Jared Polin, froknowsphoto.Com. And a question that I get all the time from
high school students is, "Should I go to college to become a photographer?" Now, this is a huge debate in this day and
age especially when a lot of people don't think you need to go to college to have a
career in something you love. Now, the reason I bring this up is because
a reader sent in a message, a high school student sent in this email, and I am going
to paraphrase it and read some of it, you can see it on the screen right now. Okay, here it is, "Hi, Jared, my name is Allie
and I'm a junior in high school.
Currently, my life is surrounded around college
and my future. Anyways, my parents are very supportive and
want me to go to school to do something I'm passionate about and that is photography. I am in my school's yearbook as a photographer
and I would love to pursue a career in it and I was wondering where you want to see
what your journey was after high school so I can gain some perspective from a professional. Thanks, Allie.
So, Allie thank you very much for your question
and I know there's a ton of people out there right now trying to figure out the same exact
thing. So, first I want to give kudos to your parents
to supporting or for supporting your passion as a photographer and wanting you to do something
that you are passionate about, that is great. Now, on to your questions, where did I go? I went to a two-year school called Antonelli
Institute for Photography in Erdenheim, PA, it is a smaller school, but it is a very good
school with great teachers, but is a two-year photography only school. Yes, they do have some business classes and
I know they are starting the shift into some video, but the question is should you go to
a two-year photography only school? And I'm finding it harder and harder these
days to say yes, you can learn a lot about photography not only from my website, but
from many other places online that would be far less expensive than going to college.
Now, what's good about going to a college
like Antonelli or a two-year school is that it's straight up photography. You're going to basically be paying to be
given assignments that you're going to do. Now, these assignments are going to be all
over the board to help you get a well-rounded education so that when you do step out into
the world as a "Photographer" you are going to be more ready to take on any job that may
come your way. But in all honesty when I left college, the
college will say that they will place you or Antonelli has a placement department that's
head up by a good friend who does a tremendous job to make sure that he can do his best to
make sure that you get to somewhere photo-related as a career, but they can't guarantee that
and most of the jobs that are coming out of college that are being sent in to these colleges
to be placed they're not the greatest things at all.
So, when I left school I struggled for a long
time, I struggled to figure out what to do. I was on my own shooting, I was working at
a photo studio which I didn't stay out long because I wanted to actually shoot and not
be stuck printing other people's terrible photos. I wanted to be out in the world shooting. I did a lot of corporate jobs, I did weddings,
I shot for other people, but I will also say this that the majority of the people that
I graduated with I would say 95 to 98% of them never got anywhere in photography, so
maybe they tried for a couple of years and they failed, but they moved on to something
else.
So, the majority of the people that go to
school for photography are not exiting the world and becoming photographers, it's just
not that easy. So, I have some more notes right here is,
if I was to go do it again there's that debate you go to a four-year school and spend
the money or do you try to venture out on your own and invest in gear? It's a tough decision, but if I was in your
shoes and you needed to go to college not needed, but you would like to go to school,
I would go to the largest most popular four-year school that you can get into because it's
about connections, it's about the alumni network, it's about being able to graduate in four
years and have connections and opportunities with different businesses all around the world
from people that went to the college that you went to. Now, I wouldn't go for a photo degree as a
masters or a badge or whatever it is, I would not go straight up for photography. I would go into business, branding, and marketing
with a minor in photography, with a minor in advertising, with what else do I have
here business marketing, audio/video, anything that has to do with being creative that will
allow you to step out into the world and be able to take on multiple roles.
There are not many jobs out there today for
strictly just photography, it's not like the old days where we were like, "Yeah, I'm going
to work for a newspaper. Newspapers aren't paying, that's not a viable
job as a photographer anymore because you just can't make money and if anybody tells
you that is not all about money, well they're probably not making any. It is important that you at least make some
money that you can sustain yourself, you can always do the passion project, but if you're
looking for career and you don't want to live in your parent's basement for the rest of
your life you're going to need to find a way to be successful. And that is being a photographer of videographer
understanding how to edit video, edit photos, understand audio, know little bit about branding
and marketing and business so that you can step into any business out there in the world
and be a creative that can bring more than just photography to the table.
