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Sydney Lusk
Mr. Phillips
Eng. 3
29 April 2019

Photography

Could you imagine society being different without photography?

Think about that for a few seconds, the world wouldn’t be the same. It would

be dull and boring. That would suck. No one would remember who the past president leaders

were or any of the inventors. It would be hard trying to understand history, even our heritage.

That is why photography is so important to us. We remember everything by just looking at

pictures. It helps us relive history and the good memories. If you want to be one of those people

to help relive those moments for other people there is some extent that you need to learn first

about to becoming a photographer and how it is a good career. Photography you are able to use

your creative side and see what happens through your pictures. You can express and show off

what you know about your career. Photography is a reliable career because yearly a photographer

makes 30,000 dollars. But that just depends on how hard you work and how much time and

effort you put into your job.

You might ask what is the education requirements you need to be a photographer. Well in

that case you need a school diploma or a bachelor’s degree. Elvis Michael says that “you need to

know the process types of photography, the lighting and darkroom skill and the history of

photography.” But also you will need to take photography training. Colleges, community

colleges provide photography training “the programs at the colleges go over photography
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methods, also the business and the marketing part of photography”, said Elvis Michael. All

photographers must have artistic skills and important qualities to be successful. “Photographers

must understand how to use lighting, shades and colors. In some photography jobs, they require

good customer service skills”. A photographer is an artist and a part time mathematician.

Michael J. O’ Neal says that “ a photographer has to be a part time mathematician. They must

understand how to operate a camera. How lighting and optics work. You have to be in a two or

four year college and participate in an art program.” All photographers uses f-stops to allow how

much light gets into the lens of the camera. Michael J. O’Neal says “ photographers use

mathematical formulas to increase or decrease the amount of light to determine the focal point of

a lens”. “Some cameras can be already automatic, but some photographers prefer to use manual

cameras and adjust the settings themselves”.

Some people say that photography or taking photos of landscapes or people isn’t a job.

But you are wrong. Photography is a real job, because by taking pictures is a photographers

passion. You get paid just like any job. “Photographers build their business around their growth,

learning and creativity about nature.” Says Chamira Young . Matter in fact through photography

you are able to tell a story through your photos you take. “ It becomes harder and harder to

regularly engage in discussions about photography as a career choice”. Says Mitch Schneider.

But that doesn’t stop photographers from doing their job.

You are probably wondering how much does a photographer gets paid monthly. Well it

just depends on how much work you put into your business will depend on how much money
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you will get paid. Some people say that “the average photographer does not make a lot of

money”. Says Rosh Sillars. According to Jack Ori “ beginner photographers will buy cameras

and other high priced equipment to stay successful enough to earn $4,000 dollars in a month”. I

guess it depends on how much money you will make in a day, week, month and year if you have

a good education. How long you have spent on the photography profession and the additional

skills you are able to provide.

The advantages of being a photographer is that you create photos by using their technical

expertise and their creative side, to tell us a story. To Tony Gerra “ some photographers might

travel or some might stay in a studio to work.” That isn't a bad thing to stay in a studio to work

and take pictures. But to be able to travel would be such an amazing experience. “Some of the

time photographers can be an employee or an owner employee”. Back to what I was saying

traveling to many different unknown places as a photographer would be amazing. But traveling

does play a big role in the job. “You might be asked to take pictures of people or even landmarks

in such. Sometimes you might be at home or an exotic or a different place”. Maybe one week

you will be in Australia then the next week you could be going to somewhere else to take

pictures. What also is another advantage of going into the photography field is that you can

choose and decide what kind of photos you want to take. Also according to Tony Guerra “ as a

photographer you can specialize in taking advertising photos, or being a photojournalist. Or even

you could take sports photos and or even take photos for weddings”. You can choose what kind

of pictures you want to take. That is a really good thing about the photography field you don't
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feel pressured in what type of photos you have to take of. YOU choose what types and kinds of

photos you want to take.

The pros about being a photographer is that you get paid to do something you love. You

don’t want to work in a job that you dread doing everyday. Photographers start taking pictures

because they enjoy it and love it. It makes them happy. As you continue to go and to love

photography you will be able to make it a career. “Do what you love and you'll never work a day

in your life”. Says Grant Gaffney. Another pro is that seeing the beauty in everything. After you

start taking photographs you will start appreciating the little things you see in your photos. You

will see nature and the photos in a whole new perspective than before you started taking photos.

