Senior Reading Response # 8

Top 11 Things Photographers Wish They Learned in Photo School

Looking this article over, I think we learn a lot of these concepts in our Photo department. We certainly talk about marketing/branding ourselves, although I think it would be a great idea to include a whole class focusing on photography as a business, and about small business practices. Number 7, “You don’t have to be Perfect,” is definitely covered, because we have a faculty with diverse views of what a “finished” product can or should look like, and who encourage us to tray and fail in order to learn.

I feel that number 8, “Where to find story ideas and things to photograph,” we talked about in Senior with Rebecca earlier in the semester, but is one of the major and recurring struggles in photography, and Art in general. Inspiration and motivation are foundational elements of our work, and must be constantly reignited. It can seem like in order for a series to be successful it has to be about a big, global issue, but that’s not the case. As one photographer stated, “the best stories are the ones that are right under your nose. The stories in your community.”