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How many photos here on MM site are self taught?
My question is how many photos here are self taught? I'm curious as to what you might have done before taking up photography, and of the ones who are self taught how many work full time who have business plan and work at least 2-3 times a week? Does being self taught degrade one's credibility in the eyes of others in the visual arts field? Any fun stories about first getting started for the benifit of us all, because I think we can all use humor and insite. We're all not alone.... Personally let me start off saying I am and have been shooting for 7 years, started off with custom cars and then did a TFP with model, I marketed one to the other and put the client with the hot rod with the model and had a paid shoot and from then on it has been a fun ride- My interests have changed (type of phot work) but still love to create. Thanks for any feed back ! Nov 27 05 06:22 pm Link I'm an educated vidoegrapher turned self taught photographer  To my understanding Tony Corbel is a self taught photographer (no photgraphy education) yet he was one of the two photographers chosen to take the picture of world leaders and heads of state at United Nations Millenium World Summit Meeting.  Nov 27 05 06:27 pm Link Here's my (quick) philosophy on this. There are excellent photographers who have degrees in photography http://www.nadyalevphoto.com/ As well as excellent photographers who are self-taught http://www.winkytiki.com/ In my opinion, it don't make a shred of difference. BUT, I'd give the advantage to photogs that have taken photography as so much of the art is technique. -TMH Nov 27 05 06:31 pm Link I myself am self taught. Having my first camera when I was 8 years old. I never dreamed of being a photagrapher or a model. Through the years I have captured some very unique shots, learning "bulb" mode myself I captured me shaking my own hand in front of my custom show truck. Several night shots where I outlined objects with a colored flashlight and I never did show in the picture. I enjoy capturing rare moments on film, now digital though. I have been complimented on my look also by hundreds worldwide so I ventured into modeling 2 years ago, I have two ports here: Model #54926 Photog #57171 Please tell me which area I should pursue. Prince Jewell Nov 27 05 06:31 pm Link I always thought that term, "self-taught," is a very strange usage. What it means is that you did not go to school or learn directly from a teacher. I have never taken a photo class in my life but I would never consider myself "self-taught." I learned everything I know about photography from books and looking at photographs of masters. I learned everything from exposure to print mounting from Ansel Adams's three volume set. I go to museums. Not like I invented anything. Nov 27 05 06:34 pm Link "Taught" implies that I have "learned," and I'm not sure that's correct. But whatever I know has come from my own efforts at photography. I sort of wish I'd been formally taught. I wouldn't be having the technical struggles that I have now. But life didn't go that direction. Nov 27 05 06:35 pm Link Most of my photography knowledge was learned by doing but I took workshop of glamour photography where I learned to use studio strobes, a photo 101 where I learned to print in the darkroom and a documentary photography class. All of it has been very helpful. If you want to be an artist then vision (ideas) are more important and technical knowledge helps. If you want to be a commercial photographer, then it's your vision along with a strong technical foundation. In the end it's the final product, how you learned to get there doesn't matter. Nov 27 05 06:37 pm Link I'm self taught..and have been full-time for over a year. And I don't do wedding and senior portraits! :-) I taught myself long before digital came around (damn, I would have saved SO much money!). I learned by trial and error (still doing that!), and to be honest, I think that there are too many photogs out there that can't really relate to those of us that had to shoot film...the expense, the time...the heart-ache! Nowadays, damn near anyone can buy a digital camera and start calling themselves a photographer. This will piss some people off for sure but, I know at least 6 photogs (I'm talking about people I know personally) with college degrees in photography and without exception all of them produce mediocre work at best. That may seem really harsh of me to say but if you put some of their best work up so you could see it, you'd actually think I was being kind by calling it mediocre. Further, every one of them have asked me to help them shoot!! But yes, there certainly are highly educated and talented photogs out there. It's just been my experience that the people with the passion to teach themselves generally have more talent. Nov 27 05 06:46 pm Link I've never had training in photography. When I was married 12 years ago, I looked at the photos and said "those suck, I could do better". So I bought a Pentax K1000, a flash and upteenhundred books on photography and started learning. I don't slam anyone for a formal education in photography, and I would have loved to had it myself. But I don't believe it nessecary. Nov 27 05 07:13 