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Photography Certificates & Hyperbole

There are so many photography classes in Chicago – promising everyone that signs up, "the world" (of photography). What's real and what's not.

Universities provide so much more than just schooling in photography that their students profit even if they don't wind up practicing photography. But what about the others? There is more than one school in Chicago that will take about $30,000.00 a year for two years and give you a Degree in just photography. The problem is – there are almost no jobs in photography. There is almost no place in Chicago where you can go and get hired and get benefits like health care and sick days and vacation time and maybe a 501k. Many of the students who finish those schools wind up working in camera stores or camera departments of larger stores, working in entry level positions. A far cry from the glamorous career they envisioned when they started out. Many eventually move on and find other work and try to pay off their student loans. Many of the college BA's who majored in photography will get a job at a corporation, but their Degree is so much more than just photography they have a better chance at success, however they may define success for themselves.

What about the other classes? The camera stores offer classes if you buy a point & shoot and they might have a free workshop in the evenings that will help you get the most out of your new camera. They don't charge because they want to keep you as a customer and win your business as you trade up. The camera stores that cater to the professional or the "prosumer" often have day long or weekend classes or workshops that will teach you some techniques and help you understand how the different equipment might be useful to you, in pursuit of your goals. These stores might be the smart choice as long as you leave your wallet at home and/or, as always, think before you buy.

Then there are the "fool-er" schools or classes. Some of the major camera makers will have nation-wide traveling schools that last about a day and a half. They will bombard you with fabulous images so at the end of the weekend you go home and believe "if only I owned [$%&#@&$] then I could get the pictures of my dreams". Often a few weeks later the only thing you remember about how to take pictures is that you need to buy more of their equipment. Then there are the workshops sponsored by camera makers in secret. They will hire local, well known professionals to lead the workshops. You might learn something, but in the meantime they have pushed their sponsor's equipment.

You see, starting with Kodak 125 years ago (their first slogan, "you push the button and we do the rest") all camera makers have sold us their equipment with the promise of, "it's easy" and "anyone can do it". With film it was "auto-wind & auto-rewind", now it's "auto focus" and "auto-exposure" and the zoom lens (you don't even have to move, just stand there and zoom in and out); and how about the "delete button"? I sure could use one of those for my life, how about you? By the way, do you know anyone that does something well by just "standing there"? The entire industry is based on the promise that you do not have to exert any effort to practice photography.

There are places in Chicago that offer classes on the same premise. Some say, in effect you no longer need to spend any time learning – "we can teach you in four weeks" and "you don't have four weeks? We can teach you the same thing in a weekend!" "Don't have a weekend – then we can do it in a day!" My guess is that next..."if you don't have a day, we can teach you as you "sleep"! Credit Card Please, no refunds. One teacher I know says he teaches flash, and than shows his students DVDs about the subject. Then there is a place in Chicago that insists that you pay in full before you attend the first class. If you don't like the class? No refunds, try one of our other classes. If we cancel a class for any reason, still no refund, we're a not-for-profit and rely on your support. One place will now give you a certificate (if you give them enough money up front). A certificate for what? For attending the classes they offer, of course. What will the certificate do for you? Yeah, think about that. If someone with a $60,000.00 degree is lucky to get a job in a camera store, what do you suppose the certificate will get you??? Maybe a drink at the bar across the street on Lincoln Avenue?

The dirty little secret about photography is that you will not be able to learn it in four weeks and you don't need any degree or any certificate. If you would like to get work as a photographer, then you need experience. A body of work. Samples. A portfolio. And skin as thick as an elephant. You need time to develop your skills and prefect your technique. If you attend classes here, once a week for class and once a week for lab, within nine months you can be on the WithInSight Gallery walls. Those photographs and the ones that don't make it on the wall are the start of your portfolio. The dirty little secret about your portfolio – you spend your lifetime changing it and adding to it. Your portfolio is always a work in progress (WIP). Around here we refer to it as a whip (WIP), which is a good thing, as long as it doesn't whip you. The teachers around here work very hard to help you - whip it into shape, your unique shape. And while we're at it,.... Laughter Will Be Heard & Learning Will Occur ;-)

At Richard Stromberg's Chicago Photography classes.
No Certificates, No Powerpoint's, No DVD's and No Hyperbole
Our guarantee: Laughter will be Heard & Learning will Occur ;-)