Should I go to college for photography?

Question

I'm 16 now, and I absolutely love photography. I have taken Photography class every year in high school to now, and this year I'm going to be on yearbook, and do Advanced Photography again to perfect my AP Portfolio. My ultimate dream would be to go into photography as art.. I know it's not easy and not lucrative, but I'm really willing to wait it out.

I would want to attend college for photography maybe somewhere in New York or something, but I don't know if it would be a waste of time, or if some colleges provide immediate jobs upon graduation..

Please help!

Thanks :)

Answer 1

Hi,

I have a friend who was a photography major and her boyfriend graduated with a degree in photography in 2007 and he's had a lot of trouble finding a job in that field.  He has continued working at his high school job at Whole Food's because it's at least a steady pay.  My friend has decided to just do it as a hobby because as she tells me it's hard to be creative in that field and still get a good pay.  A lot of photography majors will get jobs doing catalogs, magazines which is good if you want to go into that.  Once you get known in the field, it's great but that might not be late into your career.  So talk to some people in that field, see what they say too, because they known firsthand

Answer 2

If you are ready to grind it out as an artist, go for it! It's a hard career, but it's not impossible.

If you aren't 100% sure you want to do it though, I would say go to school at a liberal arts college where you can persue more photography classes and maybe another degree that would lend itself to a more readily available job. Photography is a great hobby to have and you could even earn money doing it on the side, displaying work in galleries or what have you. Who says an artist can't have another "day" job?

Answer 3

If you like it a lot and you do well in class then you should take it to learn more