pm Link Kind of depends on exactly what you mean by 'self-taught'. I took a bunch of photography classes in high school, and one [useless one] in college other than working on the newspaper and yearbook staff. Is that trained or self-taught? I devoured hundreds of books on the topic, and went through thousands of rolls of film playing and trying stuff. In more recent years, I attended a bunch of conferences and sat in on a series of adult ed photo classes on topics that interested me. Learned? Taught? If you exclude book, class, mentoring, magazine and online articles, and video-learning, you're making it awfully difficult for yourself. If you include some of those under 'self-taught'.... Nov 27 05 07:16 pm Link I haven't taken any classes. That doesn't stop me from grabbing books from the library or chatting up people that've done this for far longer than I have. Being in a structured learning environment would've been faster and exposed me to more, but I don't regret my lack of formal education. Nov 27 05 07:17 pm Link Master Image Photograph wrote: I offer most of my photos extensive technical training. Some of them have artistic aspirations, and i have tried to send them to art school, but they don't do very well on entrance exams. Nov 27 05 07:19 pm Link Lapis wrote: Yeah... and when they get caught cheating they all use the same excuse... Nov 27 05 07:26 pm Link Such an interesting thought "self educated"- I worked as a photographer with only information that I gleaned from books originaly. I then went to school for photography because I wanted to increase my technical skills. Both "ways" had positives and negatives- when I really learned was when my ass was on the line and I had to pay rent! I would say learn from anyone that is willing to help and use that information to expirement and find your own way. Nov 27 05 11:50 pm Link ya me too but was fortunate to be taught by Dave Dern and Paul Carlisle on technical stuff Nov 27 05 11:53 pm Link I recently met a photographer whom my girlfriend was modelling for, and the photographer was all 'blah bah blah' to me, telling me how she had been through school for this, etc etc; thinking I was a complete moron. My GF mentioned to her that I'm plasticpuppet, some more blah blah blahs. The photographer turns to me and says something along the lines 'you must have had a great teacher or were trained professionally', I started laughing and told her that I was self taught -- to me it is obvious I didn't go to school for this. The look of sheer horror on her face was priceless, but I think my credibility in her mind went down the tubes... and you could tell my her demeanor towards me. I blame the fact that I'm quite enigmatic at times. I suffer what I like to call the Snuffleupagus Complex, there are alot of people that think I don't exist beyond the internet. Anyways, I'm not professionally trained, rather I believe in life long learning... so one day I picked up a couple books on photography. Maybe someday I will go back and take some classes on the subject. The people that go around proclaiming how professional they are because they have this and that degree are as foolish as the people who are proud they have no degree, because it would seem you are only as good as your last photo in the photography world. Nov 28 05 12:15 am Link Lapis wrote: Yea, Iâve tried to teach my photos a thing or two also but they just wont listen Nov 28 05 12:19 am Link JM Dean wrote: Heh, sometimes you need to say it twice; with your left and right hand. Nov 28 05 12:22 am Link Master Image Photograph wrote: Yeah... don't know it from own experience tho, but I think that there is certainly an elitist feeling in those who may have graduated from a renowned photography school, because their formal education most likely taught them details and an understanding of the technical aspect of photography, that you learn systematically best in an academic environment. Nov 28 05 12:32 am Link I may not be an elitist... But i am good... And thats all that counts!! (:------ Hj Nov 28 05 12:43 am Link It's probably obvious, but I'm very self-taught. Nov 28 05 12:47 am Link Still learning Nov 28 05 12:54 am Link I am. Nov 28 05 12:58 am Link I am Nov 28 05 01:08 am Link Self taught? Probably dependning on your definetion, went to school for art, practiced all my life, taught myself the still camera... Oh this post isn't worth finishing... Nov 28 05 02:27 am Link I went to the Hallmark Institute of Photography and I thought it was great actually. It was only 10 mo and focused equally on the buisness of photography and technique which I found incredibly helpful as prior to going to school thinking about taxes made me nausous hehe...Personally I found the shortened (but not slighted workload) time period benificial though as I wouldn't have had the patience for a longer term in classes. In reguard to the issue at hand I chose to go to school so that when I took a picture right after I snaped the shutter I knew that my image was not only going to come out...but that the shadow on the side of the model's face would be black with detail or a 1/2 stop under the exposure of the other side of the face or yada yada yada. I wanted to know what my pictures would look like before I got them back and getting a formal education