Digital Photography in College?

[KrystalD]

Just curious as to what your thoughts are on college photography courses, is it worth it?

I am trying to make a decision of either learning photography on my own or going to the Centre of Arts and Technology in Kelowna BC. Of course there are many factors involved that complicate the decision, I just wanted some outside advice/input.

[sk66]

Having taken courses in HS/College, my feeling is you will learn as much/more by simply doing. This forum is particularly good for learning *IF* you make full use of it. Make it a POINT to take a picture for every weekly assignment. Ideas or not (just like college)...Submit pictures for critique, and be open to the (sometimes harsh) feedback.... ask questions, and experiment.

[Austin_HXC]

Many people that want to pursue photography as a career take classes in Business.

That's all I have...

[Japaslavian]

One of the problems I hear with pursuing photography in upper division learning is that your eventual portfolio becomes somewhat of a clone to everyone else who has attended the school. My former boss, a professional commercial photographer for 40+ years refuses to hire people from Brooks because everyone that he has interviewed from there is exactly the same.
If you intend to do commercial stuff, I would highly suggest looking for work and getting on the job experience under another photographer. Seeing things first hand like that is really invaluable. If you plan to do studies of fine-art photography, I would say steer clear of college courses unless you want to do film and need use of a darkroom. I don't know about the programs at the school you're looking at, but from my experience you basically get an A for doing the work because grading stuff like photography is far too subjective. Especially when you could do the same work for free on your own.

[Elmo]

After my mobility got restricted I took up teaching (University Level Computer Science)(also taught Photography Classes for a Community College) let me make a few general observations from that point of view. Most student approach a class with the attitude that if I finish a class I will be an expert in the material, not so. Most students cram for tests and that goes into short term memory and is shortly lost. There are a few students that put forth the effort to learn the material, but learning the material takes work, a lot of work. If you are not going to put in the extra effort, classes will be a waste of time. I quote for example the post above about Brooks students. Those students have put forth minimal effort, got a portfolio and a sheepskin and little else. Get a Brooks student with a different good portfolio, he/she will definitely be worth looking at.

What you get from classes: An organized approach to cover all the material. The ability to talk in the terms of the industry. Demonstrate you persistence to complete an assigned task.