BECOMING A PHOTOGRAPHER

 

Part 1: How do you become a photographer?

 

 

 

 

 

This is the first in a new occasional series of features on About Photography, BASIC PHOTO. Basic Photo aims to give you the information and show how you can gain the skills you need to be a success as a photographer.

If you are new to photography and want to be a pro - or just a better photographer - then Basic Photo can help if. For those who are already experienced photographers, Basic Photo will help you take you work into new areas or improve on in. The real experts reading these features may like to email me with any corrections or suggestions for 'pro tips' and I'll add the best of these - with an acknowledgement of course.

Being a photographer can mean many different things. Anyone who picks up a camera and clicks the shutter is a photographer of sorts. More seriously, for most of us a photographer is someone who engages a considerable proportion of their life in photography. Most of the time people want to know how they can make a career out of something that at the moment is just an interest.

Many of us dream of becoming rich and famous, of having our work shown in great art galleries, splashed across the leading fashion magazines and in large on the newspaper front pages. While it is always a possibility that photography will make us a celebrity, reality tends to be more mundane.

Photography does however offer many people an interesting and fulfilling way to make a living. Many jobs in photography offer a considerable variety of experiences and the challenge of finding solutions to new problems. Many of those who set out to be photographers, including those who take photo courses, will end up making a living from other skills, but photographers will often continue to photograph and to think of themselves as photographers. Creativity is something we all need, and one way to explore it is through photography.

Photography is of course changing and many photography courses reflect this, both by incorporating such areas as video and digital technologies and also in some cases by a change of title, for example to 'lens-based' imaging. Although these new technologies have become a vital part of almost any photographer's toolkit, the still photograph - however produced - has retained its importance. The still image selects an instant from the flow, giving it an importance that is lost when we see twenty five frames a second. So long as good quality still images are needed, photographers will be needed to produce them.

Like most problems, the best way to start thinking about how to become a photographer is to break this into a number of simpler steps and try to see the answer to them. On the following pages I'll discuss the kinds of abilities you have, photography courses and the different areas of photography that might provide you with a living, .

BECOMING A PHOTOGRAPHER

Part 2: Assess your abilities

You need to think about why you want to be a photographer and what area of photography you want to work in. There is quite a wide range of opportunities on offer - as you can see on the next page.

A good starting point is to think about the kind of person you are, your strengths and your weaknesses, likes and dislikes. The area of photography which will suit you will depend far more on these than on your current photographic skills or interests.

If you are in school or college you will probably be able to consult careers information provided there both in print and online, and this may include careers questionnaires. These can be very useful, but you will only get the most out of them if you think carefully about what they show about you. Some points you might consider that could be important in thinking about you as a photographer are:

Fortunately you don't need to excel in every area to become a photographer -there are areas of work for example that don't involve travel or irregular hours, but you do need to think carefully about your capabilities.

You may also need to consider how any specific traits, conditions, beliefs or likes and dislikes might effect you. The fact I hate driving (I saw the ecological light and sold my last car over 30 years ago and have driven little since) rules out certain areas of work for me. A fellow student of mine years ago wanted to go into forensic photography, but only lasted a few days as he couldn't cope with photographing some of the gruesome scenes involved. Similarly, if you faint at the sight of blood you are probably not going to be able to be a medical photographer.

BECOMING A PHOTOGRAPHER

Part 3: Should you study photography?

 

If you want to be a photographer you can usually just go out there and do it, though it is often very difficult to find clients for your work. However, for many areas of photography no formal educational qualifications are needed - if your work is good enough and you can promote it you will succeed...

However I would recommend everyone to take an appropriate course, preferably to college graduate level. You don't have to give up the idea of being a photographer until after you finish your course though - get out and start taking pictures now. Some students even find they can earn enough from photography to support them through their course.

As well as giving a thorough grounding in theory and practice, any worthwhile course will also enlarge your horizons generally and give you a valuable perspective on the career you want to pursue. It may well lead you to refine or alter your career plans and should provide you with added confidence.

Some courses will also include opportunities for work experience, trying out your chosen area and seeing how others make a living at it. You can of course arrange this for yourself even if you are not taking a course, and on many courses you will have to make the arrangements yourself in any case. Work experience is a great way to find out more about a career.

Although currently there are many areas of photography for which the only qualification you need is to be able to produce good pictures, you are quite likely to find at some point in your life that the lack of qualifications will bar you progress or prevent you taking a new direction.

For some areas of photography, the most appropriate course may not necessarily be a photography or related course. If you read the biographies of many well-known photojournalists you will find a wide variety of qualifications. Degrees in English, Journalism, Economics, Sociology and other subjects abound.

For mature entrants to photography - those who have already qualified in other fields, there is probably less point in taking a photography course. However some courses prefer mature students and it can be a great advantage to have had experience of life in other occupations.

Which School

There is no right choice of course for everyone - you need to research your choices carefully. Apart from the material factors such as location, cost, length and level of qualification, you need to look carefully at what each school has to offer, as some have quite different aims to others. Some are very much art orientated and others give more attention to professional matters and there are also more scientific courses. You will need to decide which approach is best for you and your intended career.

Most colleges now have some course information on line and you should also get published material from your likely choices. There should be opportunities to see student work, either on the web or in print or in end of course shows and there may be opportunities to visit or Open Days, when you may be able to talk to students, If the student work doesn't interest you then this may not be the course for you.

Larger schools can often offer better equipment and may have better-known staff, but smaller institutions may be easier to get to know people in and offer a more personal treatment. Institutions in large urban areas may have a much greater range of experience to offer in terms of access to museums, exhibitions and photographers studios etc, while those away from the big city may have other advantages, such as more space and interesting local landscape.

Courses will also differ in their entry requirements, and for some these will be more general than photographic. For many courses a good general educational standard, perhaps particularly in English, Mathematics and Science will be needed. For those courses concerned with your creative development, the application or interview process will almost certainly involve some sort of portfolio of your work.

Portfolios for course interviews are usually rather different from those you will use in getting work. The first and most essential thing is to read any advice or instruction given in either the course leaflets or an invitation to interview. If you have any doubts about what you should take, ring up well in advance and ask.

In a course interview, the tutors will be interested to see how you work and develop your ideas rather than just the finished product, so a portfolio might include background research, sketches and proofs as well as final prints. They are looking for potential more than for professional competence - which is what the course should add.

 

BECOMING A PHOTOGRAPHER

Part 4: Areas of Work

GENERAL PHOTOGRAPHY

General photographers are those based in a local community with a shop or 'studio' on the street or perhaps working from their home. They deal with the general public, getting custom mainly from personal recommendations, but also from their shop window (if they have one) and from advertisements in local newspapers and other media. Most of their work will be for members of the general public, photographing weddings, taking portraits. Some will also do a considerable amount of photography for companies in the local area, including PR photography, product and architectural photography.

General photographers have to get on with people well to put them at their ease, and to be reliable and well-organised. Most of their work will be in business hours and they will seldom need to travel far.

COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Commercial photographers supply photographic services to companies, including PR photography, product photography, architectural photography, Some specialise in one or more of these areas, for example photographing interiors of buildings. Other specialist commercial areas include Catalogue photography, where large numbers of product shots are produced in high quality at a rapid rate. generally using simple sets and formulaic lighting.

ADVERTISING PHOTOGRAPHY

Although a relatively small section of the industry, this has an extremely high profile, partly because the results are clearly visible in magazines and on billboards, but also because of the large amounts of money involved. Some advertising photographers have become celebrities, but others remain unknown to the general public.

Advertising photographers generally have a considerable creative input into their work, interpreting the ideas and rough visuals along the Art Director of the advertising agency. However the main part of the job is a great deal of detailed planning and coordinating the team of people who may be needed for a successful shoot, including set makers and model makers, location scouts, stylists and models, Advertising photography can be a highly stressful occupation - even though most of the actual work is delegated to others - and is very competitive.

Photographers start as 'assistants', who do anything that needs doing, carrying gear, painting walls, sweeping floors, making tea, chasing up deliveries, fetching sandwiches - and they may occasionally touch a camera, if only to load or unload film. As they gain experience they can expect to do more of the actual lighting and photography.

As well as making everything run smoothly, assistants are also learning in a practical manner how the job is done. Permanent assistants are often allowed (if not expected) to make use of the facilities to develop their own skills and build their own portfolios when not working on a job, and eventually may be able to take on small jobs themselves using the studio facilities before they branch out as photographers in their own right.

Assistants are usually poorly paid, the hours are long and unpredictable, and work is generally hard to find. Most hirings are on a short term basis and if you don't fit in and pull your weight you will not get work again. Until you have experience it is hard to get work at all - you may have to start with unpaid 'work experience'. A good 'book' (portfolio of work), a good interview manner and tons of persistence are needed.

BECOMING A PHOTOGRAPHER

Part 5 - More Areas

EDITORIAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Editorial photographers provide the pictures for magazines and newspapers other than those in the adverts. The work ranges from portraits, fashion, food and illustrations for feature articles to news photography. Some photographers are employed by the publishers as 'staff' photographers, but increasingly these pictures come from freelance (self-employed) photographers, either direct or through agencies and picture libraries. Some freelances specialise in areas such as portraiture or food. Photography from editorial photographers (and photojournalists) may also be used for some advertisements.

Editorial photography usually involves less organisation than advertising - budgets are generally much lower, and photographers often work on their own or simply with an assistant. Deadlines may often mean working very long hours to finish a job.

PRESS AND PHOTOJOURNALISM

The public image of the photographer is most often that of a 'newspaper photographer' and is still based on the old Hollywood movies featuring 'Weegee' - or characters based on him = rushing onto the scene with 4x5" Speed Graphic and bulb flash. Things have of course changed, and most dramatic news pictures don't come from press photographers but from photojournalists working for the major agencies and similar bodies.

