Career Choices Using Photography and the Skills Needed to Succeed
By John Huegel
There are many different jobs which involve photography, including:
• Portrait⁄studio⁄wedding - focusing on images of people and
selling images to families and individuals
• Sports - action photos, from childrens' leagues up to professional and
olympic levels
• Commercial⁄product photography - every ad has images taken by
someone. Jewelry, food, automotive, and fashion photography are some examples
• Artistic⁄landscape - scenic or artistically oriented images,
often sold as artwork, postcards or tourist items
• Architectural - photos of buildings and other constructed items
• Forensic - used in policevdetective work. Crime scene and related photography
• Journalism - un-staged real-life images for newspaper and magazines
• School/event - school pictures, sports teams, church and other groups
where high volume is typical
• Stock photography - images taken that other people will buy and use
for advertising and other purposes
There other other specialties such as astrophtography and microphotography.
Frequently Asked Questions about careers in Photography
1. What skills do I need to be successful as a photographer?
• Conceptual- the ability to understand your clients' needs and
communicate with them
• Technical - the ability to identify, configure and use camera, lighting,
and props to make images
• Editing - the ability to process captured images and edit them to
meet the customers' needs
• Marketing - the ability to get your name out and to connect you and
your business to your potential customer base
• Selling - the ability to earn money from your profession. Includes
pricing, negotiating, meeting with customers, producing their final products
• Managing - Taking care of the day-to-day needs of a business or
professional, including buying things, paying bills, covering insurance, taxes, permits, etc.
• Leading - Building and or working in a business environment where you
need to create visions, define goals and actions, and implement them to grow the business
• Serving - Contacting and growing your customer base, measuring customer
satisfaction, resolving customer issues.
You can see that only the Technical and Editing skills fall into traditional
Photography⁄Computer skills. However, because photography involves a high degree of
interpersonal communication and subjective needs of the customer base, you need to develop
and posses good people skills - listening, documenting, creativity, follow-through, etc.
2. What education do I need to be successful in photography?
You will need to learn or be taught the technical aspects of photography - lighting,
composition, camera science, image editing and production. Some people can learn this as
they go. Others pursue a special degree or certificate from certain schools, or you can
get a 4-year degree in arts/photography from a university. To be very well prepared, you
should consider a minor in business or marketing or a minor in your chosen specialty field
such as criminal justice, sports or journalism. This will give you an edge over any
candidates who do not have this education.
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