Stick, if going commercial would you suggest taking photog with an art degree then?
LOL, my F3 with its MD4 motordrive will stop M855 no problem:p
Stick is right here, PJ wannabes and photogs are all falling out of the trees right now and not making the cut. It has NEVER paid that well. Successful commercial photogs can make big $.
Most end users are happy with mediocrity these days and so all the wannabes dumping images into fly by night stock agencies have put everyone out of business. Hell, try and shoot wildlife… for get it… you are competing with retired multi-millionaires with more gear and time than you ever dreamed of having spending 6-12 months a year in game parks top lodges burning millions of images with their digital bodies and selling all their images at a huge loss and looking like a hero to their photo club back in Germany or where ever… if they get a photo published here or there.
If you want to go commercial then remember its ALL about self marketing and FINDING work. If you count on the work finding you forget it. You must HUSTLE your butt off to find clients.
Unless your a top wedding photographer in debutante-land its a tough life that takes a special personality and drive to make it happen.
No idea, I’m a full time city cop who does 30-50hrs a week of photography as a side gig. I only work in one area of photography, so I’m not a good source of info for your question.
A BJ (Bachelors in Journalism) with an emphasis in photojournalism is a very difficult degree because you have to take the exact same classes as a journalism student…lots of writing…and then in addition the photography part which is VERY time consuming and you will HAVE to work at the school newspaper which is very time consuming. It is the best way to become a PJ, but a waste if you are going commercial. If you want to go commercial the best way is either going to someplace like RIT and or working as an assistant to a commercial photographer. You might try assisting for awhile to see if you like the work. Many photographers will only hire assistants that do not want to be photographers so as not to create competition for themselves and give away all there hard earned trade secrets. Big Time photographers will hire wannabes, but often the local struggling photographers hire non-photographers only and go thru them pretty fast.
This is a VERY competitive dog-eat-dog world!
Some tips…your portfolio is only as good as your weakest image (if all you have is 5 good ones only present 5 good ones)…editors that only compliment your work and have no advice are really blowing you off and think your work isn’t worth their time and editors that critique your work ruthlessly think your work is worthy of their time and the ruthless critique should be taken as a great compliment! Good Luck!
Thanks for the help & the info.
Spade, if you are really interested in a career in photography, look to the medical side. There is a ton of money to be made for photographers in that field and there is little competition. Unlike commercial, wedding, portrait, pj, and other specialties, medical photography really has nothing to do with personal creativity and everything to do with being extremely technically proficient. Plus, you won’t have every Tom, Dick and Harry and soccer mom with a camera competing with you.
RTI offers a pretty good medical photography course and I believe that John Hopkins still offers a med photo course. If I were to do it all over again, that is that route I’d take.
It’s been pointed out that commercial photogs make big $$'s but the thing is, like PJ and wedding photography, there is a very small percentage of photographers making a very large percentage of the money. I doubt if 1 out of 1000 photographers truly makes a living solely on photography. I work full time at top scale (union shop) at a daily newspaper and still have to whore myself out to get by, and that is with 20+ years experience as a photog.
That is a great recommendation. Finding a niche speciality is a great way to make $ and create job security. Obviously photographing DoDo Birds as a specialty won’t cut it but finding a specialty like medical photography which is just going to be a growth industry is a good idea. I have a buddy who specializes in photographing machinery and computer systems and does very well and it gives him the cushion to do personal documentary projects. Of course getting a medical degree (nursing) is a better idea;)