Thursday, November 15, 2007

We are the Sum of All Our Parts


I'm getting philosophical, huh? I was thinking about going back to school, entirely ditching the Computer Science approach that I used to be so interested in and going with.....suspense....can you guess? Photography! It's something I've been into since my 35mm SLR days in High School. With the emergence of digital and the huge price tag, I just kind of fell off for a while. Since I got a good job and the means to pay for new gear, I picked up right where I left off and have been going ever since.

What got me thinking about the whole going back to college thing and the blog title is that photographers don't need to go to school for anything. Our hobby/profession is one that any one can pick up a camera and start dabbling in, and depending on their level of creativity and aptitude, become amazing at what they do.

The problem then becomes knowing what to do with your talent. As I have read many, many times from many, many sources is that the photography profession is 80% business and 20% photography. I know you have to have an eye for it and natural talent can take you a long ways, but if you have amazing pictures that go no farther than your computer, you've only accomplished part of this great hobby.

So with the knowledge I do have, I think I'm ready to take the jump of ditching the idea of having some big pay 9-5 IT position and do what I've always been really good at, doing things my way. It's time to pick up the rest of what I need to become a successful photographer in the business world