The Photography Institute

[Kimk]

Hi all,
I am looking for a course to undertake to assist me with venturing into the world of Pro. I have been teaching photography for the last 7 years and feel its time to make the move now that my children are getting a little older. I want to learn about the business side and have some more technical aspects to learn. I have read about a corse offered by The Photography Institute but I am not sure about on line learning. What is the best way for me to tackle this, where do I need to begin with going pro.

I would greatly appreciate some feedback

Kim

[LeeR]

I learned the hard way that academic credentials are nearly meaningless in photography. For all the advancement in cameras and software, photography is very old school in its hiring practices. Generally people who pay photographers are interested in your portfolio, tear sheets or a list of who you have worked for before. That does not mean you could not learn something from The Photography Institute; but I wouldn't expect their credentials to get you started.
The first thing I would suggest you do is look closely at the portfolios of the author and his tutors. (I did) Is their work like the work you would like to do? If so, then you may be able to learn something from them. My own impression was that some of the portfolios were a bit thin. That is, a pro of several years should have many thousands of images to choose from for their portfolio; when you see several images from the same shoot in a portfolio it makes you wonder just how jobs they have worked on. Two from one extraordinary shoot I can live with, but when I see three and four from the same shoot and I really have to question their credentials as experts.

[Kimk]

Thanks Lee for your insight, I guess that is a place to start, build a portfolio then go from there.