really helped that and not only taught me more about my own photography but exposed me to a whole diverse group of individuals all calling themselves photographers and all doing something different which was also great. I think there is definitly something for teaching yourself after all the original masters of our craft didn't take classes they experimented. Personally I found benifit in a shall we say "speedier" method, employing the knowlege of my proffessors who were all photographers in some manner but ultimately if your resourceful and determined you will learn what you need to know. I don't think it matters how you got to be able to take a picture what is important is taking it and being able to recreate it if need be. -Becky Ps. Sorry about the novel its 2:30 in the morning... Nov 28 05 04:32 am Link double post sorry Nov 28 05 04:47 am Link Most of what you learn in school isn't the technical stuff. I started out self-taught, learned almost all of what I know technically on my own (big exceptions being the color darkroom and working with higher-end gear in a well-equipped studio). But it was 4 years of art school where I learned to be a photographer, and several years of life lessons later to learn how to be a successful one. Art school gave me the background, the culture, the thought-process, all that stuff. Nov 28 05 04:49 am Link Self taught/still learning. Concert photography I pretty much have down to a science well almost. Modeling photography I'm still learning and when I have more gear will probably get better in due time. I work a fulltime job shipping & recieving at an electronic's warehouse. Before that I was doing tech support 3+ yrs at a helpdesk until it got bought out and everyone got laid off. Then I was home 24/7 being the primary care for my sickly mom for a year. Other than A+ training/certification (long since expired) everything else I do with web/graphics I been teaching myself for a number of years now. Nov 28 05 05:26 am Link All self taught. Praise to all my models though, who were patient enough with me and never hesitated to pose (and get undressed) for me... Nov 28 05 05:34 am Link Self taught. Always reading. Nov 28 05 07:28 am Link self taught... still learning... Nov 28 05 10:45 am Link Self taught. Nov 28 05 10:50 am Link Not exactly self taught. But I didn't go to school for it. I started out as an illustrator and graphic artist, really into comic books. Nov 28 05 10:54 am Link I got a BA in studio art with a focus on photography but had to practice most of the technical aspects on my own. I have to say it was useful to have professors on hand to answer questions and help me see things in a different light. At the sme time there where MANY students that just went through the motions and aren't any better than the GWC's out there. Self taught or not, if you have talent it's gonna show. However I think your work can be much richer if you have had a chance to get input from people that have been around as well as your peers. While not impossible to get critiques on your own, being in school helps. Also let's face it - there's stuff that's really boring but extremely helpful that most people would never persue on there own. Its easy to cut corners in your education as an artist when you teach yourself. Seemingly unrelated art classes have also helped. Sitting through hours of life drawing classes has been essential in my understanding of light and it's part on the perception of the human form. When you have to hand render these things you cannot help but get a more in depth understanding about how we "see" things. That's something that no book or museum visit can teach you. I doubt that most self taught photographers have had that oppurtunity. I'm not knocking the self taught photographers out there - I'm just saying school can only make you better. -George Diego Nov 28 05 12:00 pm Link I just realize that this thread is in the wrong forum. I am moving it from 'Critique' to 'Photography Talk'. UdoR Moderator Nov 28 05 12:06 pm Link Master Image Photograph wrote: Self taught. I think formal education for photography is a total complete waste of money and time. There's nothing they can teach you in a school that you can't learn from a book on your own. For me, I learn and retain far better when I have to do it on my own. I pay my bills from photoraphy. I was a programmer before photography and I still enjoy programming, so I still do consulting on the side. my primary income is from photography. I don't do weddings, no amount of money is worth THAT! I do very few, select seniors, if you're willing to pay the excessive amount of money that I charge for shooting senior portaits, then I will shoot them, hey, we all have a price Nov 28 05 12:18 pm Link BasementStudios wrote: I am curious... I never did weddings, and if approached, I'd do it most likely if I have an open spot, making $800 to $1,500 for an afternoon, plus the additional contacts when handing out business cards to guests... Nov 28 05 12:29 pm Link I'm self taught (but I have a complete IDIOT of an instructor!) Nov 28 05 12:37 pm Link I'm selftaught and work almost every day of the week. I shoot it all! from screaming babies to models to weddings to you name it. As long as the money spends, it's all good. Nov 28 05 12:38 pm Link |
