Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/11/25
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Rusty, Those "Stay in School" bumper stickers are aimed at high school students, not photographers. First, let me tell you that the two really nice guys who teach photography at my University have never actually made a substantial portion of their living from taking pictures. Now, we don't have an MFA in Photography here, (though you could specialize,) so you may take this advice as a "no sales pitch" answer. If you're determined to get your masters degree, why not consider a MBA with an emphasis on marketing? There's some experience behind this suggestion. For many years, I functioned quite nicely as a staff photographer for some major television operations. I got gutsy and said, "I can make it as a free-lancer!" Actually, I did rather well on the outside, but the big problem was that I had put all my eggs in the shooting basket, and knew little about business and cash flow, and seasonal projections . . . In the end things got lean, even though I had lots of work. You see this in all areas of life. A guy is a good cook, opens a restaurant, and finds out it is as much a business as an art, and guess who washes dishes when the dishwasher doesn't show up? A great TV reporter advances to managing editor, and then to News Director where he has to deal with contracts and budgets and overtime, and he fails. Over the years, I've seen many talented photographers miss greatness because they fail at either the business or the marketing portion of the program. You can learn all you need to know about the fine art of photography from some of the really great workshops available, from getting out there and shooting, and from sharing your work with others in a critical setting. If that is not enough for you, then the much better thing than an MFA is to get on with an established photographer and work with her/him for a few years, and by osmosis, you'll get more understanding of this art than all the schools in the nation can teach you. Regards, Sonny http://www.sonc.com From: "rusty hubbard" > ANyone out there with suggestions for a school to go to to get my MFA in > Photography?? I'm just in the early stages of thinking about it..(:O) > Thanks,Rusty Hubbard > "Walking Through Prague" > <http://www.photo.net/users/rustyhub> > - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html