From books to magazines to websites, there is always something to learn and as a photographer, our job is not just to take pretty pictures but to also push the envelope for ourselves and our fellow photographers through that knowledge.
Education comes in many forms. The most enjoyable way I have found is through books. Websites and magazines can certainly teach you a lot but the pure enjoyment of a book is something you can’t get from those other places. Of course, this is my own personal opinion.
Now they say the best writers are those that read a lot. Writing is a crucial element to photographers because of the vast amount of outlets that we have to be apart of in today’s world in order to get our photographs noticed. I also found it amusing that they say a photograph is worth a thousand words and yet we constantly have to caption those photos. I always believed it was because a photograph isn’t always clear but sometimes you need that finger to point you in the right direction. Much like a play you need that intro slide to set the scene.
Since photography is constantly changing we have to be constantly upping our game. This is where education comes into play. The problem is no one can make you. Just as no one can make me, it is a self-motivated challenge that we constantly have to be working on completing. It isn’t easy and it keeps getting harder but it is a habit that we all have to get into in order to keep going with this business.
Writing is crucial to becoming and staying a successful photographer. My Dad passed this wisdom on to me long ago and it has served me well. While mobile devices and computers have become the norm for keeping up in today’s world, magazines have still held true and even after many said that magazines would die off eventually, they still are where the best photos can be found. The articles and images found in those magazines are from the best businessmen which are who you should learn from. Notice I didn’t say, writers or photographers. We have all seen bad photos but because that photographer was aggressive he got the sale and the others didn’t. He got the sale because he was paying attention to the trends and knew what was coming up. Magazine racks can be your best friend when it comes to learning these trends, you just have to keep pushing.
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