One question most aspiring photographers ask is "should I get a degree in photography before starting my business?" Maybe a better question is does going to college actually prepare you for a career in photography? A recent article published by Kiplinger suggests that Film and Photography students (as well as graphic designers) are ill prepared in finding paying jobs upon graduation.
According to the study, the unemployment rate for accredited photographers is 7.3% with recent graduates reaching as high as 12.9%! The median salary for those majoring in photography is a mere $30,000 (only about twice that of jobs paying minimum wage). According to the article, those who graduate with a Bachelor's degree in the arts are likely to make $10,000 less than a student graduating with a BS in any other major.
Here is what Kiplinger has found for Film and Photography students:
Unemployment rate: 7.3%
Unemployment rate for recent grads: 12.9%
Median salary: $45,000
Median salary for recent grads: $30,000
Projected job growth for this field, 2010-2020: 13%
Likelihood of working retail: 2.6 times average
I'm not sure exactly what to think of these stats. On one hand, I feel like the market has grown for professional photographers. Whether it be headshots, weddings, real estate, commercial work, or small business marketing, the need for professional photography has never been greater. One the other hand, since photographers do not need to be accredited or licensed, the number of people working in the photography field has grown exponentially since the introduction of the digital camera. All that usually separates the successful professionals from the amateur photographers is the work itself and most importantly the marketing behind the business.
My own bachelor's degree was in Biology, and never in a million years would I have expected to become a photographer. In fact, the only photography class I ever signed up for was during the last semester of my senior year (it was either photography or another language). As any graduate knows, paying back college loans can be a tremendous burden. It is pretty scary to think that after you graduate, not only are you going to have a hard time building a sustainable career but you are likely going to start the whole process in tens of thousands of dollars worth of debt. Furthermore, in my experience at least, I've seen many professionals who have studied in fields other than photography (like business, marketing, or even science) build a successful photography business sooner and more profitable than those who have graduated from a 2 or 4 year art program.
The overall value of a college degree cannot be under valued, but I do find this topic interesting especially after reading such startling data. What do you guys think: on average, does pursing a degree in photography ultimately help or hinder the aspiring professional?
-via Yahoo Finance
Great article, I don't think pursuing a degree in photography or any fine arts degree for that hinders the aspiring profession. It just helps it grow and evolve into the future. Yes you will get some people that will get into it from strange paths and others that go through 9 years of schooling just to get to where they want to be. Overall its up to the person, their personality and their drive to become what they want to be, a professional at something. In this case a photographer, over time the ones with the passion and the drive to do better and greater things with each shot will shine over the ones that get into it for the wrong reason or dont have the same motivation.
i 100% agree
Thanks for that man! You are a huge inspiration to me and appreciate the reply.
I think that can be said about any profession, Andrew.
can comments be deleted?
My degree in photography has done nothing for me. So yes this article is very true.
I agree
I also agree. I have just finished studying in Scotland and I don't feel like I've learned anything I hadn't already learned from youtube prior to my enrollment in the course. The only things I got advantage from was the use of their equipment and studio space / equipment.
I am going to school right now for business, am a sophomore in the program, but have an intense passion for film. To my knowledge, I have been fortunate enough to have more real-world experiences shooting for clients than my peers that are seniors in my college's film program. Sure doing this in my free-time takes a little toll on my social life (I'm in editing a recap video for a DJ while all my friends went out!) but I love what I do! I feel like what I'm studying in business compliments perfectly what I'm wanting to do in film, and that though some seniors in the film program may forget more about proper film technique then I currently know, that's all that a lot of them have; technique, not experience. I value experience.
What DJ?
Literally just saw this sorry for the 4 month late response!, it was Vanilla Ice http://vimeo.com/48663069
This how I feel about the photography students at my school. I'm also a business student and I shoot in my free time, along with 4-5 other "photographer" students on campus. The thing is... it's us, the students who aren't studying photography, that are out there making money and have much better photos.
