This one goes out to all of you who are considering going to a photography school. Also, just as important, to all of you who get asked for advice about attending one. I’m also reaching out to all of you who care about the health of the image-making industry as a whole.
My message is the fact is that we need to destroy photography schools, which are utterly useless, totally out-of-date and totally out-of-touch institutions.
The simple fact is that photography schools like Brooks Institute and the Rochester Institute of Technology’s School of Photographic Arts & Sciences rob people of their money, delay them in achieving their professional dreams and, more often than not, steer them down the wrong path without the proper tools to find their way.
I know what I’m talking about. Not only am I an alumnus of RIT but I am also a journalist who covers topics of photography extensively – everything from imaging techniques and best business practices to the state of the industry as a whole.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not bitter about my own experience. Heck, I learned some dang nifty stuff at RIT. But the best stuff was stuff that I could have learned anywhere, in or outside a formal educational institute. More important, my stint as an isolated photo student did absolutely nothing to help me advance my career as a professional photographer.
Wait a second, you might say. But you’re a journalist specializing in photography! Exactly, I respond. I mean, does a photography student set out to earn a living actually making images or, um, writing about the process? See my point?
On the other hand, every great, moneymaking photographer you can think of either did not attend a photography school or if they did, they say that the experience played no significant role in their success. Go on, call ‘em up! I have. Hundreds of ‘em. And not one of them, not ever, has pointed to a photography program as being a critical step in their careers.