Demand for quality photographers on the rise

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. A picture can give you information, make you laugh and also make you think. Thanks to increasing media publications, including newspapers, journals, magazines etc and not to mention the evolution of web journalism, of late there is a demand for quality photographers.It is not just about the prospects in media; photography today provides different career options for people, particularly students.
 
With specialisations such as wildlife photography, fashion and portrait photography, there is scope for people to make it big in this field, provided they have creativity and the ability to capture different moments through their lens.The advent of digital cameras has not only made things easy for photographers but also helped many students to exhibit their skills.

Perhaps this is what is driving many students to opt for part-time jobs, if not enrol into professional photography courses offered by many universities and institutions.Definitely, many students are opting for photography as a career.

There are 45 students in Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) and 25 students in Master of Fine Arts (MFA) and every year the number of students enrolling into these courses is increasing, says Kamal Roy, an Assistant Photographer in the Department of Photography, JNTU.While, working as a photo journalist can be more demanding, being a professional wildlife photographer or a fashion photographer can be more challenging. But the underlining factor is that photography offers many specialisation options and it depends on individual's choice and ability.

Venky, owner of private photo studio in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad says, “it has been 10 years I have started my career as a photographer. In my early days, I used to go to Mumbai and Bangalore for fashion shoots but ever since the exposure of photography increased in Hyderabad I started doing couple of fashion shoots a week”

More importantly, there is no gender discrimination in photography. Today, more women are working as professional photographers and even students are joining photography courses.

Divya Medikonda, a mass communication student in Loyola Academy says, “I started clicking pictures as a hobby and post them into a social networking website. I got good response from my friends and now I have joined a professional course.” Photography offers freedom to work at will.

Unlike, software employees and other professionals, photographers always have to look out for opportunities and capture images that can help them to make a mark in the field, irrespective of photo journalism or fashion photography.

These days colleges and organisations are conducting photography competitions in an effort to bring out the latent talent in students and encourage them to take up a career in photography as well.

Interest 
Venkatesh Soma, a B.Com student who works part timer at a private photo studio feels if passion is turned into profession, then students enjoy their work and the course they pursue would become easy. “This apart, I have advertising as one of my subjects, I started learning photography, gradually my interest towards it increased and now I am planning to take it as my profession” says Soma.

Courtesy : The Hindu