Expert: Erin Reid Coker - 12/15/2007

Question
I just recently lost my job. I having been thinking about returning to my old hobby but with a new twist. I would like to be a photojournalist. Question is what school path should I take and is it to late for a 38 year old? The school options in my area are limited to journalism with one school having photography classes limited to old black and white. I had the same course in 1987. I have a DSLR that I need training with. Any advice would be grateful.

Diana

Answer
First off, it's never too late to go for what you want.  Depending on where you live may depend on your opportunities to work as a photojournalist.  Is there a community college handy to take some classes?  My best advice is to shoot every single day or as much as possible.  Get out to community events and local high school games and just shoot.  Get to know the local newspaper photographers and photo editors.  Build a solid portfolio from these events and push to cover events on a freelance basis that someday could lead to a full-time position.  Where I am in upstate NY it is equally important for photojournalist to create multi-media slide shows and video so picking up a video camera and learning how to tell a story through video or slideshows IS the future.  More and more people read their news online and kids are coming out of college with the ability to shoot multi-media.  Feel free to contact on a personal level... at one time I was given a chance and have succeeded in a very competitive field.
Best of luck
Erin Reid Coker
www.erinreidcoker.com