Recently on our photography forum this question (To go or not to go to photography school) was brought up by forum member kat. She wondered whether it was worth it to take a photography program at the university level.
It’s a very interesting question and it brought me back to my own university days and reminded me of something a statistics professor once told me. He said that the WORST thing you can do (ON AVERAGE for the average person) for your lifetime earnings is to go to university. This is because while you are going into university you are racking up debt and not making money. Obviously for professional degrees (accounting, medicine, law etc.) there is no other way, but photography is different. You can either go to photography school or learn photography by yourself, online, by taking workshops, apprenticing etc.
As for myself, I did go to photography school and completed a 2.5 year program after university in the mid 90’s. I don’t regret it one bit, I love knowledge and photo school trained my eye quite well.
However — If I were in this position today would I do the same thing?.…Honestly, I doubt I would.
The world these days is digital, and there’s SO much excellent online learning that wasn’t there when I studied, plus the darkroom work that was so important then, has been replaced by digital.
I really think I’d recommend workshops and self-learning over a full on program that takes 2–3 years. Keep in mind that AFTER the 2–3 years nobody will be waiting to give you a job, you will have to hustle BIG TIME and market yourself‚ BIG TIME..or else, on average you will fail.
Another sobering stat from back in the day is that 2 years AFTER graduating from photography school, only 20–25% of the graduates will be working photographers. That stat still seems accurate to me today based on what I‚ see.
So what do you think — Is photography school a waste of time?
Thanks for the comment Eric and i wish you the best of luck! even though you will be learning tons of general stuff, try to focus early on the type of photography you love to do. Photography is great work if you can get it. Web design is also a GREAT choice for a degree.
Best — Marko
As a person who has just applied to a 2 year photography program heres my view on it. My school has hundreads of thousands of dollars worth of lenses and camera bodies to use, things i could not afford for years. Also my school has medium format and 4x5 cameras, again things that even if i read up on I would be hard pressed to get enough hours on to become skilled with them. Top it all off with two large proffesional studios with all the lighting and backdrops and you start to see why it is financially the best course of action. With the 7 or 8 ish photographers who teach in the program i get seminars everyday ranging from wildlife photography, product shoots and full on fashion shoots, all things impossible to emulate as a begginer trying to teach themselves.
Ive looked into both options but my mind is set, after i get my web design degree im doing photography, doing it alone can work sure, but with propre instruction full time and instant feedback i feel i could accomplish so much more and get there so much faster.
“So what do you think ‚” Is photography school a waste of time?”
I like to think that no learning is wasted. But then I am optimistic
However, I totally get your point about it being better to do self learning if you want to be a professional. The self-learning though only works if you are disciplined enough to do it on your own. Some people would do better in a structured program to keep them on track.
I know very little about professional photography so I have a question: is it a lack of knowledge regarding what is out there for employment which leads to the 20–25% estimate? Does everyone want to work independently?