Learning Photography: Another Sidebar Miss

9 years 11 months ago #363481 by DSRay
I am another who went through the formal schooling process at a small junior college in the mid-west and actually finished the program.  Unlike Sidebar, my instructors took great pains in relating art history to the practice of photography; a common assignment was to recreate a masterpiece and it teaches appreciation.

But the biggest reason I loved my time at school was that it afforded me experiences that were just not available to me in any other situation.  I bought a brand new 35mm Minolta for school but I didn't have to set up a darkroom or buy an enlarger or chemistry.  I was exposed to all areas of photography from the zone system to glass on a table-top.  I was second shooter for the department head's sideline weddings.  I was using professional level strobes in an actual studio in 1978.  I had access to equipment I couldn't hope to have anywhere else, like learning to use a 4x5 view camera and a color lab.

A lack of business savvy is epidemic to the education system but seems to changing. In my case I learned as a second shooter and the college actually had clients that would give students assignments. Second year students could take independent studies and end up shooting actual jobs.

A formal education will (should) give you a broad appreciation for, and exposure to, the entire realm of photography, not just how to snap a photograph. It will challenge you and provide opportunities that would not otherwise be available.  A formal program is not for everyone but it should not be outright dismissed.


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9 years 11 months ago #363615 by KCook

Unlike Sidebar . . .

I keep seeing mention of this "Sidebar".  Wut is "Sidebar"?

Kelly

Canon 50D, Olympus PL2
kellycook.zenfolio.com/

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9 years 11 months ago #363619 by DSRay
The stuff over there in the sidebar  ==========>  ==========>  ==========>


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9 years 11 months ago #363659 by KCook
But ... there is nothing preventing your old school from advertising on the sidebar!  Or izz "sidebar" the new hip term for "online"?

Kelly

Canon 50D, Olympus PL2
kellycook.zenfolio.com/

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9 years 11 months ago #363677 by DSRay

KCook wrote: But ... there is nothing preventing your old school from advertising on the sidebar!  Or izz "sidebar" the new hip term for "online"?


And you're asking me what's hip? :lol:

Sidebar is the term website builders/designers use for stuff over on the side of the main content typically consisting of advertising or other related filler.  In this case someone writes those little snippets of wisdom and I just find some humorous in their brevity and UN-insightfulness.  It's just a knee jerk reaction to being fed crap.

I'm sure my old school could advertise there but the last time I visited, there had been a serious decline in both instructors and capability.  The department head makes all the difference is these cases and he left years ago and the program shortly thereafter.  I wouldn't suggest that program to anybody now.


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9 years 11 months ago #363711 by KCook
Yeah, Wordpress already taught me the technical definition of sidebar.  I can never make up my mind on whether the darned thing belongs on the left side or the right side of my blog.

Crap is what funds the Internet.  Wish I could attract some to my blog, the income would be nice.

Back in the '60s I visited both the LA Art Institute and Brooks, but did not enroll in either one.  So most of my photography was DIY plus a little OJT.  There are a whole lot more options for training these days, but I'm also living in the past.

Kelly

Canon 50D, Olympus PL2
kellycook.zenfolio.com/

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9 years 11 months ago #363747 by Joves
Well I do not have a sidebar when I am on this site. :lol:
Also I haver went to school even to learn developing, and printing. I was fortunate in that both my grandfather, and my one aunt  did their own, and taught me. I did not learn any of that till I was 12 though. and then when my grandfather moved I lost my access to a lab. The formal school thing never worked for me. But I was taught old school by my family. Hell I still even on occasion take notes of shots, and what I did.
Business has always been lacking in the Liberal Arts as a general rule. But as you said that is changing to some extent. The business end is, and always has been the death of many of the great photographers.


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