Career advice: When Photography is more than just a hobby

Photography is the field for you if you are passionate enough to consider it as something more than just a hobby.

If you are passionate enough to consider photography as something more than just a hobby, then you may be on your way to discovering a new career path, one that may well lead you to fame and fortune! With the explosion of information technology, the growth of advertising and media and the fashion boom, photography has now become a profession with great commercial value. This is a field offering a lot of scope for those who have an interest in it and the attributes needed to be a professional photographer. It is a must for professional photographers to be versatile and they simply cannot afford to limit their vision to one particular area.

Career options

Entry-level positions in photojournalism or in industrial or scientific photography generally require a college degree in photography or in a field related to the industry in which the photographer seeks employment.

• Magazines

• Fashion houses

• Design studios

• Advertising agencies

• Hospitals

• Municipalities

• Government departments

• Business

• Research institutions

• Police and armed forces

What is required?

Being a creative medium, photography requires more of a built-in talent for success than formal training. However, training polishes inherent skills and helps the individual to stand out in this competitive field, which has various specialisations like portraiture, fashion and advertising photography, journalistic photography, wildlife and outdoor photography etc. One should have a definite mind for the angle, lighting and the latest equipment and technology to make a name in the field.

Essential skills

• Strong imagination and technical skills with a good eye for colour, shape, pattern, form and tone

• Possess self-discipline to regularly work unsupervised

• The ability to travel at anytime, anywhere

• The ability to work evenings and weekends

• Ability to work in dangerous environments

• Ability to meet deadlines

• Knowledge of particular computer software programmes

• Strong communication and time management skills

• Enthusiasm and a high level of energy

• Know-how of appropriate cameras, lenses and accessories

Where to go?

• Southshore School for A-level Studies, Karachi (as an elective)

• Lahore School of Photography (LSP)

• Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (IVS), Karachi

• Asian Institute of Fashion Design (AIFD), Karachi

• Karachi School of Art

• SZABIST, Karachi

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th, 2011.