BCPA query + assistant query

[Simont81]

Hi,

I’m new to photography. With more experience and knowledge, I’d like to go much further than amateur/enthusiast into the realms of profitable sports, landscape, portrait and wedding photography. In this regard, I was wondering whether anybody here has undertaken the Brisbane College of Photography and Art ‘career training’ course, and if so, did you find the course valuable. I recognise that “valuable” is a pretty broad term, so what I’m looking for in particular was:


whether the course content was comprehensive
was it interactive, i.e. did the lecturers and guest presenters do their job well
did you feel that your photography significantly improved as a result
did you gain sound knowledge about the business/marketing aspects of being a business photographer
did you gain sound knowledge about the legal aspects of the being a business photographer and
did the fact that you have a “qualification” open doors for you that otherwise would have remained closed


Also, I’ve read here and on other forums that photographic experience can be gained by working as an assistant to an existing business photographer. For the photographers here that cut their teeth as an assistant, or anyone else who may know, do the people that you work for prefer that you use your own equipment (I assume so but never hurts to ask), and if so, is there a standard type of equipment that they would expect their assistants to own, such as medium format or large format sensors, support, types of lens, post-production software, etc? Also, as a professional, what type of attributes would you be looking for in an assistant?

Regards,
Simon

P.S – please note I didn’t mention “working for free” given how often and hotly debated that topic seems to be. I would appreciate the same observation from anyone who feels like responding :)

[vanngirl]

Simon, I'm currently at BCPA . By "career training course" do you mean the 1yr f/t or 2yr p/t? if so, then that's what I'm doing (2 years). I've just finished the first year, not sure if can speak to all those questions as I'm only halfway, but if you wanted to know anything specific you could PM me, rather than bore everyone else here. :) I'd be interested in hearing from someone who has studied at Southbank Tafe or Griffith, to compare notes on how the courses differ between different institutions.

[Lanny]

Hi Simon,

I did a B of Photography many years ago and really enjoyed the years doing it. These days if you applied your energy towards securing an assistant job for a photographer you would get a great understanding of if you were prepared to go into it alot more.
Can I say that an assistant to a photographer is a very powerful thing. What do I mean by this? I get to speak to alot of photographers and have built a strong relationship with many, around the traps you get to hear alot about who is assisting who in the studio or on location and how good they are. An assistant, is, if anything, the photographers main tool, they are the ones that the photographer relies on with most of what is going on, from preparation of site, cleaning of and adjusting of equipment, making sure the image is looking right on the monitor, telling the photographer whether he or she is an f stop to high or low etc. These types of assistants can command whatever they want because they are good, I know of a few really good assistants that demand between $300-$500 a day. Give it a crack, it will really open your eyes to the industry, then if you are still inspired and are eager to go full throttle then go for it. The industry is always changing, I just wished that I had done more assistant work before going into Uni first, I still would have done studies but at least I wouldn't have gone in blind. Also being an assistant could pay your way through Uni?

Don't know if this helped but I wish you well, very exciting times ahead for you.