Feature Essay

Photography is a vast and open area, it’s a hobby, it’s a career, and it’s an art form. Over the last week I have been doing my own researching, making observations as I go, and talked to a teacher about my possible career path and his interest in this interest that is becoming more and more popular everyday.

Talking to Mr. Matthias, I realized he’s sort of like me, and my interests in photography. Though he’s a language arts teacher, and doesn’t have the time to really immerse himself in his interest, he still likes to do what he can in his spare time. While being asked what type of photography he prefers, digital or film, he said he does both, and enjoys both for their own positive qualities, he also enjoys traditional film photography, though it’s not easy to try and do. “It’s one of those things that you need to have the right supplies, like a dark room and chemicals; but I like the idea of film photography when you get to do it all, I like the whole art form of it” he describes. I asked him when he first became interested in photography, and I was surprised to find he became interested in it in the middle of high school, “right around your age” he said. Matthias like to take pictures that tell a story, take a picture that actually means something “not just some picture of a tree or whatever is lying around”. Even though he runs the schools yearbook, and has for several years, he was never in yearbook in high school.

Seeing as how Mr. Matthias knows photography mainly from a hobby standpoint, I decided to do some research on the actual statistics. It’s of course a very competitive field, as would any art form be. Most photographers are free-lancers, meaning they are self-employed, and the median of most photographers’ incomes is around $20,000-44,000 a year. However there is the high ten percent that can make up to $62,000. In order to be a successful photographer you must have a vast knowledge of equipment, such as cameras, light equipment, computers and photo editing programs. You must be able to cover all the different fields of photography. Some fields could include being a wedding photography, or maybe nature shots, something there are portraits, and then there’s the average school picture. I could go on and on as to how many different kinds of photography, but to be truly successful you must basically be a jack of all traits. You must also have a “good artistic eye”.

Basically to be a successful photographer, your must be an artist at heart and be willing to do anything, to make your art heard. “Photography is not usually a full time thing, most people do it as something on the side” said Mr. Matthias as our interview was ending. I’m however determined to live this career, immerse myself in all the knowledge I can, soak it up, and be part of the upper ten percent income, maybe even higher.