Are you self-taught or did you go to school?

I was introduced to photography by a neighbour (Brit spelling) who was a retired 'Master photographer who was 'doing some close ups of his roses (he 'bred' a few new varieties) but also did dinner-wear plates and cutlery, and jewellery
on a table in a 'spare room' MY 'first job' was to 'attach' strips of paper on the far wall that provided a 'dark reflection around the edge of the plates and the 'expensive' gold/silver cutlery. He taught me to 'SEE' the image on the ground glass. As I approached the end of my teen years I could not see the 'me' making a living doing weddings... eventually went to study 'Agriculture' at SRUC (after a one year 'practicum) and after a couple of years milking cows etc. The love of my life said "goodbye" and I decided to work my passage to Canadian shores looking after a couple of Hereford bulls,
13 heifers and a young Clydesdale horse (Muirton Catriona lll) went through their compulsory time in "isolation" and accompanied them all on the train 'ride' to the Prairies (Regina, Sask. and a year or so later went back to S. Ontario)
and eventually got a photography position with Agriculture Canada (images for publications, AV presentations etc)
That got closed down thanks to the evolution of personal/financial data being sent via computers... but on being 'layed off' I had 'first shot' at the open position at the nearby (S. Aberta) Agriculture Research Centre..I did the written exam and the 'required' portfolio to earn my 'Board Certification' as a Registered Biological Photographer.. number of years later the Department closed a similar 'Centre' in Ottawa and needed the 'space' I occupied and found myself "downsized" I 'think do it for yourself digital 'helped'. But then my PhD-type daughter 'challenged me to go and earn my BFA at the nearby University..where I quickly learned that "Intent" and "Meaning' seemed to be more 'important' than the 'Quality' of the images you 'presented'. Since the household budget did not really have an 'allowance' for 'commercial' B/W paper.
I built my own UV light source... invested in the raw chemicals for making my 'favourite' film developer (pyrocat HD), and
mixed my own emulsions for the 'archaic print processes' for use 'at home' (The University would not 'allow' me to use their facility due to the 'dangerous' chemicals. For my final course, I presented ALL my images made using the 'archaic' print processes... You should have seen the 'smile' (read 'big grin') when at the end of 'critique' The Prof said "Ken...
I just LOVE what you have done.. (may I have one or two and the class (about 14) gave me a 'round of applause' (I was 'honestly'... "more than surprised") My class-mates then asked if they could each have one.. so.. knowing that I could
re-print each and every one... In my 'joy' I said help yourselves... I did not have the heart to say "NO", and I went home 'empty-handed' but..... I have to admit that I had BIG GRIN on my face.. all the way home.

Ken
(who is tempted to ask "How many of the list-members print using the 'archaic print proceses?'

I was 'introduced' to the 'art' and the 'craft' of photography by an elderly neighbour when I was 'around 12 years of age when I observed him setting up his 8x10 to make some close-up photographs of his "home-bred' roses... (I had been 'gounded' for some 'less than good behaviour') and inquired of him what he was 'doing'.. so he invited me to 'come and have a 'look' on the ground glass... I was 'hooked' (but later could not 'see me' doing weddings). His speciality was jewelery and 'table ware' and I got to 'assist' by pinning some coloured paper 'strips' on the wall (providing a dark line on the rear edge of the plates for 'separation' and dark 'reflections' on some of the fine jewellery. I was 'hooked' on photographybut could not see much of a future doing 'weddings' etc.
I learned a lot under his tuition.... he would invite me to 'judge' his composition on the ground glass.. and invited my 'assistance' whenever possible... While 'interested' in making photographs I could not foresee a career in photography..
since I had been 'kicked out of the 'photography club' in high school and instead decided to go to Agriculture College.. graduated, and a year or so later decided to emigrate to Canadian shores by working my passage on a cattle boat. and eventually 're-started my interest in photography when employed as a technician in a university Biology department recording plant materials petri-dish cultures etc. to film when it was too cold to carry them over to the A/V unit.

A neighbour who had seen some of my 'personal' work then invited me to apply for a position with Agriculture Canada..
eventually ending up at Canada's largest Research Centre... and I achieved my Board Certification as a "Registered Biological Photographer but was eventually 'downsized' when the Department was closing down a unit in Ottawa and transferring the staff 'here',.. they needed the floor-space I occupied and digital was just 'arriving' such that staff could then 'do for themselves'

My daughter (a PhD-type) then challenged me to 'stay out of the rocking chair' and go earn your BFA ( at the nearby University (a 20 minute walk).. so... back to classes as a 'Part time' student.. just as they had decided to close all but one of the wet darkrooms as they were going 'ALL DIGITAL' ..while I was not interested in digital imaging, I enrolled and got some 'advanced standing'. BUT... since I was now a 'senior citizen', the Provincial Government 'covered' all my tuition costs

My last course was a 'studio' (you 'do' what you want)..so... fI hung 15 of my images (VDB prints... all made 'at home' using my home built UV light box after I had scanned my 4x5 negatives and printed the file onto Pictorico OH film (rather than chance damaging the 'original' negative). I was the 'last in line' for class and prof's 'critique'..followed by the question and answer of the 'how and the why'/what does it 'mean' part of the process. I am usually unable to provide an answer to the 'meaning' question.. I regard my images as a 'something seen' that 'deserves recording to film'.

I was somewhat shocked and stunned by the applause afforded my efforts.. and was more than pleasantly 'surprised' when the Prof asked if 'after signing the prints might she have a choice of three'.... and to my my big surprise, the class applauded what I had done... and then they asked if 'they each might also have a print'.. and.. of course being so surprised at the reception of my work, I could not decline, since I could re-print at my 'leisure'

Ken

KenS said:

I was 'introduced' to the 'art' and the 'craft' of photography by an elderly neighbour when I was 'around 12 years of age when I observed him setting up his 8x10 to make some close-up photographs of his "home-bred' roses... (I had been 'gounded' for some 'less than good behaviour') and inquired of him what he was 'doing'.. so he invited me to 'come and have a 'look' on the ground glass... I was 'hooked' (but later could not 'see me' doing weddings). His speciality was jewelery and 'table ware' and I got to 'assist' by pinning some coloured paper 'strips' on the wall (providing a dark line on the rear edge of the plates for 'separation' and dark 'reflections' on some of the fine jewellery. I was 'hooked' on photographybut could not see much of a future doing 'weddings' etc.
I learned a lot under his tuition.... he would invite me to 'judge' his composition on the ground glass.. and invited my 'assistance' whenever possible... While 'interested' in making photographs I could not foresee a career in photography..
since I had been 'kicked out of the 'photography club' in high school and instead decided to go to Agriculture College.. graduated, and a year or so later decided to emigrate to Canadian shores by working my passage on a cattle boat. and eventually 're-started my interest in photography when employed as a technician in a university Biology department recording plant materials petri-dish cultures etc. to film when it was too cold to carry them over to the A/V unit.

A neighbour who had seen some of my 'personal' work then invited me to apply for a position with Agriculture Canada..
eventually ending up at Canada's largest Research Centre... and I achieved my Board Certification as a "Registered Biological Photographer but was eventually 'downsized' when the Department was closing down a unit in Ottawa and transferring the staff 'here',.. they needed the floor-space I occupied and digital was just 'arriving' such that staff could then 'do for themselves'

My daughter (a PhD-type) then challenged me to 'stay out of the rocking chair' and go earn your BFA ( at the nearby University (a 20 minute walk).. so... back to classes as a 'Part time' student.. just as they had decided to close all but one of the wet darkrooms as they were going 'ALL DIGITAL' ..while I was not interested in digital imaging, I enrolled and got some 'advanced standing'. BUT... since I was now a 'senior citizen', the Provincial Government 'covered' all my tuition costs

My last course was a 'studio' (you 'do' what you want)..so... fI hung 15 of my images (VDB prints... all made 'at home' using my home built UV light box after I had scanned my 4x5 negatives and printed the file onto Pictorico OH film (rather than chance damaging the 'original' negative). I was the 'last in line' for class and prof's 'critique'..followed by the question and answer of the 'how and the why'/what does it 'mean' part of the process. I am usually unable to provide an answer to the 'meaning' question.. I regard my images as a 'something seen' that 'deserves recording to film'.

I was somewhat shocked and stunned by the applause afforded my efforts.. and was more than pleasantly 'surprised' when the Prof asked if 'after signing the prints might she have a choice of three'.... and to my my big surprise, the class applauded what I had done... and then they asked if 'they each might also have a print'.. and.. of course being so surprised at the reception of my work, I could not decline, since I could re-print at my 'leisure'

Ken

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Ian Grant said:

I'd forgotten there were two pivotal books that made a big difference to my photography improving, they were Michael Langford's Basic Photography and then Advanced Photography.

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I've always been aware of Michael Langford's books but realised reading this that I've not actually read them. When I was getting interested in photography Barry Thornton was particularly popular but I'm not sure his work has lasted the test of time as we've discussed here previously.

Three college classes (two B&W, one film), plus an internship at a car magazine in 1993/94 where I learned a lot about technique from the staff photographers. From there I was on my own. I consider myself school-taught as that's where the foundation came from. Thank you, Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, NY!

One look at my photos and you probably won't have to ask: that's right, self-taught

Unless learning stops after attending college (or other training programs/situations), everyone is self-taught.

