The Importance of Training

In the final part of this series, I’ll be talking about training and how important it is to photographers. For the other two parts in the series, have a look at my posts on marketing and sales.

Training is something that a lot of people think about when they start out on the path to become professional photographers. A lot of angst tends to go into this thought process, and it frequently revolves around whether or not to attend some course that offers a degree or other qualification.

The qualification option is one that many people have taken, and some have been very satisfied with. I don’t have any direct experience of any such programmes, so I’m not really in a position to recommend for or against. However, I would be very much aware before entering into one of two things.

Firstly, to be a ‘professional photographer’, no degree, diploma or certificate is required. You merely establish yourself and start trading. When dealing directly with clients, no-one will ask to see a qualification. Your portfolio and testimonials of past customers, or if you’re just starting out, your enthusiasm and professional behaviour will be all the evidence they need. While a qualification course may well offer you the information you need to get started, it also may not – so don’t discount other options before going down that route.

Secondly, there are many skills you need to be a successful photographer, photography being just one. You need to be a salesman, a marketer, office administrator, accountant, planner, etc. etc. To my mind, a structured, qualification-giving course must offer training in all these areas in order to be worthwhile. The vast majority of photographers are individual businesspeople – self-employed individuals, rather than salaried employees. We have to be the jack-of-all-trades.

Lastly, while a qualification may not be necessary to start trading, if you wish to go down the traditional apprenticeship route your potential employer may want to see one. There’s much to be said for apprenticing yourself as an assistant to an established photographer who works in the field you’re interested in – provided you can find one who is willing to actually teach you and not withhold their knowledge for fear that you’ll leave and go into competition with them. It will mean some years of low (or sometimes even no) pay, but you’ll emerge in a good position at the end of it, much more aware of the realities of the business.

Another route is the one I took myself. Through years of application while working full-time in another career, I taught myself the technical and creative aspects of photography. I did this because I love the topic, and through voracious reading of books and Internet sites, managed to bootstrap myself to a fairly high level. It was a long and sometimes very frustrating path, but it got me there in the end. However, I was in for a rude shock when I ‘went pro’ about five years ago. I had no knowledge of any of the business areas I touched on above, and was as a result thrown in at the deep end with rocks around my ankles. Luckily, I had the air hose (if you’ll excuse the pun) of freelance IT work to keep me breathing while I worked loose of the shackles and fought up to the surface. I’m still there, thankfully with no need of the hose.

Having struggled to come to grips with both the required photographic and business skills, I’ve taken a few informal workshops, seminars and other training sessions over the last couple of years, many organized by the IPPA, which I joined four years ago. These have been an immense help, filling in gaps in my self-generated knowledge and making me realize that if only I’d sought some sort of training before I could have short-circuited a lot of frustration and angst. I make an effort now to seek out knowledge in a more targeted way, and if training on a particular subject of interest crops up, I make the investment in time and money to attend.

Particularly in this business, which is very driven by technology and which is changing on an almost daily basis, it’s vital to spend the effort to keep abreast of developments and along the way to discover new inspirations. As mentioned in the last podcast, it’s very easy to lose enthusiasm for your work because you fall into a rut. Constant application, striving to improve yourself and discovering new techniques and ideas is the antidote for that. Continued training is one way to accomplish it.

If you’re starting out, and the structured qualification course isn’t for you, then it’s a good idea to pool information from a variety of sources. Take a short business course to get a feel for what’s required to run a successful enterprise. Your local enterprise board probably offers just such a course – take advantage of it. Attend some seminars on sales & marketing. Grill your friends who work in those areas for techniques and ideas. And attend a photography workshop, or several. Getting the same information from two or three different photographers will really cement it down, and everyone has a different way of working – you’ll learn from observing the differences as well.

I myself run photography workshops, aimed at both the hobbyist and the aspiring professional. I chose to start running them because it combines two of the things I’m most passionate about – making landscape photographs and teaching. I also know first hand how frustrating it can be to work from nothing with only yourself as a guide. And in a very real way, they act as further education for myself – I’m constantly learning from my own students, observing how different people approach photography in different ways, and how I can be more efficient in my own teaching.

In summary – if you’re starting out, and especially if you’re planning on offering photography as a service (rather than as a product, such as fine art prints), you must have a solid technical grasp of your craft. Work to the point where you have that through a combination of self-directed learning and some other form of training, be it formal or informal. During the boom years there were many people offering their services as professional photographer who wouldn’t know an f-stop from a bus stop (to quote Paul Callaghan in episode 2). This will only lead to disaster as you will eventually screw up an important job and leave the client (and yourself) hanging in the breeze.

If you’re established, don’t underestimate the power and importance of ongoing training. It keeps you fresh and interested, and leads you to different ways of seeing the business.

Comments? We’d love to hear them!