Like any other craft that includes creative skill as well as knowledge, photography has no hard and fast rules for success. However, some clues can be obtained from observing the traits of contemporary photographers in their manner of work and living.
Patience, persistence, an inquisitive mind, enthusiasm, a desire to learn, creativity, and a genuine interest in nearly everything are the major personal qualifications for getting started in photography. Good people skills are also important. Seriousness of purpose and a willingness to assume greater responsibilities are clues that do not go unnoticed when advancement opportunities arise.
If you are interested in a basic 40 hour workweek, doing some detailed operation for an established photographic business or industrial photography department, you do not need to have a great amount of ambition. But you should have a goal or dream to be the best photographer in your school, in your community, in your state, or in your professional associations in order to get to the top in your field. When you feel this way about your work, you will find it fun and enjoyable in fact, your livelihood then ceases to feel like work.
Dependability is another key to success. In the photographic profession, many appointments and deadlines must be met and completed on time. Willingness to give service is most important in choosing photography as a profession. Working long hours, late at night, weekends, and some Sundays and holidays is often necessary to become successful in many fields of photography. Attendance at conventions and seminars, as well as taking advantage of refresher courses, is important in order to keep up with the constant progress in the photographic world.
You will progress faster in most areas of photography by being artistically inclined or having some art background. To go to the top, a photographer needs to know the basics of photography and something about bookkeeping, purchasing, electronics, optics, graphic reproduction, color, architecture, anatomy, lighting, advertising, public relations, and psychology, as well as knowledge of what is going on in the community, the nation, and the world.
In no other profession or trade could you find such a diversified and interesting challenge. If you want to know about all these things and are enthusiastic about doing them, you should go far. Your chances of finding success and enjoyment in photography are greater if you possess these attributes.
Professional organizations are placing increased emphasis upon educational programs. Manufacturers and distributors are making contributions and working with educational institutions in developing new courses in photography. Upgrading curricula, text books, equipment, and faculties is recognized as a top priority project by all.
APPROACHES TO TRAINING
Any student contemplating enrolling in any advanced course in photography should be aware that there are two general approaches. Professionally oriented programs are structured to prepare the student to produce still or motion pictures according to the requirements specified by their clients or employers. Other courses have a fine arts basis of instruction. These courses help the individuals sharpen their artistic and creative visions rather than teach them how to produce images to meet commercial needs.
Both types of courses tend to provide students with an academic background in the fundamentals of photography, its history, and current processes and various methods necessary to produce photographic images. The obvious differences are in the final use of the photograph produced, or who pays for the print.
In general, community colleges and trade schools tend to offer more technical courses where most of the work is related to the major subject area of photography. Conversely, students who attend four year colleges or universities only have one fourth to one third of their courses in their major (photography) area. The bulk of the additional credit courses are in other subjects, such as the humanities, sciences, mathematics, communications, and various electives. A graduate from a four year program generally has a broader, more diversified background, but it takes two additional years and more tuition to achieve this diversification, and the individual will enter the job market later to begin earning a living.
There are many specializations within the separate fields of motion pictures and video, still photography, and graphic arts. Most students entering a vocational field seldom are aware of the variety of jobs and specializations available to graduates. A listing of the various positions filled by recent graduates of photographic programs may be helpful. Since any one of these areas of specialization may not be in great demand several years in the future, it would be wise to take courses that overlap whenever possible.
A few of the more than a thousand schools offering courses in photography are listed in Appendix C. An important decision for you to make no matter if you are still in high school or have completed school and are contemplating changing to the photography professional whether you can afford the time and cost of getting as much academic education as possible before pursuing a lifetime career. If you decide you can afford it, this list of schools for photographic training will be worth your writing to get additional information concerning their courses and costs.
Due to the rapid pace at which photography is moving today as a communications medium, combined with the spiraling cost of everything in general, any list of costs of courses offered by various schools would be inaccurate by the time this book is printed. In general, if you are fortunate enough to be able to travel to the location of your preferred school and choose your course of study, you will have a wide selection of offerings: a one day "Flying Short Course" given each year in selected localities by the National Press Photographers Association; two day to one week refresher courses offered through the entire year at the Winona International School of Professional Photography in Mt. Prospect, IL; evening courses offered by adult education programs in your community or nearest city; and curricula leading to the highest academic degrees.
Some high schools offer courses in photography, and a relative few have full fledged programs. For example, Lincoln High School in San Jose offers an advanced multimedia program that includes an emphasis on digital photography. But in most cases, you will need to study at a trade or technical school, community college, or university to earn a degree or diploma in photography.
Because many photographic curricula are adapted to accept whatever the particular department has in the way of related subjects and instructors, there is no model or standard curriculum for photography education. To help prospective students of photography and counselors in advising them on curricula being offered in some schools, the authors, in the following pages, will refer specifically to those used in the Dakota County Technical College; Milwaukee Area Technical College; Hallmark Institute of Photography; Rochester Institute of Technology's School of Photographic Arts and Sciences; and Brooks Institute of Photography.
