I’d love to say I am self-taught because I wanted to un-learn the rules and have my own niche. That’s more or less what happened, but this is not the reason.
I’d love to say I am self-taught because there are no classes in the area and I had no choice, but this also isn’t true. I had plenty of opportunities to learn here.
The truth is I just didn’t want to shell out much cash to learn. I’d rather learn on the job by myself… it’s cheaper and I don’t want to listen to a teacher. Maybe the truth is also that I have a day job with bosses, and I don’t want to add a professor to the equation. No thanks. I already have one degree – one very expensive piece of paper on my wall to validate that I’m smart because I don’t want to prove my intelligence the hard way, so I’d rather have a piece of paper that says it.
Learning through trial and error beats paying $2000+ to learn how to shoot. Personally, I like placing my model beside a tree to capture the bark and the model but to make the background blurry. Sometimes I don’t always get it right and make the foreground blurry as well. It’s all a matter of learning and experience. I learn best from doing… from experience. Not everyone is the same. Still, opportunities are endless for me to learn, and I enjoy it.
Learning the ropes is not easy, but it’s well worth it to learn the basics. However, you can learn them through books and experience just as easily as paying a professor to instruct you. Then again, I’m the first to admit there is plenty I still don’t know. Maybe I would’ve been better served by learning photography in a class? I still don’t think it matters so long as there is evidence of improvement. The key is to learn at your own pace and do what makes you comfortable.
myphotographyevolution 