published in every national newspaper in this country and many worldwide, also magazines etc I have been refused even an interview to join the United Nations as a missions photographer 3 times because I do not have a degree!!!!:cuckoo:
 
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