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Garry Black Photography

Question:

 Garry,

I am doing a research paper entitled "Should I choose Photography as a career?" Unfortunately I am having a hard time getting information on the topic as it relates to my title. Do you have any resources you can suggest? Or can you share some of your own personal experiences that I could use as a reference. Interest and talent are not a problem. Those things I have. What is life like as a photographer and how do the different careers in photography range in pay and quality of life...i.e. hours required etc. I would really appreciate any immediate help you can give me as I am on a deadline for this school paper.

Answer:

Here a link to a web page that should give you lots of information for your paper.
http://www.pickphoto.com/Book/Chapt1.html It only deals with stock photography, which accounts singularly for a large percentage of the photo industry, this is the sector of the photo business that I am involved with. You should be aware that there are many different fields in photography. This is also reflected in the various markets of stock photography as well as the expertise of individual photographers.

Think of photography as you would the music industry, both have artists - some are extremely successful while others fail. While each artist is unique, they all fit into some category that describes their work. A quality that is common between all of the successful artists is that they are talented, driven and self-motivated individuals. Their "work" doesn't seem like work to them, it is just something that they have to do - they would probably still do it even if they didn't get paid. Which brings me to your question of the number of hours required; I "work" practically every minute that I am not sleeping. It is impossible for me to turn off my photographic vision, I am constantly looking and observing at the world around me. I guess what I am trying to tell you is that photography is not a 9 to 5 type of job, but then on the other hand, I love it so it's not really like a job to me.

Hope this gives you some insight.

Follow up Reply:

Thank you for your immediate response. You were an inspiration to me and although I had gotten all the way through the research of my topic "Should I choose Photography as a Career," I didn't have my conclusion.

In reading your note and remembering my own love for photography the answers then came quickly. I found many pros and cons on the field, but no one has ever said I would be bored, hate my work environment or wish I was doing something else!

The paper had to be in today so yesterday when I received your reply I was able to put it all together. Thank you again!
A future colleague,