You will see every little detail in your photos. You will see how the light has changed in pictures.

“You will be more aware of apertures, shutter speeds, exposure and the angles you take your

photos at”. You are able to capture a moment in time. “You are freezing a moment in time that

would otherwise have been forgotten”. Said Grant Gaffney. You will be able to stop time and

take a picture of whatever is happening in that moment and capture it.

Being a photographer there are cons in being one. One of them is that to be a better

photographer you have to buy expensive gear and good quality cameras. Quoted by Grant

Gaffney “ a Nikon entry level full frame DSLR camera body runs about $1,500 currently decent

zoom lens will set you make another $500-800 minimum”. Another con of being a photographer

is that you are not in many pictures. “People are always asking you to take group photos or

photos for an event” , said Grant Gaffney. One last and final con you need to know about is that
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you will be picky with the quality of pictures said Grant Gaffney. But what is that supposed to

mean for us photographers. Well it means you wouldn’t let anyone else take a picture because it

is not an easy thing to do than you think it is. You may not like how the picture turns out. Or

maybe the picture won’t be as good as you want it to be.

Some people may think that photography sucks, some people don’t. But according to

Josh who wrote 10 Timeless reasons why being a photographer sucks. Being self employed, you

get to chose your own hours you want to work, but, you're most likely will be relying on

recommendations or even promotion to find work. “If you have a desire for work, the money will

be good. But that just doesn’t happen overnight from a good portfolio” said Josh. Another thing

that is another reason why being a photographer sucks. That is people will rip you off. Now that

is rude and so cruel. People will rip you off by using you own photos and changing them into

their own. Now who dumb enough would do that. Like yeah I understand you need money. But

why can’t you just come up and take pictures of your own and sell them, instead of stealing

someone else’s art and changing it. According Josh “ people can take your pictures and put it out

there and call it their own, they can use your photos to create t shirts and other clothing”. People

think that you are really good at taking pictures and think you should do it for free, but they will

start saying phrases you will hear a lot. “People will want to hangout with you alot more and

come to parties and will expect you to bing your camera. They will just use you for your

creativity” says Josh. The last thing that sucks about being a photographer is that the top quality

camera/ gear isn't cheap, especially when you are a new photographer. “Once you know how to
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work a camera and is more experienced than you can work on getting or arroding a top quality

camera”.

My final paragraph I will be ending on is my conclusion. It is a time for a change in the

photography world. There's a need to be a stop to it by being ripped off by people. There are

many ways that you can put a stop from people stealing your pictures off line. Another thing is

that I know that many people don’t think photography is a “real” job but it is. A lot more people

are becoming interested in photography. It is becoming more popular. I think that people should

start being more aware that photography is becoming a huge thing. Photography is a career,

people get paid like any other jobs. You can choose if you want to work for someone or if you

want to work for yourself. It is totally up to you. Photography is a reliable career.

 Work Cited

Guerra, Tony. “What are some advantages being a photographer” CareerTrend.com.

CareerTrend, 30 Dec. 2018. Web. 29 April 2019

Josh. “10 timeless reasons why being a photographer sucks” Expertphotography.com. Expert

Photography, 10 July 2011. Web. 29 April 2019

Michael, Elvis. “Education required to be a photographer” Work. Chron.com. Chron,

24 July 2018. Web. 26 April 2019

Ori, Jack. “How much do photographers get paid monthly” Sapling.com. Sapling,

DONT KNOW WHEN IT WAS LAST UPDATED. Web. 29 April 2019

O’ Neal, Michael J. “Photographer” Go. gale.group.com. Gale. 2002. Web. 24 April 2019

Schneider, Mitch “ 11 reasons why photography is a great career choice” JPEG mini. Blog.

Jpegmini.com, 2 years ago. Web. 26 April 2019

Young, Chamira “ Photography isnt a real job anyway” Prophotographerjourney.com. Pro

Photographer Journey. 24 Nov. 2016. Web. 26 April 2019