- Messages
- 2
- Name
- Richard
- Edit My Images
- Yes
Hello Everyone,
I have just joined the forum and would welcome opinions on improving and developing my photography through education.
As an 18 year old back in the 80s I missed out on the opportunity to go into further education because I chose to start work as an articled clerk and train to become an accountant even though I had no real desire to pursue this as a career.
Fast forward 30 plus years and I now have left accountancy far behind and, although I have a day job in sales and marketing, I have a love of photography and a level of competence that has resulted in me carrying out photographic work for my employer and subsequently been asked to do paid work including images for a big social media campaign for my local council.
I feel as if I know what I'm doing, but I am entirely self taught and have used the occasional YouTube videos, magazines, books and other people's work to help me. Not ever having been guided, taught or critiqued by someone with a superior level of knowledge means I am really not sure how good (or indeed bad) I am and where I can improve. I do appreciate that one expert or tutor may love my work and another hate it.
That's life! If you can't stand the heat...etc...
Against this backdrop I decided some months ago, now I have more time and resources, to try to expand my knowledge through some form of study but I am now rather confused about the direction to go and would welcome your opinions and hear about your experiences.
My main areas of interest are landscapes (for fun), street photography (for fun), food photography (for money) and workplace/event based images (for money). I also need to know much more about image editing. I use Photoshop and again I am self taught and feel as if I am just scratching the surface.
So far I have looked at a couple of U.K. based "diplomas" such as The Photography Institute. Almost all the reviews are good (they are going to be aren't they!) but they cover stuff that doesn't interest me as well as some bits that do. Local colleges offer HNDs etc. but again I'm not 100% convinced. My fear is that I could waste a lot of time and money finding out something is not for me.
Having spent hours reading I am beginning to think that individual workshops in my chosen areas might be the way to broaden my knowledge rather than a one size fits all course, although I would have to choose carefully because so much is directed at beginners. I spent a couple of years at a local camera club where I thought I could soak up other people's knowledge but ended up running half the workshops because no one else wanted to do them.
I live 60 miles north of Glasgow so there are colleges within a reasonable driving distance and being about 40 minutes from Glencoe every man and his dog offer landscape workshops nearby.
Apologies for being so long-winded. Any thoughts and personal experiences on this would be very much appreciated.
Thank you,
Richard
I have just joined the forum and would welcome opinions on improving and developing my photography through education.
As an 18 year old back in the 80s I missed out on the opportunity to go into further education because I chose to start work as an articled clerk and train to become an accountant even though I had no real desire to pursue this as a career.
Fast forward 30 plus years and I now have left accountancy far behind and, although I have a day job in sales and marketing, I have a love of photography and a level of competence that has resulted in me carrying out photographic work for my employer and subsequently been asked to do paid work including images for a big social media campaign for my local council.
I feel as if I know what I'm doing, but I am entirely self taught and have used the occasional YouTube videos, magazines, books and other people's work to help me. Not ever having been guided, taught or critiqued by someone with a superior level of knowledge means I am really not sure how good (or indeed bad) I am and where I can improve. I do appreciate that one expert or tutor may love my work and another hate it.
That's life! If you can't stand the heat...etc...
Against this backdrop I decided some months ago, now I have more time and resources, to try to expand my knowledge through some form of study but I am now rather confused about the direction to go and would welcome your opinions and hear about your experiences.
My main areas of interest are landscapes (for fun), street photography (for fun), food photography (for money) and workplace/event based images (for money). I also need to know much more about image editing. I use Photoshop and again I am self taught and feel as if I am just scratching the surface.
So far I have looked at a couple of U.K. based "diplomas" such as The Photography Institute. Almost all the reviews are good (they are going to be aren't they!) but they cover stuff that doesn't interest me as well as some bits that do. Local colleges offer HNDs etc. but again I'm not 100% convinced. My fear is that I could waste a lot of time and money finding out something is not for me.
Having spent hours reading I am beginning to think that individual workshops in my chosen areas might be the way to broaden my knowledge rather than a one size fits all course, although I would have to choose carefully because so much is directed at beginners. I spent a couple of years at a local camera club where I thought I could soak up other people's knowledge but ended up running half the workshops because no one else wanted to do them.
I live 60 miles north of Glasgow so there are colleges within a reasonable driving distance and being about 40 minutes from Glencoe every man and his dog offer landscape workshops nearby.
Apologies for being so long-winded. Any thoughts and personal experiences on this would be very much appreciated.
Thank you,
Richard
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