Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2003 9:59 AM
There is a suggestion that the number of
UK photographers earning a
living in the profession is fairly static at something under 6,000
which includes medical and other specialised fields. If we assume a
relatively short career of twenty years that means that there is
actually a demand by the industry of only 300 per year. ...
The problem is that many of these colleges
are being economical with
the truth about the job prospects of their graduates. If they were
being honest and told the students that all they were going to get was
a greater appreciation of photography before getting a job in another
field the teachers would no longer be in a job. It is a self
perpetuating con trick. I have spoken to recent graduates who were
heartbroken to realise that they had wasted three years and got into
debt for a career hope which they were not equipped for.
However, it was not always like this. In
the late sixties photography
students were in the highest category of further education to work in
their chosen field...
Bob Croxford
In the sixties, I was teaching
photojournalism one day a week at the
Guildford School of Art. I thought my students were pretty useless. In the
'80's I was at a party in London when three of my former, ‘useless’ students
came up to me. Two very successful as photographers and the third head of
EMI's movie division!
In the '80's teaching, again at Columbia
College in Chicago -this time
courses in stock photography and in lighting and the use of 4x5 equipment.
More seemingly hopeless students. I struggling hard to give anyone a "B'
grade, let alone an A. I had about 22 students who gathered around the
table, mouths open like hungry nestlings waiting to be fed. Some of these students
are now successfully at work in the
photography industry
If my teaching experience has taught me anything it is that if the students
have a burning desire to be photographers they will probably make it. I also
learned that my preliminary judgements of students abilities and their
work
will likely be proved wrong in the long term. And, I learned that what was
a wasted pitch was the academic teaching of photography by instructors who
have never earned a living with a camera.
I think the growing importance of stock
photography has made it more
possible for a wide diversity of photographers to earn a living with their
cameras, though not always an excellent living.
Brian Seed