Newspaper photographers do still exist, though they now tote Nikons (possibly digital), use electronic flash and mainly get to photograph set up pictures at local events. Sometimes they also have to write the stories to go with pictures (often little more than extended captions in any case.) It is often a job involving long hours for relatively low pay, but provides a steady salary.

Increasingly papers call on freelance photographers as a lower cost option than employing staff. For the successful, freelance photojournalism can be an exciting and rewarding career, and if you do really well you could even become a member of Magnum, or one of the other leading agencies. Unfortunately for many other photographers it can be risky and financially disastrous. Photographers do get killed and injured in war zones, and others risk their life, bring back good pictures and find that there is no editor interested in publishing them.

Much freelance photojournalism is safer if less exciting, and the major danger facing most freelances is bankruptcy. In a city such as London there are probably at any time around ten times as many people seeking jobs as the market will support, and the day rates paid by some of the larger newspapers are little above the minimum wage. Elsewhere the situation is generally a little better, but photographers generally have to spend some time building up contacts and developing specialisms to make a living.

LIBRARIES AND STOCK

Freelance photographers will often put pictures into picture libraries and stock agencies. If you have sufficient work in them these tend to give a regular income which helps keep going. Some photographers specialise in stock and are able to make a living from it alone. Libraries generally take 50% of any fees for sales that they make of pictures from the library, though usually a smaller percentage on commissioned work they pass on to photographers. Libraries on the web may also work to a smaller percentage of fees, but any that charge more than nominal costs 'up-front' should be avoided.

Selling your work directly is time-consuming but worthwhile if you can build up a number of regular clients. Having work on the web can be one way to make sales, as increasingly picture researchers are looking there.

FASHION PHOTOGRAPHY

Fashion photography is another high-profile occupation. Names like David Bailey and Helmut Newton became known around the world. Fashion is again a difficult area to break into, and getting in as an assistant to a fashion photographer even more difficult. At least until you get famous, an interest in fashion and a knowledge of the clothing industry can be needed (although some of the best fashion photographers have never taken clothes seriously).

SCIENTIFIC PHOTOGRAPHY

The largest area of actual employment for photographers is almost certainly in the scientific areas, where most photographers have staff positions with regular hours and regular salaries. It is also the area where there tend to be specifically stated entrance requirements (though not always involving a photo course.). As well as general courses in the photographic sciences and photography as a science, there are also specialist qualifications in some areas.

Examples of areas involving a scientific approach include medical photography, aerial photography, general scientific photography (including high speed photography), police and forensic photography, military photography and museum work. Legal photography is one area where many photographers are freelance, providing evidence mainly for the defence in suitable cases.

Opportunities in these areas - particularly for government work, vary widely from country to country. Much of the work may be relatively routine, for example the copying of documents and recording of artefacts by museum photographers.

FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

Traditionally the term fine art photographer meant a photographer who made photographic records of paintings and drawings etc, one of the scientific specialities/ It is now more commonly used to mean a photographer who produces photographic prints as a fine art activity, for exhibition in museums and sales in galleries.

Although sales of photographs have improved over the last thirty years, relatively few photographers make a living entirely in this way. Typical prices of fine art photographs are still below those of other fine art prints, and photographs are much harder to sell. Apart from a few of the 'big names' in photography, most other photographers whose work you see in galleries still rely on other sources of income - particularly teaching - to make a comfortable living.

Becoming a well-known photographer does bring offers of teaching from some photo courses, and some photographers also offer workshop classes, so there is a link between the two activities. Some photographers whose work is more decorative also manage to make a good living by print sales for ordinary people to hang on their walls at home.

EDUCATION

Teaching others to become photographers can be a worthwhile occupation and provide a regular job. For most teaching jobs a degree or higher degree in an appropriate subject is essential. Many photographers in teaching also continue with photography, either as a freelance or as a fine art photographer.

SERVICES TO PHOTOGRAPHY

There are many jobs essential to photography that do not involve taking pictures. Photo laboratory work is essential, though most is not particularly creative, but there are a number of top quality hand-printers who can make a reasonable living printing for some of the best photographers around. Retouching is also a creative skill, whether carried out with brush or computer system.

Picture libraries need people who understand photographs, and many photographers have ended up running libraries and agencies as well as working as picture editors. Others have moved to running hire studios, and providing specialist services such as finding locations or props.

An interest in photography and knowledge of cameras is a great asset in photography retail, and if cameras are really your interest you could consider becoming a camera repairer.

CONCLUSION

There are plenty of interesting careers in photography, some glamorous and well paid, but most photographers are self-employed and many find it difficult to make a living. Even if you end up working in a different job, you can still carry on getting enjoyment out of taking pictures, either as a part-time photographer or simply for its own sake.

 

 

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