Expert: Don Wood - 9/4/2008

Question
I love photography. I was wondering if you had any tips or advice for me in the area of becoming a professional and perhaps getting paid for my work.

Answer
Here is a listing of some schools that are giving photo courses. Listing of many graduate schools    
http://graduate-schools.petersons.com/bydiscipline/u/Arts+.../di/2056/sponsor/79...
New York Institute of Photography    
http://www.nyip.com/
Academy of Art University, San Francisco    http://www.academyart.edu/photography-school/index.html
Brooks Institute of Photographys   
http://www.brooks.edu/photography-school.asp
Find your Art School   http://www.findyourartschool.com/ep/photography-schools.php
In general I counsel everyone to go to school and study the art of photography. Include also in your curriculum some business courses so that you know a little better how to run a business. Professional Photography is a business, you may be the best photographer but if you can't work the business, you will fail. Of 10 newbies that start out, within a year, 7 may drop out, with 2 following the next year. Maybe the lone survivor may make it or may drop out to find a more lucrative career. So the odds are against you, the more training you get the easier it will be to achieve your goal of becoming a great Photographer.
All this being said, however, there are plenty of opportunities for part-time, weekend work in the field. Weddings, portraits, can be scheduled at a convenient hour. But all in all I still recommend that you spend a great deal of time looking at pictures, both art and photography, you will need to analyze them very critically, observing the point of view, the lighting, the exposure with a desire to recreate the picture yourself. Look at a waterfall, do you want to catch the water in mid-flight or let it remain a blur. Which does what you want it to do.
I do wish you success in whatever field of work you enter. Please remember that the more you know about the field the more likely you will be the sole survivor of all the hopeful photographers.
Thanks for writing.
Don