I think getting the degree in Photography does nothing but give you the knowledge of how to take better photos. I studied wtih the NY Institute of Photography course for professional photographers. That was a teach yourself program. It helped me understand the basics of how to use my camera and how to compose a photo. I would still love to go to school and learn ALL the stuff about photography.. Getting a degree in photography may not be worth it economically, but personally I would love to spend the money if I had it..
My guess would be that knowing how to run and market a business far, far outweighs book-learning photography.
Understanding how to run a business and assisting are far more important than a photography degree.
agree on that
Completely agree!!!!
Even more important then that, I think having good character and knowing how to effectively communicate with with people are even more important.
I do not have a degree in Photography, but I do have a degree in Mass Communications. I received my degree right before the beginning of the DSLR revolution as I call it. I graduated in 2008 and in 2009 the Canon 5D Mark II was born. Add in the advancement and accessibility of non-linear software such as Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, Lightroom, etc. I began to see an increase in more people looking to get into a field they once never considered working in before, which added to the amount of competition one with a degree has to deal with. So now one might question going to school for Photography or Video Production today since there are creative professionals who never went to school for either and are working in both fields.
It seems to me that it's only truly worth it if you're in a rock solid photo program. I majored in photo and I'm sad to say I learned more from watching tutorials online and shooting for the school paper than I did in any of my classes. The teachers were nice enough, but only a couple of them were actually what I would consider capable photographers. That, and the program had a HARD bent towards "fine art" photography, while I'm much more interested in portraits and "creative" advertising.
I had a VERY similar experience at American University. They definitely taught me the darkroom side of photography, but when it came to everything else (things I could actually make money off of), I learned that on my own by shooting for my newspaper and yearbook, and watching youtube videos.
Find a school with a string business department and a good photography program. Get the degree in business with an emphasis on marketing a small business. Use all the electives you can on photography and related courses. If your school requires you to declare a minor, all the better: minor in photography. The college degree might not help your art a great deal, especially in the short term, but it should give you the tools to maximize the earnings potential of your work. A few years down the road as you discover your own artistic vision the critical thinking skills and exposure to other horizons that any degree program should include will be beneficial in allowing you to communicate that vision to a broader audience.
We can't underestimate the value of critique as photography graduates. We have hopefully learned to think more critically about what we're doing, and that kind of feedback and criticism helped me grow exponentially as a photographer. Asking "Why" we shoot something and being able to answer is so important. Having said that, I wish there was a greater emphasis on business in my program, specifically marketing. That is probably the one thing that has hindered me the most, but it's gotten better as I've gotten older and put some distance between myself and college. I don't feel like a student anymore, and that's helped my confidence when approaching clients.
A minor or duel degree in marketing would help any photography student a great deal. A lot of fine art programs don't even touch on it, but you can't really blame them. Fine art study and business study don't directly dove tail until you graduate.
couldn't have said it better!
I completely agree.
I have a degree in design (photo-media) I did it because I wanted professional standards as a benchmark for my work. While the degree itself doesn't prepare you for the industry, it gave me a foot in the door to many professional photographers to assist them, and did so for 3 out of the 4 years. I graduated last year, I hold all my work up to their standards, because of this now I have a regular contracting work as a real estate photographer making a bit of cash that I use to fund and expand my folio
As a graduate with a BFA, it was late in my junior year when I realized that my school of choice had no interest in preparing me for a career as a professional in the arts. I immediately started preparing myself - if they weren't going to do it, I was. I was too deep in to switch to something more 'safe' so I doubled down, did an unpaid internship at a magazine 2,000 miles from home, and today I work at that magazine. Yes, the debt burden has forced me to dedicate the majority of my working time to a 9-5, but it is in both my field of study & expertise as well as my passion - snowsports. Am I a lucky mf'er? HELL yes, but I helped my luck along by researching and focusing on what actually matters in the real world. No, not everyone needs a BFA to be a professional photographer - but the time you are afforded to explore your own voice, figure out the direction you would like to work towards, and plan and work towards that direction is a valuable time - it's just up to you to make your tuition worth it. The work someone without a BFA does to make professional photography work is the same work someone with a BFA needs to do. An institution is never going to do that for you - be wary of those who say they will. Same for 'agents.' Hit the ground running or forget it.
