Help Getting a job in photography

King Eric

Hey
Im in the final year of a 4 year engineering course.
After 3 and a half years ive kinda decided id maybe like to do something different/more creative and photography seems to be the way I want to go.

Can anybody tell me how to get a job in photography or even who or where to apply to.

How do you get to be a staff photographer for a newspaper etc.

Is there a masters course i could do or how could i start an apprenticeship?
I am considering doing a masters in Multimedia in DCU but it seems a bit generic,at this stage i think I would like to do a more specific course deicated to photography

I have been told before to just get out and keep taking pictures, im doing this anyways and want to get a portfolio of sorts together, but id rather have a definate plan in mind.

Anyone have any advice or can suggest other courses i can do, any help greatly appreciated

DotOrg

a plan is going to be no use to you unless you have some level of talent and some form of portfolio

you will not get a staff job in a paper without some journalism experience/study

studying photography on it's own won't help much, it's the business side of journalism/advertising/marketing/PR/design that you need to study

what skills do you have in photography at present. I've been at it since I was 12 years old and can take some great photos now but it's still intensely difficult to make a living out it

conorgriff

You're never too old to learn, join a camera club for starters and get some experience, speak to people in the trade and work from there

King Eric

Ive been taking photos seriously for the past two years, ive done alright in a few smaller competitions and had my work displayed in a couple of college exhibitions.

I have a small job at the minute taking photos for the weekly college magazine and newspaper (mostly gigs) and a bit of sport so im getting a bit of experience that way, i'm just not sure what way to go from here or how to get into it properly.

GASUN

1. As Dot Org has said .......
2. I'm an Engineer (MSC) and am developing my photography in my own time - I love the music scene, but, I'm starting to do 'family events' as well. Most photographers I know are not shooting gigs but are covering local sports, weddings, christenings and doing portraits to make a living full time or top up on a salary from another job.

Youve done three years engineering of four - my advice is finish your degree, while continuing with your photography and take it from there. If you get an engineering job after graduating it will help pay for photography gear to get your side project going and you can judge it from there ...

If you want to make a career move to photography full time over engineering down the line, you will be able to make a better judgement in the next few years. If you do and decide photography is not for you after trying it full time, you will have your engineering degree to fall back on.

Not what you want to hear but thats how I'd handle it.

Enda Casey :v:
Music Photographer
www.gasun.net

el capitaine

Look, do a portfolio course, stay and finish your degree as it will gain you contacts for your photographic work, get a portfolio together for a year and go to Gunn's on wexford street for advice on how to broach it. they know all the courses available, not to mention meeting working photographers while you're in there

nitrogen

OP: I don't want to knock you down but qualifications in photography means very little, it's your work. Take a look at the bio for any travel photography or photojournalist. Stick with your engineering degree, do photography on the side. Read as much as you can and shoot as much as you can.

My advice to any photographer taken from Simon Wheatley (http://www.magnumphotos.com/c/htm/TreePf_MAG.aspx?Stat=Photographers_Portfolio&E=29YL534XKOXU) is get yourself employed in a non photography job, and keep trying to sell or get your photos published from there, maybe even work part-time on the side as a photographer's assistant. This advice is probably more suited to someone with an interest in photojournalism, documentary, travel.

It's hard make a living from just photography and also takes a little bit of luck. Finish the degree anyway, you'll only regret years down the road.

rhurja

Strangely enough, I'm roughly in the same position as you are. I'm studying engineering but I want to switch to photography.

I've started working for the student paper of my uni. The jobs are very varied (concerts, interviews, portraits etc). If you approach the paper of your uni next semester, you'll be able to get a taste of what it's like, and build up some experience.

After a while, you'll start building up contacts, and maybe even start getting some paid work for regular papers from time to time - this is how you'll get your foot in the door in the media as a freelancer - although as said above, if you want a salaried job as a photog, you'll undoubtedly need some formal qualification.

Markham

Like any job in journalism, it's often a matter of persistence/toughing it out.

I bought a crap Yashica SLR when I was 16, started bombarding a magazine with photos until they finally relented, gave me some advice and finally printed a shot. This only served to encourage me so I kept going and going and now I regularly contribute shots/features and do a lot of subbing. I've moved up to a nice DSLR now, and do more writing than photography, but it's a nice companion skill. And I got my first shot in the Irish Times last week!! Woo hoo!!

Portfolio is the key to getting your foot in the door, then it's a matter of building up a relationship with an editor or someone who'll commission your work and knows you're reliable. Once you have a reputation with someone, the key is maintaining it. Be consistent and never miss a deadline, or if you have to, make sure you provide an alternative.

Set up a web album of your best work so that you can direct people to it with ease. You don't need anything fancy, just flickr.com or webshots.com.

From the photojournalism side, I reckon there's no set route in. Offer your services to local papers/niche mags/trade mags to build your portfolio of photos. Smaller publications are always struggling for images, and while they mightn't pay you much (if anything) you can build up a nice fat portfolio.

DIT do a photography course and a journalism masters. There are commercial photography courses in Stillorgan and Dun Laoghaire colleges. Or you can learn by trial and error.

Hope this helps.

King Eric

Hey guys,

Thanks a million for all the advice
Plan always was to finish the degree and go from there, just wanted to see if there was something i should be applying for now for when i finish. Im hoping to put up some sort of an online portfolio and keep adding to it

BTW does anyone have email addresses for photo editors of some of the national papers? just in case i get that picture that could start me off