The degree you need to be a photographer

November 23, 2011

I really believe you don't need to go to school to to this

Long time readers will know that I’m self-taught. I’ve been interested in photography since I was a kid and actively teaching it to myself for about 3 years. I’ve been making my own websites since I was 13 when I learned HTML so I could spruce up my little GeoCites website.

So I’m not a huge fan of photography degrees. I kind of wince when I hear people saying they want to go to school to become a photographer. To me, all you need to do to become a photographer is start taking pictures, no? But there is one use for further education as it relates to your photography and that is a business degree.

Even if you manage to learn the depths of photography, you’ll have a hard time making money if you can’t put on your business head. If you have no business gumption (do you hate talking to clients about money?) then you have a few options:

Pay someone else to do it
Learn through trial and error
Teach yourself everything you need to know about business
Get some business education

Now, these are all completely viable options. Even in business, I’m self taught. I read a LOT and have learned a lot through trial and error. And I guess that I’ve even been interested in business since I was a kid making bookmarks and forcing people in church to buy them for $0.25. I was able to pull off a profitable lemonade stand to pay for summer camp when I was 12. So I suppose I’ve been learning that since I was little, too.

But if you don’t feel that you have any grounding in business and you need to employ further education to succeed in your photography business, I would highly recommend that you get a business degree, not a photography one. I mean, think about it…if you get a photography degree and get sick of photography or can’t make it work as a business, what will you fall back on? If you get a business degree, you can either make your photography business an amazingly profitable one or turn around and do a million other things with that degree.

You can learn photography online - I love Brooke's classes

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Melanie

Ha! Somehow I knew the answer would be a business degree! No artist (and we are artists) will be successful without good business sense. If you’ve followed Annie Leibovitz, that she lost all the rights to her work so late in her career due to financial difficulty proves the point.
Jenifer Starr

I disagree, not that a business degree isn’t a great idea!! I do think it is helpful to go to school for Photography. I have always wanted to learn more and pursue my dreams of being a professional photographer and this being my career however life didn’t allow me the time to work on this. After years of dead end jobs I decided if I was going to do this I was going to go to school, learn to how do it correctly so I could fullfil my dream. So far school has taught me way more that just how to use a camera correctly. It has given me the tools I need to get better, to push myself, have a support system, learn how to budget money better and over all just get better. My school also incorporates marketing yourself, business classes and a couple gen eds. Honestly I don’t think I would be where I am without it. Some people just need more structure or that extra push. Even with how the economy is now any degree looks good and will earn you more money. So why not have that degree be in something I want it to be? Also I can use my degree for more than just starting my own business. I can work for a company editing, designing shots and tons of other things. My degree would help me land a job with another company, not just my own studio, say a magazine or newspaper. You are right in what you say in your post and in going to school online I basically use their tools to teach myself, but I think it depends on the person what they need to accomplish their dreams.
http://bigmariolife.blogspot.com Stephanie

This was great to read. I don’t have a business degree but I have a theatre degree and a law degree and, believe it or not, I’ve found them both useful in starting up my photog business. I think (I hope!) I have enough experience and enough of a business-oriented mind to make it work. At least enough so that I’ll recognize when there’s something I need to learn. I’m pretty much self-taught with photography and I am more passionate about that than anything I actually went to school for, so that’s saying something!
Katie

I disagree as well. I have taken a few college classes but am mostly self taught. It would be a dream to go to Brooks Institute and I have looked into it however it is not feasible for me as a stay at home to uproot my family for that dream. I have learned as much as I can about photography and business online and have done ok for myself. HOWEVER I have known a photographer from Brooks Institute and and the caliber of his photography skills, business skills, studio space and clientele are far exceed what I have been able to accomplish in the last 10 years on my own. He easily supports his family well with clients like Porsche to major coffee company campaigns. He is living the dream because of the skills he learned during his 4 years at school. So I would say that if you want a part time thing on the side as you raise your children learn all you can online about photography and business. But it you are serious about supporting a family with this and having the skills to make it in areas other then natural light portrait and wedding photography go to school!!
Shannon

