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VanillaVixen

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Hi, I've just joined you all here in this forum as I've decided that I would like a career as a professional photographer but I have no idea where to start. As it is now, I'm a stay at home mom with 3 young children with no experience of photography. I have a huge passion for it, I take pictures daily but Im under no illusions that I need to be much better to get where I want to be. I would prefer to take an online course if possible to get what I need and thats one thing I hoped someone on here could help with. Is there any courses online that will get me a degree? I've seen one on the OU for digital photography but am unsure if this is what I need. Any other pointers or advice any of you can give me would be very much appreciated
 
If you want to make a career out of it then make sure that any course on which you choose to enrol has a significant business management component to it. The joy of creativity and photography constitutes less than half of what it actually takes to succeed commercially in the genre unless you are exceptionally gifted with the camera and naturally stand out from the crowd, but even that's no guarantee.
 
I'm not a pro photographer but I've seen this question asked on here every week and the replies seem to be much the same. It's not the photography to concentrate on but the buisiness skills as thats where most fail. You must be able to take photographs that your clientes will pay for of course but if you can't control and understand the finances then you won't last long.

Edit :- As chris says above. (must type faster)
 
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VanillaVixen said:
Hi, I've just joined you all here in this forum as I've decided that I would like a career as a professional photographer but I have no idea where to start. As it is now, I'm a stay at home mom with 3 young children with no experience of photography. I have a huge passion for it, I take pictures daily but Im under no illusions that I need to be much better to get where I want to be. I would prefer to take an online course if possible to get what I need and thats one thing I hoped someone on here could help with. Is there any courses online that will get me a degree? I've seen one on the OU for digital photography but am unsure if this is what I need. Any other pointers or advice any of you can give me would be very much appreciated
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What do you mean by 'professional photographer'? Do you want to specialize in people, for example? Is it your intention to do it full-time, as your sole source of income? How 'serious' a business do you want? It's generally a long road, and the skills you'll need go well beyond camerawork. I'm asked about it often and I've put some of my perspectives here: http://lindsaydobsonphotography.com/blog/?p=1166
 
That's a bold question, but bold is good :)

As said, professional photography is more about business than taking picturers. Getting work, and getting paid for it, is pretty much a full time job in itself. The photography bit inbetween is almost the easy part.

But you've got to start somewhere, and either way you'll need to be pretty good with a camera. So learn that bit first, and get a decent DSLR with a standard kit zoom and flash, and learn how to use it inside-out. You can have a go at most things with that, and leave the more specialist equipment until you need it.

Plenty of courses to help with that, but you can learn a heck of a lot of it yourself by taking lots of pictures, learning, taking some more, reading and asking questions on here, and shooting some more. That'll keep you busy for a while, at relatively low cost, then see where you stand.

And welcome to TP :)
 
Thank you all for your informative replys. It's given me a lot to think about and thankfully I'm not put off by the amount of work which will be put in. At the moment I have a bog standard digital cam, a Nikon Coolpix S5100 and of course, my trusty iPhone :p but will look to upgrade to a decent DSLR as soon as funds allow. I think for now, I'll just concentrate on becoming the best photographer I can be and see how it all goes. Im already learning quite a bit just by browsing these forums!
 
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Getting to know Photoshop will help. A pro is expected to be able to process images and present them in the required format - web, print journalism, art print or whatever all need different treatments. Just as in the old days you would be expected to be at home in a darkroom, today you will need to know your way around a computer.
 
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