On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 08:53:11 -0800, n/a <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > You know I am beginning to wonder if I would be wasting money to go to > school...I can't afford to go to someplace like UC, and the two junior > colleges out here seem to be stuck in the dark ages in so far as > photography goes. One barely has a program. The other, it's pretty > bad. City College seems viable, and has a good program I am told, but > then again 99% of it is geared towards traditional photography, at > least so far as I can tell though they do seem to be adding more > digital stuff towards the end. I think I can still learn a lot there, > but I'm not sure I can learn everything I want to... > > I'm told the Harvey Milk Center has a good program and I am likely > doing some swapping in so far as skills with an instructor there. I've > got lots of digital imaging skills because I was a graphic designer > trainee before I got hurt, and I am swapping him some digital work for > help with the basics of regular photography. They do seem to have a > wonderful lab set up. So I am thinking I may just go that route and > take a class at a time there as I can. It's far cheaper than most of > the colleges and while I won't have an AS degree at the end, I'll > still have the skills.... > > This is a second career for me, and it's what I'd like to do with rest > of my life. I have some medical problems which are making it difficult > for me physically, and I don't know that I'll make it much past 65 > maybe. I'm almost 40 now, so I decided that if am going to be stuck > being disabled and sick, I am going to do what I want, and not just > rot on SS income....I'm not likely to get married or have kids, The > "work" is my life, and I feel it has to have more meaning than just > collecting a paycheck. > > I wanna leave something behind, even if it is just a few pretty pictures, and > will do whatevr I have to do to accomplish that even if it means > teaching myself from books. It wouldn't be ideal but it wouldn't be > the first time either... > > I mean to have a lil studio in 3 years. I'm going to do mostly > portrait stuff, kids, animals, people. Maybe catalog or magazine work > if I can get it. I'm not aiming to be some hot shot. I just want to > make a living and shoot what I want on the side...Fill my life up with > something meaningful so that I can enjoy whatever time I do have. I'm > likely to be doing that partly from a wheelchair at some point, but I > don't mean to let it slow me down....much.... >
Take this worth a grain of salt, because I likely don't know what I'm talking about (but that's never stopped me before... <g>): I think if your intention is to do studio work, a course would be most helpful. All that lighting stuff confuses the hell out of me (using a flash on my camera confuses the hell out of me <g>). Of course, if you could hook up with a studio guy as a "volunteer" to learn the craft for a year or so, that might be cheaper than school. The problem with being an unpaid assistant is that it becomes tantamount to slave labour. Or at least unpaid labour. And, some poor schmuck of a photographer's assistant is out of work. Mind you, the photog may not have had the money to hire one in the first place. Still, I don't like the idea of doing such work for free, especially since it seems so prevalent in the industry that it's now almost expected... Now, about school. One good thing that I would guess that they'll do for you (at least the programmes that I know of up here in Toronto do) is they might have a few courses that teach one of "the business of being a photographer". As well, they may be a valuable resource for contacts within the industry. Just a few thoughts from a guy who is not a pro and has never taken a photography course in his life, and is likely never to do those two things, ever. <vbg> cheers, frank -- "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson
