My Photography Story

Some people, perhaps even most, have no idea what career they want to go in to when they're teenagers. I wasn't actually one of those people. I figured that I wanted to be a photographer when I was around 15 but even before then I felt like I always showed interest in the subject, like it was the career I always knew I was going to go in. I remember the first photograph I ever took. I must have been around 7 or 8 and it was taken with one of those disposable cameras. It was a picture of my cat sat on the roof looking down at me with the deep blue sky acting like a backdrop. It was a pretty impressive photo considering I was so young. But even though I have always been interested in the subject, there were times when I've questioned my choices. I wanted to tell my photography story so here we go!

Where my interest came from

I've already talked about the first photo I ever took but my real passion for photography kicked in when I was choosing my GCSE options in year 9. I believe that there are two types of people in this world; the academic, and the creative. I most definitely fitted in the creative category. I really didn't want to do boring subjects and I can't draw to save my life so art was out of the question. So instead I chose photography (along with media studies but that was an absolute disaster. The teacher was the most offensive women I have ever come across and I actually ended up dropping the subject...she hated me for it because it got her in to a lot of trouble. She always talked about me in lessons after that so I was told...I had the last laugh though...)

So this was where I got taught the basics in photography and where I owned my first camera. I was so pleased that I owned my own camera but I was stupid. I just bought the same camera that my school had. It wasn't a DSLR and I can't even remember the model of it other than it was a Fujifilm. I also could not take pictures in manual mode at all! This was actually something I couldn't do until I started university but we'll get to that later. Anyway, it was the basic techniques that I took away from this. I learnt about the rule of thirds, how to take good black and white photos, famous photographers, very basic photoshop skills and probably a bunch of other stuff I don't remember. Long story short, this was my favourite subject, I was good at it, left with an A. Woo!

Losing my passion?

So I left school with fairly decent grades and went off to college. One thing you should know about me was that I'm not very good at exams. I took mostly BTECS in school and that didn't change when I went to college. I did a BTEC in photography that was equivalent to 3 A-levels...and I hated it. Nobody really took the subject seriously including our teacher. I barely saw him in the room half the time and we never had a proper lesson. We just got given assignments and left to our own devices. We did have a lesson in the dark room once which was pretty cool. We collected leaves and various objects around the college and made pictograms with them. That was fun until the only boy in our class started being...er...inappropriate towards me and some of the other girls...we didn't go in the dark room after that and I'm pretty sure the guy got kicked out. But up until then that was pretty cool!

I also remember when we went on a trip to London to see a photography exhibition and it was so boring! It was just a small room filled with what looked like someones holiday pictures. We spent about 10 minutes in there and then went to a Starbucks on Oxford Street and just gossiped the whole day. No photography what so ever. I wasn't learning anything so I decided to take action myself. I bought some cheap backdrops and started taking portraits for people. Got quite a lot of business from it and I think that's where I got my enterprise head from. That came handy later on as I took an enterprise module at uni and got a really high marks on the assignments just because I found out first hand how to start a business and I was only 16 when I started doing it. So I guess college taught me SOMETHING but that was only because I took initiative. I mean, this was the sort of work I was producing....YIKES! Definitely not my best work...

Because I wasn't really doing anything I kind of lost my passion. I still felt like I didn't know my camera very well (I'd purchased a DSLR by this point), they didn't teach me anything I didn't already know and they didn't advise me on what to do after college was over. I left with 2 distinctions and a merit which was good but that was just because I had a good eye and knowledge of the subject. Not because they taught me anything. I took a year off after college so I didn't rush in to anything I might regret. I decided that I was going to apply for uni ready for when the year was over.

Best 3 years of my life

Personally that gap year was the worst year of my life but it was followed by 3 of the best. My school told me that I wasn't academic enough and uni wasn't the best choice for me (I know, they basically called me dumb). College said the same. They said that there wasn't much point going to uni for photography and people even tell me now that I have a "pointless degree." I don't believe that there's such a thing. Sure, if you're lucky enough, you can get in the industry without a degree as long as you have a strong portfolio. But I still couldn't even take a decent picture in manual mode because nobody told me how! I was also questioning if I was making the right career choice. Like I said, I sort of lost my passion around this time and didn't know what path to take.

I went to a couple of uni open days and got really discouraged. I had my eye on Bristol originally because it was close to home but when I went to the open day they had so many high expectations! I was so overwhelmed and started thinking that my school was right. I went to one more open day after that and I told myself that if I felt too overwhelmed, I'll except that uni isn't for me. It was at Birmingham City University and I remember feeling so much pressure that I sat on the steps outside and started crying because I was worried that I would leave disappointed again. My mum practically dragged me through the door. I look back at that moment now and realise how far I've actually come. I didn't come out of that open day disappointed, I was given an unconditional offer a few months later and 3 years on I graduated with a 2:1 in Media and Communications.

This course was perfect for me! I was still able to do my photography and get taught the RIGHT way. My first photography assignment that I was ever given at uni was to document life around Birmingham City Centre. That was pretty cool. I went round with a friend who I'd only known for a couple of weeks and we had no idea what we were doing or where we going! Spoiler alert: we're now best friends and still laugh about that day.

This course also allowed me to explore other aspects of the media to see if there was any other career path I could go down. I got trained in event planning, radio production, PR, journalism, for one assignment we even had to become small record labels and sign a band...don't ask how that went..we kind of made everything up because all our plans fell through. But we got good marks so it was all good!

Uni was where I learnt everything I know now and I miss it dearly! It's a decision I have never regretted and never will. Although I'm struggling to get in to the industry now, I know that the skills I learnt in Birmingham are gonna get me there.

What happens now?

To answer that question, I really don't know! But I kind of like that. Yeah there have been times since I left uni where my work has been criticised very badly and I have had my fair share of professionals in the industry exploiting me because I'm a young recent graduate with a passion. There have still been times over the past few months where I've questioned all of my life decisions. But I like that this story isn't over yet. This is just the very beginnings of my career and although I have bad times and question if I've chosen the right path, my passion never truly goes away. Just because something is difficult doesn't mean you should give up on doing what you love. I would love to do a follow up post on this story in a few years time and be in a job that I'm happy with and worked so hard towards and look back at this post and see just how far I've come. Believe me that is something that I will do!

To be continued....