Rather than say how I was taught photography (which I did earlier), I rather put it this way - photography taught me.

MFL

Michael Firstlight said:

Rather than say how I was taught photography (which I did earlier), I rather put it this way - photography taught me.

MFL

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Excellent observation!

I started off as self-taught but then did some schooling.

I was exposed, no pun intended, to the black and white darkroom process when I was in the army in 1973 at Camp Drum, NY. I was moping around due to a broken heart and a friend invited me to accompany him to the base Special Services facility that had a darkroom. He showed me black and white printing and I imagine what happened in my brain was like what happens to a drug addict: I was hooked. The next day I bought a camera, a Minolta ST-100, some film, and went to the small base library and checked out a half dozen books on the topic.

I spent the next few months shooting, developing, and printing. I was transferred to Fort Dix, NJ and found the darkroom there a wonderful opportunity since, unlike Drum where it was unstaffed, here they had someone who understood the processes and could answer my many questions. A few month later I was shipped out to Wackernheim, Germany where I worked 24-hours on, 24-hours off, rinse and repeat, for the next 14- months as as guard on a missile site several miles down the road from the barracks. The one biggie was that our small base has a darkroom right across the road from my barracks which was staffed by an elderly German gentleman who had retired from years working as a professional photographer. It was better than school. It was like an internship with a pro. He not only helped me improve my B&W printing skills, he taught me color processing as well. I was shooting color negative film and developing in a Tetenal kit that was used for both C-22 and C-41(???). Printing was done on Agfacolor paper and chemicals at room temperature open trays. Wow, those were the days.

After I got out of the army in 1975 I landed a job in color photo-finishing lab on a graveyard shift. We processed and printed about 3,000 rolls per night: 110, 126, 35, 120, and a few other oddball sizes. We had a C-41 processor and a big C-22 dip and dunk system. I started as a film cutter, slicing strips of negatives into 4-frame pieces and matching them up with the customers envelope. I advanced to a position of printing, mostly 35mm on a machine, a Kodak 2620, I think, where I would select the exposure for each negative, essentially overriding the automated exposure when subject failure existed. After a year or two of that I advanced to the quality control position and, for the first time, received actual training. They sent me to Kodak school for a week in Whittier when I learned how to mix the chemicals and test them, speed equalize the printers, and all kinds of other fun stuff. This was 1977 or so and I was making about $5.00 an hour.

I was also taking college classes and collecting the GI Bill which help fund my toys like more darkroom equipment, a Mamiya 645 system, etc. I was majoring in criminal justice but quit after my junior year and did a 2-year program in mechanical drafting after which I went to work for an engineering and construction company. I resumed my studies at the university but decided that I wanted to, at some point, become a high school teacher and switched my major to Industrial Arts. I wanted to teach drafting but already knew what I needed to know about that based on my 2-year degree and work experience so I picked "photography" as my area of concentration. I was pretty excited because I was going to Cal State Long Beach and their photo program was pretty well-regarded. I'd been a regular reader of Bob Routh's column in Peterson's Photographic and he was one of the instructors, alas, he retired about the time I started. Since I was a non-traditional student, I took only evening classes and had mostly adjunct professors and they were, without exception great. One of the best was Neil Chapman.

I graduated, finally, in 1986 and continued my work in the engineering/construction area. I 1989 I went back to school to get a teaching license, a 2 year process, and landed a job in Montana in 1991 to teach drafting/CAD. My darkroom moved with me and even though I'd become distracted by family, new career, etc. I still kept dabbling in the processes of photography. At some point, when wanting to learn about this new thing called online learning, I took 3 physics classes through Montana State U in Bozeman and one of them was The Physics of Photography. That was a lot of fun. A while later I borrowed a digital camera when they arrived and played with that and learned some of the editing programs. I got into video production and even had my own TV show on community-access cable for 15-years. I retired from teaching in 2012.

After a couple years of goofing off, I enrolled at the local university and began working on a degree in Fine Arts. My areas of concentration are drawing and photography. I have taken 2 photography classes, one film-based and one digital. What is different from my previous college classes is these are conceptual rather than vocational in orientation. I am still stickler for a properly exposed and processed negative, not to mention the fine printing (thanks, Neil) and now I am learning to add content rather than just pretty pictures. It's a stretch but it's a blast as well.

VinceInMT said:

I What is different from my previous college classes is these are conceptual rather than vocational in orientation. I am still stickler for a properly exposed and processed negative, not to mention the fine printing (thanks, Neil) and now I am learning to add content rather than just pretty pictures. It's a stretch but it's a blast as well.

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Keep stickling. I teach that the more you do this the quicker you get back to your initial inspiration.