I haven’t had a formal education in photography (only in biology).
Self-taught is a bit of a misnomer given that I’ve consumed so much educational content. I still do, almost on a weekly basis. The following list is not a list of recommendations, just what I’ve consumed in the past.
Websites and blogs. I’ve consumed lots of online educational photography content by people like David Hobby (Strobist) and Zack Arias on their websites and blogs. Even bought their DVDs when they were out. I’ve read a lot of blog posts about photoshoots. It’s one of the reasons why I’m still for some reason blogging in 2024. I’m hoping this content can help someone who consumes information in the same way as I do.
Online workshops. I have a Skillshare subscription. I’ve bought workshops from Domestika (Phil Sharp), Magnum photos (Alec Soth) and Masterclass (Annie Leibovitz) and more (Chris Knight, Felix Kunze, Sue Bryce, JoeyL). In the early days of Creative Live, I watched and re-watched the workshops given there.
Youtube videos. I’ve watched instructional / educational Youtube videos by hundreds of content creators (Matt Day, Willem Verbeek, Morten Hilmer, Eren Sarigul). You can learn a lot from seeing other photographers work, even if it’s not an explicitly educational video.
Podcasts. There’s lots of content on freelancing, art, entrepreneurship, and commercial photography. I’ve listened to Sprouting Photographer, Fizzle, Magic Hour, Art + Magic, the Candid Frame.
Books. I’ve consumed and studied lots of photography books. Whenever I pass by library I go straight to the photo book section. Sometimes I read specifically educational books (Joe McNally, Gregory Heisler), but often I just like consuming various photobooks for inspiration (Richard Avedon, Arnold Newman, Irving Penn, Dan Winters).
In-person conferences / events. I’ve been to a few in-person workshops given by local camera stores (Lozeau when it existed) as well as a few entrepreneurship workshops / conferences (YES Montreal).
Coaching. I’ve had a session of coaching for entrepreneurship (YES Montreal) and for art photography (Dazed and Confucius with David Ellingsen).
Practice. I actively practiced a lot. I practiced placing different lighting set ups in my home. I took an embarassing amount of self-portraits to test out lighting, to familiarize myself with equipment.
Shoots. Final category would be photoshoots themselves. I’d say most of what I know comes from my experience and the hundreds of photoshoots I’ve now done. You can’t replace the learning from those experiences with books, schools, workshops.
We all learn somewhere. School, books, Internet. It’s not productive to add a value judgement based on where someone learned photography.
In my opinion, there are very few rules in photography. Provided that a photograph is created with intention and provided that it aligns with one’s preference and/or client expectations, there is no incorrect way to create a photograph.
My single most important source of education and biggest recommendation? David Hobby’s blog strobist.com. All the info there is free.
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