Photography course

pennyshahin_2

Hi I've been out of work for about a year and I'm desparate to do something, I've never known what I wanted to do ,I'm 42 years old and have develpoed a love for digital photography before I always I always used to go round in circles now I know that I've found something that I will stick at instead of giving up after 5 minutes, I'm looking to possibly do a course and gain qualifications so I could possibly get a job in photography or in a lab or something like that, as I know it's what I really want to do I'm looking for a course to get on which would help me, as I'm not working would I be entitled to any help at all.

cocolgooh

I believe you could get an adult learning grant of some sort to help fund it. If not, when you're on job seekers allowance I believe they will pay part of the money towards you getting qualifications to get a job so maybe you could look into that?

Good luck with the course, I hope to do something similar possibly!

bristol_pilot

There are almost NO jobs in photography.

pennyshahin_2

When you say no jobs ,the sort of job I'm looking at is perhaps as a studio assistant or darkroom technician in a shop-nothing adventureous,is there no work in that line of work? Also if I go on a course should I go on as a beginner I know a bit about digital photography but not that much I can upload photos to the computer send by email - so what I'm asking is should I do a beginners course or the next one up.

Person_one

pennyshahin wrote: »

When you say no jobs ,the sort of job I'm looking at is perhaps as a studio assistant or darkroom technician in a shop-nothing adventureous,is there no work in that line of work? Also if I go on a course should I go on as a beginner I know a bit about digital photography but not that much I can upload photos to the computer send by email - so what I'm asking is should I do a beginners course or the next one up.

Definitely a beginners course.

Sambucus_Nigra

pennyshahin wrote: »

When you say no jobs ,the sort of job I'm looking at is perhaps as a studio assistant or darkroom technician in a shop-nothing adventureous,is there no work in that line of work? Also if I go on a course should I go on as a beginner I know a bit about digital photography but not that much I can upload photos to the computer send by email - so what I'm asking is should I do a beginners course or the next one up.

Have you ever seen any ads for these type of jobs?

I'm with Bristol Pilot - there are almost no jobs in photography, and if there are, they will be taken up by graduates.

DVardysShadow

pennyshahin wrote: »

When you say no jobs ,the sort of job I'm looking at is perhaps as a studio assistant or darkroom technician in a shop-nothing adventureous,is there no work in that line of work? Also if I go on a course should I go on as a beginner I know a bit about digital photography but not that much I can upload photos to the computer send by email - so what I'm asking is should I do a beginners course or the next one up.

The whole industry has been deskilled. There are no darkrooms anymore, it is all machines for film, which is rapidly dying out, and printers for digital. The openings are all effectively at the level of a photocopier operator.

teabelly

The low level jobs aren't there but there is still work if you can use photoshop to enhance images well as it is time consuming. Also there is a demand for good product photography as more and more shops are taking their sales online.

If you're getting into photography then looking at freelance courses to become either a freelance photographer or freelance photojournalist are other possibilities. You have to be pretty good to stand out as everyone and their dog has a digital camera these days and most of them in full auto modes generally don't take a bad picture.

There's a site dedicated to assisting jobs https://www.photoassist.co.uk. There aren't that many and there are more wannabe assistants than assistant positions. Also it helps if you're near London.

cocolgooh

I believe most newspapers consider taking photographs for the articles they're printing so if you have anything they might use, that could get you started.

Also, you could do things like photographing images and manipulating them to some degree for cards and things like that.

Credit card design is also something which could use those skills in some ways as well.

And yes, I have seen jobs for all of those advertised recently, even if it's not much work, it could still get you started if you did freelance work more than working for a specific company.

pennyshahin_2

If you've got photos that you think papers and that might be interested in what do you have to do ? do you have to have your own website ,do you send them a selection of your photos ,what is the best direction to go in,what about jobs in shops like boots,asda that need phtography help with their digital prints are there none of them either?

Huomenna

Not to shatter any dreams, but I have a degree in photography (graduated in July) and I currently work part time in an independant camera shop - not exactly good money (£6ph actually).
I spend my days selling cameras to people who have absolutely no idea how to use them but plan on doing proper work with them eg. photographing high end properties for estate agents. They'll make a mess of the job when it would have been better to employ a professional photographer to do it.
Whilst I was still doing my degree I worked in another independant shop printing photos on a DKS1500 machine - I got made redundant in January because there wasn't enough trade to pay me, between then and when I got my current job in September I worked in Pets at Home.
There are virtually no photography jobs advertised and even less consistent ones (most photography work advertised in one off stuff) the only regular work may be stuff at studios such as venture.
To make it as a photographer you'll basically have to work for yourself which is what I plan on doing after spending a couple of years or so in the shop and building up a nest egg to start my own business.