Beginner Advice needed on what path to follow .. :S

[cheshirecat95]

Hey everyone, I'm new here so first off sorry if this is posted in the wrong place! Just looking for some advice from people who know photography/the photography market a little better than me.

I am currently on a wildlife media course (in year 1) but I'm already starting to wonder whether it is worth my time. After speaking to a lot of 2nd/3rd years and hearing about past students, no one is really mad on the course. It seems at first glance to offer so many media opportunities when in reality people are completing it, then having to find a part time job and just do freelance (non wildlife) photography with the hope of proper career in a few years once they have built up their portfolio etc. I knew going into this course that a job at the end would be hard.. but based on feedback from others I feel that going it alone wouldn't really put me any worse off.

I was originally torn between choosing this course and going for a zoology/animal behaviour/animal management type course and this one won. I have modules both in media and in zoology/the natural world (with zoology lecturers) which I am enjoying more.

I am definitely going to complete 1st year, to see if I feel any improvement is made, but my line of thinking at the minute is that I could definitely do a lot better in what would be year 2 and 3 if I was doing my own work (own website, own promotion, freelance work and I could find some work experience/internships) than I would do in 2 years of filming what I was told by the uni in between essay writing and group projects where half the group has no motivation or input at all .

I'm hoping to move to another uni and start at year 1 in animal behaviour/zoology etc. This would allow me to get the degree in my original course choice whilst building up photography on the side.

Just curious to see it from other peoples point of view incase I leave/swap and make a big mistake!
Thank you

 

[danny_bhoy]

If you nor any past or present students actually like the course or see that it has any real value then you probably already know the answer. Depends what your long term career goals are though. If you're just looking to build a portfolio then you don't necessarily need an academic setting in which to do that. Depending on what genre you're into you could do that in you leisure time via TFP models etc.

Although nobody can really give you a definitive answer, from the tone of your post I'd suggest you maybe already know the answer.

You're young, follow your gut and if that means making a mistake then make it. Plenty of time to rectify it.

 

[Kodiak Qc]

•
It is, IMHO, not so much WHAT you are doing but HOW you are doing it.

I often take my students to the marsh…
• they are learning something about the animals, the marsh itself and patience
• they are learning to develop a contemplative approach to their world
• because of the peace and quiet, they have the time to explore and weigh the
settings on their combo, and experiment/compare results with other students
right on the spot.

Whilst I know some of them may see themselves shooting at the race track or
else, it is not, in a learning process, what you do but how you do it that is important.

 

[snerkler]

Making money out of photography is getting harder and harder these days with so many people taking pictures of their own. I recently went on a photography course with an established wildlife photographer who is the official tog for a chain of wildlife parks, and has also done work for National Geographic and the like and he was telling me how hard it is to make a living from it these days, individual photos sales have taken a nose dive.

 

[ibecks]

As someone who did a Media Studies degree and worked in TV production, I'll tell you that the only students who ended up working in media were the ones who did a significant amount of work in the industry alongside their degree. They were part-time runners, researchers, columnists, editors and web designers in their 'spare' time. Our extra-curricular work held much more value with employers than our degrees because it showed our independent enthusiasm and drive. Find a way to start building up your portfolio now, not after you've graduated. Talk to animal charities — they sometimes need photographers for various projects which could help build a portfolio.

BTW, I also hated the media theory side of things — unless you're the photographer/director, you're never going to be able to say for sure whether a high angle was used to deliberately denote power or whether they were just trying to hide an ugly building in the background! Plus there's only so many semesters of Western film critique you can take without going a little bit loopy.