How to be a photographer
How to be a photographer
Every now and then I get an email asking how to be a photographer. Photography is a big field with many avenues to explore and to find yourself in, so understanding how to start can be an important step towards being a photographer.
But first we should talk about what it means to be a photographer.
If I were to give any advice, I’d tell someone this: don’t be a photographer. Yeah, photography is great, and it allows you to live a lifestyle that not many people get to live, but don’t be a photographer, be a communicator. That’s a big distinction, and if you get it wrong, you could spend a lifetime going in the wrong direction.
if you get it wrong, you could spend a lifetime going in the wrong direction.
Photography is really just the means. The communication of an idea is the end. You see, what photographers are really trying to do is to communicate. They want to transmit ideas from their perspective to others, and they’ll use a camera to do that. But don’t mistake the camera and lens for the end. And that’s where many people get tripped up; they think that if they have the cameras, lenses, software, that they’ll be a professional photographer.
But, professional photographers are simply communicators that use photography in the same way that an artist uses a canvas to paint his masterpiece. The artist would be foolish to focus all his attention on canvases, brushes, and easels. You might laugh, but that’s exactly what people do with photography; they study the cameras, the lenses, and the tripods, and they think that’s all there is to it. But really, those things are just the means to help you communicate your ideas, just like the canvas is a blank sheet for the artist to paint his masterpiece on.
So, once you understand that photos are just the means and the communication of ideas is the end, what should you study?
A master photographer understands that his life’s work is to communicate ideas
A master photographer understands that his life’s work is to communicate ideas. His realm of responsibility lies in ideas. So, he studies colors, people, clothing, backgrounds, emotions, light, dark, etc., and all these things are just the means he uses to communicate the ideas he has. Why this color and not that one? Why this person and not that person? Which way should that person face in the photo, why? Which background to use and why? Every single thing in the photo will communicate something. That’s what the master photographer understands. So he eliminates those things that take away from his idea, and he adds things to the photo to bring out his idea and make it more clear.
So what should you go into? Focus first on what you want to say. What ideas do you want to share with the world? Fine tune that understanding. Get intimate with your ideas. Then, you can move onto the expression of those ideas.
Anything that helps you fine tune the ideas that you want to express in this life is worthy of study. Focus on building and expressing powerful ideas, and you’ll then see a camera for what it is; it’s simply a tool.
Don’t be a photographer, be a communicator.
- Daniel Vineyard
bellephotos.com
Hi Daniel–
I’m looking for photography classes here in Provo. Do you have any recommendations, or do you teach any classes?
Thanks,
Shauri
beautifully said! that’s for the advise!
hey I have read some of your blogs and want to first say that you helped me really understand why I enjoy photos and taking them so much. I only really have one question: I am a high school senior and am going to college next year, now I have to decide what to do with my life. Now I have heard that artists or people going into artsy stuff should not get a degree in that subject because they have a tendency to lose thier creativity because they are so caught up in what every one else is doing. And I was wondering if this is true.
Hi Sarah,
Thank you for the kind comment. To answer your question, I think that you can get caught up in the status quo at a university or other photography school, but there is still a lot of exposure to things you might not encounter on your own.
I think the biggest advantage of school is in its options. If you attend, you get an opportunity to experiment more and try different types of photography that you might not consider if you don’t. Do you want to be a portrait photographer, food photographer, lifestyle/editorial photographer, stock photographer, wedding photographer, product photographer, etc., There are many options, and sometimes you don’t know enough about those options to really know if you’d make a good fit. That’s why school can be valuable, it gives you options.
As to the overall point of a university killing creativity, I’d say that’s partially correct. To me, art by nature is innovative and counter culture. It goes against the grain. It stands out and it’s new and on the cusp of change. It is change.
Schools are there to maintain the status quo. They are there to get people to a certain level of technical and mental proficiency.
But art is not necessarily a career, and schools can prepare you for a career. But, if you’re dead set on being a photographer, and your skills are more than decent, I’d major in how to manage a business.
Most photographers are solo business owners. They operate and manage their own little shops. To stay in business, you have to know how to make a profit, how to increase revenue, how to decrease costs, and how to plan for the next change. If you’re going to school, don’t forget to take as many business courses as you can, because that’s usually what allows you to continue to do your art.
Hope that helps some. Best of luck in your decisions, Sarah.