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.
Subscribe now.
Watch this, watch this video.