AboutDavid Silver Expertise My name is David Silver. Antique and classic cameras, vintage photographs, general photography and all areas of the history of photography are my expertise.
Experience I've been a professional photographer and a student of the history of photography for nearly 30 years. During that time my collection of vintage cameras and photographic paraphernalia has grown beyond 2000 significant pieces. I've published nearly 70 articles in the field, including 16 in the popular "Buying Classic Cameras" series for PHOTO SHOPPER MAGAZINE from 1995 to 1997, I'm currently a contributing editor for CAMERA SHOPPER MAGAZINE and McKEOWN'S PRICE GUIDE TO ANTIQUE AND CLASSIC CAMERAS, and I've written numerous entries for WORLD BOOK ENCYCLOPEDIA. Portions of my collection have been displayed in museums and special exhibits in the past two decades, and many of the items were photographed as illustrations for books. In 1985 I founded the International Photographic Historical Organization (InPHO), which eventually evolved into its intended purpose as the best first resource for information on the history of photography. I'm also a founding member of several e-mail forums dedicated to specialized areas of photography, and I'm the moderator of the Internet Directory of Camera Collectors (IDCC), which remains the largest and most successful such group in the world. For more information about the International Photographic Historical Organization and its many services, please visit its web pages at:
Expert: David Silver Date: 5/12/2005 Subject: career
Question Hope I'm not being too private but may I ask what is you're sallary?Also I'm thinking about starting a career in photography and I live in Florida do you no any colleges of photography around here.
Answer Hello Marshall,
I don't earn a "salary". I'm a totally independent contractor who makes money through a number of different applications of my knowledge and expertise. For example, I'm a free lance writer. I write about history, antiques, photography, travelling, coaching (basketball and baseball), model making (I'm a "master" model maker, and some of my more fanciful projects have been used in movies), philosophy, and quite a bit on classic and antique cameras. No books, but lots of articles in magazines and periodicals. Does it pay well? No...but it pays enough to justify my time doing it. And I enjoy it! I also lecture (mostly on photography and its history), I appraise antiques and collectibles (again, mostly relating to photography, but also a few other areas), I frequently deal in photographic antiquities (including through venues like eBay), I run workshops on computers and the internet, I teach golf, and I occasionally make the extra buck here and there taking photographs! In other words, I have absolutely nothing that resembles a normal job or a regular work routine. Why? Because I worked in civil service for 15 years, it burned me out, and I swore I would never work a 9 to 5 job again for the rest of my life! The result is that I never know where or when I'm going to make any money, but the only boss I have to answer to is...me! And the major part of my income is from all those various aspects of photography, and NOTHING makes me happier that that.
So, you asked about my "salary"? Since I resigned from my civil service job in 1998, my annual income saw a low of $23,000 one year, a high of $45,000 another year, and everything in between. Not much, nobody's getting rich here, but I'm having a blast,
Okay, are you thinking I was some sort of full time photographer who makes a great annual salary? Nope. I'm a photographer all right, and a famous historian and theorist in the field, but I have NEVER pursued photography as any sort of full time job. Why? Because there's really not that much money in it, and the part that's most steady (weddings, school photos, baby portraits...) is incredibly boring. There are some photographers out there who are making really big bucks (and they deserve it) shooting sports or landscapes or "art" or industrial themes, but they are very few and they all got there with that special little something extra that nobody can control...luck! And, to answer the second half of your question (about where to go to photography school in Florida), virtually NONE of them went to any sort of photography school or took any sort of special photographic training.
Marshall, you really can't learn photography in a school. It's not just about the basics of the camera (whether film or digital), the way lenses work, the darkroom and image processing, etc. It's not about the craft...it's really all about the vision. I've met zillions of fine young people who graduated from some very good photography schools who learned every trick in the bag about how to shoot, but not one of them had a clue how to SEE! They produced perfectly exposed, perfectly processed, perfectly lit, yet utterly boring and lifeless photographs. They couldn't see the life through the lens, they couldn't capture the moment, they couldn't steal the sudden gleam in a subjects eye that reveals a person's soul...they were too consumed with getting the focus and the light and the exposure values correct. On the other hand, there are BIG name professionals out there who seldom get the exposure quite right, they seldom have the right film or the right light, but they somehow always catch the photograph that makes people look and say, "Wow!"
If you want to have a "career" in photography, I do NOT recommend ANY photography schools. I recommend you buy yourself a used 35mm single-lens-reflex camera, something simple and rugged and for which there are a lot of lenses available (like a Canon AE-1, a Nikon FE or FM, an Olympus OM-10 with the shutter speed dial...do NOT get an autofocus camera because you need to SEE how focus works!), something that requires YOU to set the shutter speed and the lens aperture, then a selection of lenses for it (ideally a wide angle of about 28mm, the normal 50mm or 55mm lens that would probably come on the camera already, a short telephoto lens in the 100mm range, and one longer telephoto of about 180mm or so...do NOT get any zoom lenses at first because you need to learn and understand how lenses work, and zooms make people lazy!), and an inexpensive handheld exposure meter (Sekonic makes some really nice cheap ones). If you're wondering what all this will cost, search and comparison shop on eBay. Take your time, don't be impulsive, and you'll see opportunities. A good working Canon AE-1 (a really common, but superb camera) with its 50mm normal lens can go for $50 to $75. A Canon 28mm lens (a darn good lens...don't settle for a knock-off brand!), might go for $100. Canon short and long telephoto lenses will run $50 to $100 each. Make sure you're looking at FD mount lenses (old style bayonet mount lenses that YOU have to manually focus), not autofocus lenses for later cameras. A meter will run about $20, then maybe another $40 to buy several "skylight" or 1A or UV filters to protect the front surfaces of each lens, and invest maybe $50 to buy a rugged outfit bag to hold everything. Your total investment may add up to about $350 to $400, but you will then have a camera system that will run circles around modern autofocus/autoexposure gear.
What's next? Simple! You load up on film and start shooting! You shoot around your home, you shoot at school, you shoot the kids playing baseball at the local park, you shoot the hills in the distance, you ask people to stand for portraits, you offer to shoot a friend's birthday party, etc. Experiment, switch around the lenses, try special effects, play, have fun with it! Yes, Marshall, you will make TONS of mistakes, but the more you shoot the faster you'll learn, the better your "eye" will get, the more wonderful the results will become, and in a year or two you'll know exactly what type of photography you enjoy the most and I guarantee you'll be waaaaaaaaay ahead of the poor souls who spent the same time in photography school. Best of all, despite the initial investment in your camera and lenses and all that film, you will have spent waaaaaaaaay less money then the cost of tuition!
The key is experience. All the education in the world won't give you experience, and, just the opposite, it may actually hamper your ability to appreciate experience.
Give it a little time, and be willing to shoot like crazy, and you'll know when and if you're ready to call yourself a professional. Spend your money on experience rather than school, and you'll be surpirsed how quickly you'll learn! After that, the career will take care of itself.
Please feel free to get back to me if you have any questions during your progress...and have a great time!
