help with career choice

[MLlanes]

well, i've decided i want to go to school for art/photography

i plan on applying to Massachusetts Institute of Art or Bridgewater State College(local college)

what should i do when i get out? i was thinking working for a newspaper or magazine, but does that pay well?

also, what should i do now?(im a junior in high school) i want to get a job interning or being a hand at a studio, but i dont know where to start. when i email people, they never reply.

[Leukeh]

If you want to head in the photography industry but also want to be really creative, I (personally) wouldn't suggest working for a magazine or newspaper. Unless you're taking shots for FHM or something where you can do interesting angles, get the models to pose etc.

I've dabbled in a bit of event photography (I've only just finished school myself) and really enjoy that - I also have heard it pays pretty well. Parties, weddings, school formals, that sort of thing.

As for what you can do now... Look at job seeking websites - I often see (in Australia at least) people advertising looking for students to do a bit of event photography with kids parties or something. Also during the holiday season, apply to be the photographer for the kids-on-Santa's-lap thing. It's extremely easy...
Another thing is to go around to local cafes and coffee shops (not chain stores... very unlikely you'll get anything from them) and see if they're willing to have your photos hanging on their walls (it's good to have a decent portfolio set up before you do this) in frames with price tags on them. I see it all the time. Get a good photo printed at a large size - $10-$20, buy a nice frame to go with it - $40-$60 and you can sell it for $100-$150. Purchases may be few and far between, but it's very easy money and it makes a name for yourself in your local area.

Something I've thought about doing is setting up a stall at the local markets - I don't know if you've got any but around my area there's the
"3rd Sunday of the Month" market every month - you'd need a bit of money to start it up as you'd need to get quite a few photos printed and framed, but it's definitely worth it if you know where to buy frames and how much to charge for your photos.

Recently, I've found another method - presents! I give a couple of people some framed photos of mine for birthday/Christmas, they have people over to they house, the see it, ask where they got it, they mention my name, they get in contact with me, they tell me what they want and I do it. Often they'll want it to give as a present themselves, so it might be worth making up a small business card or a little sticker with your details (name and mobile + email or something simple) to put on the back of the photo so they can contact you and generate more business, etc...

Hope that helps!

[MLlanes]

wow, thank you for the response. i am deffinetly going to remember this.

i have a couple of my pictures framed and just sitting around right now. i may go around to some local shops and ask if they could be hung up

as for the presents. i did that this christmas. it was pretty fun.

[grey-shift]

Wow, that really helped me get an idea of what to do to start out, thank you both for the thread...:)