I'll say this about VaynerMedia, the Gary
Vaynerchuk's company they put out a job posting a couple years ago that if I wasn't in this
business right now that would've been my job out of college. They were looking for somebody who was a photographer,
but could set up video shoots and photo shoots and handle working with a client. They're looking for people that do more than
just take pictures, but they are creative, they can be well-rounded in multiple different
levels of things that you can go out there to do. So, those are the dilemmas, those are the
things it that I highly suggest doing.
I think you can go to a four-year school why
do I say a four-year school that's the largest out there? Because they have the most activities for
you to participate in, say it's Penn State University, that's a huge school or Ohio State. Any of these large schools have athletics
departments, huge academic departments where there so many different extracurricular activities
you can participate in, but with the sports, you've got the football teams, the basketball
teams, lacrosse teams, the women's volleyball, the swimming, the track and field, the softball
and baseball and chess, and political things. There are so many different opportunities
for you to take photographs in a huge school that it doesn't matter if you're into sports
or you are in the academics or you are into other clubs there are things and you can go
out there and capture and learn. So, take the photography classes, but also
get involved with anything photo-related, call the president of the school and so you
want to do a photo shoot with them, do a project photographing all the professors, doing video
of the professors, getting their opinions and capturing that for a project.
Just do it, you pay to go to these schools
so use that to your advantage, you ask for things because you're paying the school to
allow you to do that stuff, so take advantage of all of that that you have in front of you. That's why I think a big four-year school
is a great place to go to not only get the education, but to get the alumni, it's all
about networking, the people you meet today are the people that are going to help you
in business in the future. And all of the alumni associations that have
been there for a hundred years or more at different schools they're going to help you
find jobs and get a jump start somewhere. I know this is long winded, but that's the
thing, I don't know that a two-year straight up photography school makes much sense anymore,
you need to be more well-rounded going out into the world today.
So, I'm not discouraging you from going and
pursuing photography, I'm encouraging you to take the photography, but do all of those
other things that I mentioned to make yourself more well-rounded so that you can either start
your own business or walk into another business through an alumni association contact or you
just can go apply for a job because your super well-rounded, it's a starting point to get
out there into the world. So, is it worth it to go to college to become
a photographer? I will say no if all you're looking to do
is just take pictures, I honestly don't think that's a viable path for anybody, but I will
say yes it's viable if photography is a subset of the things that you're going to go do when
you get into college. There's a whole other thing out there that
says take the money that you'd have spent on college and try to start a business, that
is something that you can do, but I will say there's a lot of grants, there's a lot of
scholarships, there's a lot of opportunities for free money out there regardless of who
you are that you can get that's going to cut down on the bills that you have to pay to
go to college. And just to throw a monkey wrench in there
there's also the option to not even go to college to find a business that will hire
you or to allow you to be an apprentice or just a tagger along to hopefully learn in
the real world to get real-world experience instead of spending all that money on school.
Now, you may not get paid a lot or you may
not get paid at all to get a job with someplace that will take you in and then allow you to
be their apprentice to learn. There's probably not a lot of opportunities
out there for that, but if you want to skip school altogether because somebody is going
to give you the opportunity to get real-world experience, well I would possibly look in
that direction for what to do after high school. Now, it's more risky, but it could have a
lot of upsides and a lot of rewards, it's one of those things where if it's something
that you want you will find a way to get it. Now, it's not to be easy, but think about
it real-world experience that you don't have to pay to get, but you are actually not sitting
there in a school classroom doing this you are on the job getting real-world training
that will pay dividends in the long run.
So, those are the two alternatives, I know
this is long winded, you could skip school, you can go out on your own, you could become
an apprentice, you could go to a four-year school, you can go to a two-year school, it's
all over the place, but those are some of my suggestions. What do you guys think? Leave a comment down below, I look forward
to hearing what you guys have to say and that is where I'll leave it. Don't forget to subscribe here on YouTube
Jared Polin fronknowsphoto.Com. See you.
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