A few days ago my sister asked me, “why are you paying to go to school for a degree in something you already do without one.” In May I’ll be finished with degrees in photography and graphic design. If I’m honest, I think I’ve learned more from my online resources and my own trial and error than I did in class. I don’t aspire to be a big commercial photographer. I would like to have my own studio business where I can have a great job doing what I love but still be a mommy first. I would say, though, that the best class I’ve taken is the business management class I’m taking this semester. I’m learning how to put together my business plan, market and run my business. It has really helped me to understand my market and my industry on a business level, something I don’t really think I could have understood to this extent without this class. I agree with you Elizabeth, you need business classes, especially if you don’t really have the mind for business. There are circumstances where a degree is needed. Big companies want it, but if that’s not your dream you really need to weight the advantages and disadvantages of taking photography classes in a college setting.
Kelly

I have to respectfully disagree. I have a business degree, two in fact (BS and MBA) and a degree in business is NOT about learning how to run your own business, it’s about learning how to work in corporations and in the case of the MBA, run the corporations. These are very different from running your own business. I’m sure you can read the disenchantment in between my words… corporate life was not for me. But, I’ve made it a point to tell anyone who would listen (hope you don’t mind) ever since, that a business degree is basically what a “liberal arts” degree was in the 70′s… very general. You don’t come out of it with hard, fast skills to put to use. That’s why someone with an accounting degree may be working in sales and someone with a finance degree may be working in customer service and someone with a marketing degree will be working at McDonald’s. :-) The skills are learned on the job and the time spent in school is really just to maybe prove that you’re dedicated (maybe).
Just my opinion.
Deborahscott

Elizabeth…I so look forward to and devour your posts. I love you!! Photography has recently become a passion (where has it been all my life?), and I initially wondered, how can a 54-year-old woman break into a field that is filled with such lovely and very smart young people, but seriously at this juncture it doesn’t really matter. The passion drives the desire and whether or not it ever turns into a career doesn’t really matter. I just want to do the thing that makes me want to hit the ground running when I get out of bed in the morning! You are truly a vessel being used by your/our maker. To you, my dear, a heartfelt THANK YOU!!
Deborahscott

And with specific regard to this post…I agree wholeheartedly! I have a huge respect and belief in being educated, but do not personally feel it is necessary to have the degree to validate the passion. Passion drives my education.
Anonymous

Wow thank you so so much for getting in touch and it’s so wonderful that you’re living your dream!
Dena

I disagree too. :) I am one of those people who did get a degree in photography from Brooks Institute (*wince*) and feel it put me leaps and bounds ahead of the self-educated group in terms of speed of knowledge and access to bountiful resources. However, as a photographer, I am required to continue my education to keep current with equipment and advancements, so in this way I will always build on my knowledge with self-education. In my opinion, they are both very valuable. I have worked in the field for the last 20 years and have seen photographers without degrees that ranged in skill from very qualified to those that have never seemed to learn the basic skills. Yes, business acumen is vital as well in the field and often a weak area for artists. I think the only photographers that will be held back are those that feel they have learned all they need to know and can’t benefit from more knowledge, whether it is in a scholastic setting, workshop or online research. For me, I have a quest to improve at all times, and never feel I have reached my peak.
Ashleyobrienphotography

I have just graduated, got two majors -art and art education and two minors- art history and marketing, spent 7 years in collage, and now realize my passion, photography. my art classes help my photography but i WANT to learn more about it. I just dont know where. I am always learning new things- how to apply textures, actions, etc, but feel a little left out on what i need to know to be a great photographer. where would you suggest i start looking to learn what i can’t afford to get- another degree in photography haha. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! some days i just feel so lost as to where to go on line to learn something i don’t know m but its hard if i don’t realize i don’t know it… if that makes any sense? lol
Anonymous

Hi! Check out Brooke Snow who I suggested at the bottom of the post :)