I think the problem lies in the "get a degree to get this specific job" mentality we're mired in. An overall education used to be worth the price of any degree, however standards are so low in most schools today that even a general background education is becoming worthless. With art degrees I think it still boils down to individual creativity and talent in the end, if your portfolio is fantastic fewer people will bother to check your educational background.
Just finished my first year of my BA photography course and I've already racked up work for James Villas and The Discovery Channel, the latter I got through a lecturer. I think this depends entirely on the university in which you study, the country in which you hope to work and the area of photography you specialise in.
As Benjamin Disraeli said, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics"
Agree, a uni that gets you into the working field via real life projects with clients you want to work for, is going to give you experience with business and marketing. What school are you attending?
The University setting acts as an incubator. And being around other like minded people also helped. I will tell you I went to school with a group of talented people many never had a career in the field. I was more of a plugger and 25+ years down the road still making a living doing "this thing". It is not talent, nor luck but persistence that makes the difference between me and my peers. It is a process just like they taught in school. It's not degree and add water-poof career, money fame. I am still learning as an artist and photographer. There has been a bit of a sea change since I started, but whaaa whaaa. If ya thought the world was waiting for your genius well, good luck with that...
i have a studio i hire in birmingham, i have a student discout and every student bar 2-3 have never used a strobe or any idea on how to use manual mode. I know studio/strobe is one part of photography but it amazes me the they aren't even touching on it in a 2 year college course or 3 year uni course. We also get students hire the studio and expect me to light the whole thing for them and tell them which setting to put the camera on.... so yeah supposed education is failing a lot of them sadly!
At University they stated up front that they were not there to teach you how to use equipment, they were there to educate us on how to think and develop ourselves creatively. If a student wanted to learn how to use equipment it was up to themselves to seek that information and use the universities equipment to experiment. I agree with that education system (at university) of not teaching students how to use equipment, that was learned at college which typically you attend before going on to university. University was more of an opportunity to experiment and develop yourself sot aht when you leave you have a clear direction.
I do think a little bit more focus on photography business would have been beneficia. I think that if the university made it mandatory for the students to go out an assist professionals that would benefit allot of students.
Ultimately University allowed me to be around like minded individuals, where we could discuss and help each other. These people came from all kinds of subjects, graphic design, film, animation etc. These guys have gone onto work in a variety of roles which has now given me an in route to these design agencies etcWith that said, if someone has passion and drive to pursue a photography career I don't think they need to have a photography education.
I think it is better to have degree in business and good talent in photography + attend very good seminars/workshops and etc. This combination will rocket you right to the top if used well.
That's my 2 cents from www.fotorumba.de
Business and marketing degrees are more important than a photography degree unless one wishes to teach. To really succeed in the real world of photography one needs a trust fund, inheritance or family with deep pockets willing to fund the endeavor. If this isn't you, after being in the biz for 25 years, I suggest that aspiring photographers find a profession which pays well and keep photography as a hobby or weekend job.
Is a degree necessary? No. But, going to a 4 year college has helped me become who I am. At the end of high school I had zero interest in photography, but after getting my BFA in Graphic Design with a Photography minor, my eyes were opened to what I truly loved. I consider myself to be fairly successful at my age, and going to college has helped me in ways that I couldn't have received elsewhere. Did I learn everything I needed to know about running my photography business? Far from it, I learned so much more after graduating about the business side of it. However, the classes, professors, other students, and people I met along the way helped me develop into who I am today.
