Should You Go to PHOTOGRAPHY SCHOOL?
Should you go to photography school or should
you just learn photography by yourself? Should you watch youtube tutorials about photography
or should you start an online course? What should you do? If you're a beginner photographer or if you're
thinking about starting to learn photography, you probably already thought: "hmmm, how am
I gonna learn it? Am I watching online tutorials on YouTube? Am I buying an online course? Am I going to photography school? What to do?" And yeah, I get you! It's very easy to get confused and not know
how to start, since there are so many options and ways to learn photography and pretty much
everything else out there nowadays. Which, of course, in one way is bad because
it makes it harder to decide what way to go but, in another hand, is great because if
you just take a moment to think about it and choose, it means, you've got many options
to go with! So today we're going through a couple of ways
you can learn photography so you can decide which one fits you and your personality the
most.
YouTube tutorials and articles –
This is the free way to learn photography and it is definitely efficient. This is the way I learned myself. But in order for this to work, there's something
you gotta keep in mind: you have to be active and self going, you have to be curious and
have discipline, you have to self direct yourself. And the reason why I say that is, when you
learn photography this way, there usually won't be an order that you will have to follow. You won't have a teacher telling you what
to learn first and what to do next. The way it will work is: You'll go through
some information, for example, you will choose a first YouTube tutorial that looked interesting
to you and when you are watching that video, you'll realize that person mentioned a term
or an equipment you never heard about, you have no clue what it is. So while you watch it, you write it down so
you can search for it afterwards. And that way one thing takes to the other,
and to the other, and to the other… What I really love about this method of learning
is, I could learn from amazing people, I spent no money learning and I learned it at my own
pace.
I could read as many articles, I could go
through as many blogs or I could watch as many tutorials as I wanted everyday: if I
had one hour to do it, I could use that one hour. If I had 5 hours to study,
then I could just search through the internet for those 5 hours. There's no time
limit or no limit to the amount of information I would receive in one day. I could just go as far as I wanted. Plus, I could go the order I wanted according
to what most mattered to me and what I felt was most important for me to learn first. I didn't have to listen to hours and hours
of information that was not useful to me. I focused on what mattered to ME. Now, I know this method of learning doesn’t
work for everybody, so there's a second way to begin learning photography that maybe could
work better for you.
That is choosing one or some online courses. The good thing about the online courses, in
my opinion, is you can still learn from the comfort of your home and you can still do
it at your own pace, but if you're someone who gets easily confused about different information
and gets lost in a sea of content without knowing where to go after a couple of minutes,
then this method gives you the route you might need.
When you watch a course, if you choose a good
one, of course, you will usually go through everything you need in order to learn basic
photography or to learn the specific photography topics that made you buy the course, and the
person who structured the course will have decided the order of learning for you. They will tell you: this is the best way to
go, let's start with this! Now the second step is to learn this… and
then this… and so on.
This way you just follow the natural order
of the course without having to worry about thinking about what it is you need to learn
next. I bought some online courses throughout my
photography journey. If i really admire somebody's work and they
offer an exclusive course with content I cannot easily find everywhere, I buy it and I believe
it is so worth it! If you decide to go this way, if you decide
to learn photography with an online course, great way to go! Just make some research to make sure you're
buying a good course. And a good way to decide that is to look at that person's work
and see if you like their photography. Don't buy a course of someone you don't even
like the photos or if you don't even know their work. You might be wasting your money and time and
end up frustrated with what you get. Oh, and also, if you think this is something
for you, if learning through an online course sounds more reasonable to you, then before
you do that, I suggest that you watch the video I did about what you should learn first
as a new photographer! It might help you save some money and still
be able to learn all you need in order to start taking awesome pictures out there just
by following the steps I mention there! That's it, you want the information in an
easy order so you know what to learn first? I'll give you that for the price of a like! It's not that bad, huh? The link for that video will be up here and
also in the description.
But then, if you've heard
all I've just said and you're still not sure if that's your way to go… There is a third way to learn photography
and yeah, when I started photography and was I was learning the basics, this was a very
strong doubt in my mind. I studied by myself watching tutorials and
reading articles for about 3 to 4 months and I still had that in the back of my head. The phography school! I thought that besides learning photography, a school of photography could present me to a network of photographers and business related
that I might not be able to reach if I didn't participate in it. At that time, though, I didn't know many photographers
and when I finally got my first job as a second photographer for a wedding photographer in
Dublin ,I shared this thought with him.
And he said he wouldn't suggest going to a photography
school. He had been in the business of wedding photography
for over 15 years and he said he had met many people who had learned by going to school
and people who had learned by themselves and he never could see a clear difference between
the one and the other, neither in terms of quality, neither in terms of networking and
business. He said it was much more about how much people
practiced and learned from their mistakes, and about how curious they were to keep learning
and going after information.
So I ended up not going to photography school
and kept learning by myself. Truth is: I am not sure how much it could
help with networking and, if you've been through photography school and you know it, please
share your thoughts in the comments so we can all know how it worked for you. But the truth is, to enroll in a photography
school in Ireland was very expensive, plus, about 3 months after that, I ended up deciding
to move from Dublin to Stockholm and in the end, for me, it was a good choice not to take
the course. But even though I did not take it, I can share
some information I know for sure: One of the biggest benefits of going to photography school
is the same as doing an online course: the structure.
You will find careful organization of classes,
with instructors presenting information to you in the right order, without missing any
critical point. And then there's one extra point: if you have
school 5 days a week, you'll be committed to it for 5 days a week and if you're not
a disciplined person who are able to make a schedule on your own and really follow it
studying from home, then this might be the best option for you. And again, even though I haven't been through
it to know exactly how it works, I'm sure you'll make some kind of network and contacts
that you might use for your photography business in the future.
What you have to measure is: is it worth it? After all, you can still network out of photography
school, can't you? Plus, in my opinion there are some cons that
you might want to consider. It takes time! It's just as going to any other school. 50% of the time you're there, you're learning
useful information. But the other 50% of the time might be just
time you could use to be learning more of what is useful to you and your business specifically. Of course I'm just guessing numbers here, maybe
your school is awesome and 90% of your time is well spent, maybe it's not as good and
only 30% of the content you're learning is great. But the thing is, I'm a very practical person
and even if there is a 10% of time waste in the process, that is something that kinda
bothers me.
But, again, it might not be a problem to you. Another con: it takes money. It's expensive and again you should measure:
should I put this money here or should I use it for something else I will need in my business? Only you can decide that! So as you see, in the end, it all comes down
to what type of learning works best for you. Can you self-direct yourself to learn all
the important things about photography? Can you go after your own clients and network? Do you have that discipline? Or would you prefer to immerse yourself in
a photography environment with other students and different teachers? There is no right or wrong way to go. There is what is best for you. And knowing the possibilities you have and
what characteristics you should have to strive in each type of learning, is essential for
you to choose what works best for you.
The best way to learn photography to me, might
not be the best way for you. But with these things in mind you should be
able to know what works best to your personality. Now, after watching this video, do you have
a hint of which way to go? Of what way is the best for you? If you say tutorials is your way to go, if
you believe you can learn by yourself, then this channel might be something good for you. Every Wednesday and every other Sunday I update
new content with photography tips that will help you start out and be a decent photographer. So, if you're that person – or even if you're
not that person but this video helped you Please hit the like button, subscribe to
this channel and click the notify button so you will be notified every time I release
new videos and also. Thanks so much for watching this video up
to the end! You're awesome! I'll see you in the next video! Tchau!
