Tim Galyean Senior Portraits Senior Pictures Overland Park Olathe Kansas City Johnson County Kansas Family Portraits Sports Pictures Dodge Viper Race Cars

Education

The quickest way to learn to be a photographer is to find a photographer in the field you want to be in and copy what they do. The bad part about doing this is if it takes you 5 years to get to be as good as that person then your as good as that person was 5 years ago. That was fine 25 years ago but times and styles change very fast today so at a certain point you need to create your own style. Photography conventions feature photographers that sell their "how to" items which can speed up your learning. There are many online photography forums that you can join on and get help with your questions. The book store is a good place to get information as many photographers have published books on different subjects from PhotoShop to posing and lighting.

If you're going to go into business you'll have to learn the business side also. If you're selling pictures you need to be collecting and paying the sales tax on your sales. If you don't collect and pay your taxes the IRS can go back and make you pay for your sales even if you didn't collect the sales tax from your customers. Same with your out of state equipment purchases, if you purchase a camera on the internet or phone from out of state you'll usually need to pay the local state sales tax on it. Again they can audit you and make you go back and pay these taxes also. On the plus side of this many things can be deducted by having a small business. There are many good books in the book stores as well as far as starting a business and taxes. Since I work out of my house I deduct part of the house and since I've used my Dodge Viper as a prop a portion of that can be deducted also. Each case is different as far as taxes so a good accountant is helpful.

Learn as much as you can about the photography field you want to be in, marketing, advertising, taxes, sales.

College-I've heard that 80% of the stuff you learn in college you'll never use. If you're going to be a photographer I would spend my money elsewhere such as the places mentioned above. It would be faster and cheaper. My oldest kid is a high school drop out and my 2nd oldest one didn't do any college. The 23 yr old does computer work for a big company and the 20 year quit her good paying job at Sprint and she's now an actress for a Hollywood movie company.