What am I getting at with this? I don't think you need a degree to become a photographer, however, if college is what you want to do then go for it! It's the experience that is more important in my eyes and everyone is going to walk away with something different. So who am I to tell someone it's a waste of time? Had I not gone to college I wouldn't have ever picked up a camera, I didn't know what an SLR was until my junior year of college! It depends on the person, and I think there's value to both sides of the topic. It's a tough call and I can see how it's going to get only tougher with the rising cost of everything. Never-the-less, you can't replace experience with anything else, and that's why I'm okay with having my pile of student loans.
Unless the photography class is business-oriented, its curriculum will focus on technical and fine-art parts of photography. Which is why most photography students decide to pursue a career in fine arts.
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Im from the uk 22 years old finished a ba photography course had no idea about photography before going to uni didnt even know what slr stood for I just loved taking pictures on a point and shoot and wanted to study something which I thought I would enjoy and evolve at using an slr and lighting on full manual and now after 3 years studying at the uni I know so much about photography thanks to my teachers and also learning on the web. Not only did I learn digital photography but also film, photoshop, lightroom and much more. We did have some business related classes which was very helpful to me being at a young age I dont know much about business related stuff and now I know quite a bit but still not enough I learnt that the business side to photography is everything even more important than the photography so a business related course or learning business yourself is very important.I have tried to advertise my work all over the internet sent emails and leaflets to local photographers in the uk to see if they need assisting or have a job opening since I do not have much work experience working in that field but have the knowledge when it comes to photography itself but its important to me that I work with other photographers even if its assisting to gain knowledge of how it is in the real world which is something studies can not really teach you much of since you have to experience it yourself. But how can someone gain anything from work experience without people hiring you to work for them whether its paid or not?
Even though I did study at uni and have learnt so much about photography with a decent portfolio lots of advertising, emails & phonecalls I still cant find a job whether its a paid job or assisting for free why? its simple because there are to many people out there who claim to be photographers when really they dont know the first thing about photography I had people in my class who claimed to have studied photography for 5 or more years before going to university and honestly they didnt have a clue some didnt even know how to use a light meter some didnt even know how to focus there own camera! After being at the uni for a year instead of the people in the class who had previous photography experience helping and teaching me I was helping and teaching them. This doesn't just go for photography it goes for every job out there people are being hired without no knowledge or experience in the field that they are going into whatsoever (who to me are very lucky) and the people who studied or didnt study but spent a great time learning about the field that they want to go into are left with nothing. its gotten so bad that I cant even find a retail job let alone a photography job so at the moment that ba photography course I studied, paid for, spent so much time on and learnt so much about seems to me like its worth nothing. I mean even if you learn everything there is to do with photography that doesnt mean you will be hired or be successful. A year has passed by for me still with no job and the only thing I can really do is keep at it until something opens up.
It's a lot of fakes. I mean I was solicited once to have photos taken of me in victory secret from a 50 year old man who called himself a photographer. Oh my god.... the nightmare. I was hoping to work side by side as a photographer. I thought that was the agreement. I was mortified. He said he worked with big names but ended up meaning he worked with these products but never made it for advertisement and it was his hobby.
"ITS NOT WHAT YOU KNOW! ITS WHO YOU KNOW!" I'm gonna coin that... I've seen some pretty bad just god awful people doing photography and graphics for companies. (Their Work Sucks) I don't know if I'm the only one who sees it, but its pretty much trash..... When asked how they got their job... They say "Well I went to college.......blahhhhh....... I've been doing this for years......blahhhhh". Then it ends with - "I know So-So who is the owner or higher up"
I'm currently studying a degree in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering and in the past year of my Degree (my second year) I've progressed from doing a few free shoots at University events to shooting Publicity for Red Bull and turning down multiple nights a week of very well paying Club Photography. I've made a name for myself in the City newspaper and won Money in local contests. It's been brilliant and it's all been alongside a very time heavy degree, all I can recommend is to volunteer where you can, prove yourself and grow. Very soon you'll have made the contacts you need to start making money from it.
College rarely prepares you for the real world. College is about having a document that says I completed extra school so you should respect me more. College is an amazing place to network and meet people. The university that I attended did not prepare me to own my own business, but it gave me relationships that have helped my business be what it is today.
