Successes and failures

Completing a Masters was an amazing experience and very rewarding. However, it does not guarantee anything in terms of employment or success in a field of work. I’ve found it almost impossible to get any work either as a self-employed photographer or applying for work with suitable organisations.

The world of photography is a competitive one and is unbalanced in favour of those with a lot of money for gear, a lot of time on their hands to explore and all the right connections. The latter seems to apply to any field.

There is also a strong element of cliquey photography groups who share info with each other but aren’t open to newcomers, especially women it seems. A lot of male photographers go out together, share locations, spend hours with each other photographing wildlife and landscapes but aren’t so open to doing the same with female photographers, which means we are missing out. I’ve no idea why this is but it leaves a lot of us out in the cold.

While I might have a photography masters, I’m still always learning. I want to excel and learn. I’m open to asking anyone else for advice and tips – I don’t care who they are or what qualifications or experience they have. I like to share knowledge.

There’s only so much you can learn of a subject on your own. YouTube is great but goes only so far, and I clearly have so much to learn. I’m at a standstill and am certainly not under any illusions about selling my work any longer.

It’s the end of a love affair with photography for me. I’ve decided to stop trying to sell my work. It’s fairly pointless and unrewarding at this stage. I’ll still pick up my camera but gone are any illusions of earning a living from it.