AboutDon Wood Expertise I have been a professional photographer for 26 years. Wedding, portraits, passports, copies, groups pix, reunions, etc. Specialty in photography of large groups. I also have worked in newspaper photography for most of my photographic years. I have built and maintained a b/w darkroom, and a color darkroom.
Experience I have been a professional photographer for 35 years. I am transitioning to digital photography so I might be able to help in that field. I'm retired now but am still able to be helpful in the field. I have built a b/w, color darkroom, worked in a color lab, worked in the newspaper field both in darkroom and as a shooter.
Question I was wondering about what you need to know to become a photographer? Also if you have to go to collage, and if so for how long?
Answer The more education you get the easier it will be for you to succeed. Going to college to the prospective employer means that you are a subject that is easy to learn new things. So it really doesn't matter the degree but the process of learning to use your brains in a way that is understandable to the employer. You are proving your smarts is another way to say it.
This being said, it is helpful to gain some business courses so that at the least you will know about keeping track of your expenses while you are doing the photography business. Of course the more technical courses you can get in photography the better off you will be.
You will need to develop your people skills, the art of getting your subjects to do what you want them to do without offending them. It is indeed an art!
You will also need to develop your photographic eyes. You will do this by examining paintings and photography that others have done. Why did the shutter speed make a difference? Why did he choose to have a great depth of field? Why did he choose that viewpoint? Remember that your camera is freezing time. Subjects in that PICTURE will never age even though they will actually age. Look at a picture taken in the 1930's and see what they looked like at that time.
In any way, I wish you luck in what will lie ahead of you. It is an exciting time we live in.
One last word, much of photography concerns itself with emotion but in the economy downturn we seem to be in buying gas, food, paying the rent or mortgage, all will take precedence over the non-practicality of being unable to eat your purchases, or drive your car with the pictures no matter how much you want them or how beautiful they are. But there are branches which aren't affected quite so much, newspaper, advertising, commercial fields are not as bad as portraiture, wedding photography, etc.
Good luck, if I haven't covered it exactly the way you wanted please be a little more specific. Thanks for asking.
Happy Holidays!
Don