I'm completely self taught and I learned what I do now through expermintation, experience, and taking classes through CreativeLive, Photography School House, and Youtube. Personally, I would have loved to go to college for photography to meet other photographers and like minded people, but I don't really regret not going either. I don't mind not having debt from student loans. One thing I would do over though is take a course in business. That would've really helped.
It's not just about studying photography, it's about how you see to produce a creative work that client like. This is kinda in born.
Further to add on, you need to have good business skill to clinch the deal. Photographer cum Businessman. =)
Personally I went to college the degree may not seem worth it but with a bit of research I found a BFA is basically a dime a dozen and just because you graduate with a BFA doesn't mean it is worthless. That degree alone is worth it because you can go into any field. I find there is a HIGH need for people to teach classes which is good money and a good way to eliminate debit depending on the school. Technically you are a teacher so there for you get some of the reliefs of it. Having a bachelors helps with teaching overseas jobs which give you some experience in a different country and time to take photos. It really is about what what you want to do. Some jobs like National Geographics won't take you with out a Masters IN photography. It is important to go to school. I think it teaches you how to innovate and rethink how to do things. Maybe someone will come up with a much more echo friendly alternative to print making in photography that will sell for those wanting ECO-FRIENDLY only based stuff. It sells. I learned how to put photos on metal, glass, tree bark, and even working on a comic book stylization. I mean it REALLY is what you make of your own education.
I specialized in computer maintenance and electronics back in College. I never thought I'd be a photog either. On the plus side, I can build my own custom editing computers and fix most electronic devices. In photography, that comes in handy!
Theory is mostly what you'll get from Film and Photography schools. They don't teach you how to run your own business or market yourself. They teach you how to be a "starving" artist. Especially in the Film business, whether you go to school or not, you have to start at the bottom of the totem pole and work your way up. EVERYONE I've talked to in the business has told me that film school overall was a waste of money. They felt that they could have gotten the same education by putting themselves out there and getting real world experience. A waste of 4 years indeed. The great thing about how the film and photography business is the way it's structured. At one point or another you'll have the opportunity to work as an assistant under whichever job you really like. For instance, say you want to be a DP. You start as a production assistant. You watch the assistant DP and learn his job. Eventually you'll get the opportunity to be an assistant DP. Now you're up close and personal with the DP. Learn their job, get some experience and eventually you'll get a shot as a DP. You learn as you go!
I HATE ARTICLES LIKE THIS!
You read them everywhere "Should I go to Uni" "Is a degree worth it" they typically end in the answer "No".
They are normally written by someone who did not go to uni for photography!
All they say is "don't go to uni/college" but where is the solution? If I want to start a career in photography where do I go? Surely uni is a great place? You're around lecturers and visiting professionals who can help you.
What these articles leave out is most post-grads sit around and expect they will get a phone call from vogue tomorrow. That is where the unemployment comes from.
I am in the first year of business and it is slow, I have a deferred offer at uni and I have read hundreds of articles like this! What I want is a nice article that actually weighs the benefits and cons of uni/college! More importantly I want a solution. It is fine to say a degree is a waste of time but then how else do you get yourself noticed?
At least at uni you get contacts where you can make an impact.
Rant over,
Dale.
PS - That is a genuine question I want to ask? If not Uni, then what?
Dale,
Read my comment above yours. If you've got the talent and just as an example, want to be a fashion photographer, you have to go where the action is. Move to NYC, shoot on your own while looking for work as an assistant. You may have to work retail on the side for a while, but that's just how this business works when you're starting out. With time and experience, you'll get your shot.
On the flip side, if you want to be, say, a photographic journalist, most big papers won't hire you unless you have a degree. But that's a whole different area of photography.
For me the action would be London. I do not have the funds to move to London and be able to live. I work in retail on the side and do commissioned photography but I do not know how to start looking for people to assist. All the people I would want to assist are not going to hire me and all the people who work locally without sounding harsh are barely more than MWCs or GWCs.