JPG Magazine: Stories: Feature Story: Self-taught, yo.

Self-taught, yo.

By Julia Privis

24 February 2008

When a renowned photographer lowers his martini glass and casually drops the fact that he is self-taught, his market price just then doubles itself. Before he can even fetch out his olive, he is posing for pictures and signing his prints, basking in the limelight of approval and acclaim. Obviously, they'd say, that talent like that cannot be taught in any classroom. You are in the presence of greatness. Everyone, say cheese, goddammit.

So, how come, then, those of us aspiring for greatness are faced with raised eye-brows and condescending "oh's," when we mention that we, too, are self-taught? Are we in some way the illegitimate children of the art world? Or, are we just wanna-be's, having nothing better to do then run around with the camera in your face. Perhaps, we all are just a bunch of really bad investors. After all, we've spent all that money on expensive camera equipment, yet no one has ever taught us how to properly use it. Certainly, many of us are in denial. I mean, seriously, do you really think someone would let you shoot Giselle based on your extensive macro flower collection? Well, perhaps, we can try to make a decent living selling prints of our "Street Photography." Yeah, good luck with that.

My magic 8-ball says, "outlook not so good."

The truth is, a fine art education can be a double-edged sword. If you ain't got it, you probably won't learn it in a book, regardless of how good that diploma looks on your wall. And, if you do, being self-taught may be spun in your favor. The only trick is whether you wait to be "discovered" or discover yourself all on your own. Think about it, who is this mysterious discoverer anyway? I mean, really, unless you get an exclusive of Britney riding a donkey in Neverland, nobody's gonna come a knockin'.

Deciding to be a photographer is not much different than moving to Hollywood to become a movie star. And, unfortunately, some of us will only get as far as waiting on tables. So have fun with it. Fake an accent. Pout. Wear a scarf, hat, or a pair of oversized glasses if you must. Adopt some kind of quirky, obsessive compulsive behavior. The weirder, the better. Everyone loves a hippie artist, plus it makes your talent way more believable. But most importantly, remain optimistic - and, if you're a self-taught photographer, you should probably already be quite good at that one.

And then, you grab on to that camera, and you elbow your way in!

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