Photography Courses Good?

CocoAyl

Hi all,

I'm recently unemployed business professional and i've always had a passion for Photography. Never acted on it, but now that I have the opportunity I want to give it a try. And i think it would be good experience or advantages towards other employment in my area (Event Management)

I was wondering has anyone experience in doing a 10 week photography course? offered by the further colleges of education?

Co

Ecate

Hello,

the technique part of photography will only take 10 minutes to explain, and the rest will be all about taking as many picture as you can!

I am a professional photographer and this was the lesson I've learned!

Corkbah

CocoAyl wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm recently unemployed business professional and i've always had a passion for Photography. Never acted on it, but now that I have the opportunity I want to give it a try. And i think it would be good experience or advantages towards other employment in my area (Event Management)

I was wondering has anyone experience in doing a 10 week photography course? offered by the further colleges of education?

Co

it is all relevant to your general knowledge and basic cop-on in business .... being a photographer is 25% taking photos .... the other 75% is running the business, marketing and promoting the business ...post processing etc etc.

What will a 10week course teach you that you cant learn yourself - granted it will give you a more structured learning environment but most photographers are self taught - do you have camera equipment at the moment ?
Are you aware of the cost of camera equipment (proper professional equipment will cost you thousands) .... and this is where you have to take the gamble ...do you spend thousands trying to learn photography and buying gear when you may not be able to make any money from it.

to be honest I think you may be wasting your time/money, if you always have had an interest in photography...let that interest develop, if you are unemployed ...use the time to learn photography - do some of the courses that are on offer to gain the knowledge, develop an insight and do some running your own business courses as well as starting your own business courses and learning about VAT/Taxation and filing accounts as well as how to price photography jobs .... learn to walk before you run !!

take your time...building a photography business takes years ...not weeks/months..... YEARS !! (its not as simple as buying camera gear and taking photos !!! ...who's going to pay you and why should they choose you over someone else)

CocoAyl

I think you've gotten my understanding wrong, I don't plan on developing photography into a business, just so it would be advantageous towards my other skills, which is a substantial education in International Business and Marketing, One year of running a marketing company and twos years events management. But it wouldn't be a process i'd be solely focusing on, but rather using photography skills both in a limited professional sense and a major recreational past time.

Corkbah

CocoAyl wrote: »

I think you've gotten my understanding wrong, I don't plan on developing photography into a business, just so it would be advantageous towards my other skills, which is a substantial education in International Business and Marketing, One year of running a marketing company and twos years events management. But it wouldn't be a process i'd be solely focusing on, but rather using photography skills both in a limited professional sense and a major recreational past time.

ok...so one year running a marketing company - why did it fail ??

two years event management - why did this stop ? there are tonnes of events organised on a weekly basis surely you should be able to get people to hire you to manage their events...if not why not ?? ....also ...why are you not still with said management company ??

these things are something which you need to consider - look at yourself first, adding another skill like photography (or even the basics) may not be able to help - you have limited work experience (3yrs) ....try to build on those, do courses on event management, marketing, expand your knowledge in these areas if you wish to work in this area - dont diversify thinking it will help, photography is such a broad area mastering one area is tough enough and anyone with a proper thirst for photography knows that it is a never ending barrell of techniques, places and equipment - you can spend all your life doing one aspect of photography and never get it right or someone may always be better - most people in event management dont care if you cant take a photo - it has nothing to do with the job (you might understand the lighting setups better - but thats not your concern thats an engineers job !)

in short ...I think you need to do some courses and learn, gain some more experience and figure out what you actually want ... you could do some courses in photography but if you are going to work in event management/marketing.... you wont need to do the photography ... thats why events and marketing people hire "professional" photographers .... and this is why professional photographers charge marketing companies a lot of money to create the photo/image they want ...because they know how to do it !!

EyeBlinks

Holy God, the chap asked a very simple question and now is subjected to all this diatribe :mad:

No I've never done a 10 week course, but there are loads around who should be able to help you.

Corkbah

I have not forcefully or bitterly VERBALLY attacked the poster (dictionary definition of diatribe)

Maybe the OP was not clear in the first post - they have 1yr marketing and 2yrs event management experience and want to know will photography assist in the area of event management.

simple answer is no, it wont assist in event management, it can give you an understanding of what the photographers will require but in my experience the vast majority of events that are planned do not work around photography of the event - they dont care about the photographers as long as no-one gets injured/dies and the event goes off without any trouble.

if you have an interest in it.... by all means ... learn some more, educate yourself, get a camera and take pics - doing a course offers a structured environment of learning, ALL of the information available on these courses is available online for free.

I do not believe it will be of a benefit to the op - they have limited experience in the industry and in order to work in that area they should do more courses which are aimed at event management instead of diversifying

dave66

I did a 10 week course in my local VEC but that was about 15 years ago. I did because I wanted to get back into photography and so wanted a "back to basics" kick start.

I found the course worked well for my needs as it did for others who were there because they wanted to learn more. One guy actually summed up his reason for doing the course so well, it's something I've carried with me since, he said "I want to be able to take the photo I think I'm taking."

I would think like many things, you'll get out of the course, what you put into it. If you've an interest in photography and wanted to get a grip of the basics, then go for it, it can really hurt can it?

ScumLord

I think you should start with a good book and if it's not sinking in after that try a course. Most photography learning is trial and error along with practice and taking lots of photos. Nobody can really stand over your shoulder telling you exactly what to do. I got Tom Angs Digital photography masterclass and it's one of the better introduction books I've read so far. Don't go too basic with the book, the basics of photography could be covered in a two page flyer.

I think having photography skills is very helpful in any media or promotion business, it means you can do the basic work yourself to a decent standard. In todays world the more media you have to work with the better and getting a pro to do that level of work probably isn't financially feasible to the small fries.

Hugh_C

Corkbah wrote: »

look at yourself first, adding another skill like photography (or even the basics) may not be able to help

tough love!

Cut the him/her some slack - s/he's just been made unemployed FFS.

Hugh_C

CocoAyl wrote: »

I was wondering has anyone experience in doing a 10 week photography course? offered by the further colleges of education

I've no personal experience of doing a course, everything I've learnt I've learnt on the job as it were. Nothing like getting out there and doing it ... If that's not your bag, perhaps involve yourself in a local camera club and figure out if you actually like the process of taking photography more seriously - it can completely change your mindset taking shots for money, it's not always enjoyable and can be to the detriment of your love for the artform.