What Can You Do With a Photography Degree? Career Options Beyond Photography

So, you’ve got a photography degree. Congratulations! You have spent several years learning about cameras, lighting, composition, visual culture and probably at least one piece of equipment that cost more than your first car. But what can you actually do with it?

The good news is that a photography degree can lead to plenty of different careers. The slightly less good news is that it doesn’t come with a little card saying “Congratulations, you are now employed as a photographer.” You’ll still need to build a portfolio, gain experience and work out how to turn your skills into an income.

Become a professional photographer

The most obvious option is, of course, becoming a professional photographer. A photography degree can give you a strong foundation in technical skills, visual communication and photographic theory, but you’ll still need to develop a portfolio and learn how the photography business works.

Depending on your interests, you could work in commercial, fashion, portrait, wedding, product, food, real estate, editorial, sports or architectural photography.

You don’t necessarily have to pick one genre immediately either. Many photographers try several types of work before discovering where their skills and interests overlap with something people are actually prepared to pay for.

Work in photojournalism or editorial photography

If you’re interested in storytelling and current affairs, a photography degree can lead towards photojournalism and editorial work.

Photographers working for newspapers, magazines, websites and agencies document news, events, people and social issues. It’s a competitive field, though, and simply having a degree won’t get you through the door.

You’ll need a strong portfolio, the ability to work quickly and an understanding of journalistic ethics. Being able to produce good photographs when everything is happening at once is also rather useful.

Work in commercial photography

Commercial photography is another major career path. Businesses need photographs for advertising, websites, packaging, catalogues, social media and marketing campaigns. Depending on the job, you could find yourself photographing products in a studio one day and travelling somewhere exotic for an advertising campaign the next.

Commercial photography can be particularly varied because you’re often working to a client’s brief rather than simply photographing whatever interests you. And yes, sometimes that brief really will be “make this packet of biscuits look sexy.”

Work in fashion

A photography degree can also lead into fashion photography, where you’ll work with models, designers, stylists, hair and makeup artists, brands and publications.

Fashion photography is about much more than photographing clothes. It involves creating a visual concept and working with a whole team to bring that concept to life.

It can also be an extremely competitive industry, so networking, developing a distinctive style and building a strong portfolio are just as important as your degree.

Become a photo editor or picture editor

You don’t necessarily have to be the person holding the camera. Photography graduates can work as photo editors, picture editors and visual content managers for publishers, magazines, newspapers, websites and companies.

These roles can involve commissioning photographers, selecting images, managing archives, researching photographs, editing visual content and making decisions about how images are used.

A strong understanding of photography is extremely useful when your job involves deciding which photographs work and which ones should probably remain safely hidden on someone’s hard drive.

Work in galleries, museums or archives

If you’re more interested in photography as an art form or historical medium, there are careers in galleries, museums, archives and cultural institutions. You might work with photographic collections, exhibitions, conservation, curation or education.

These roles can require additional qualifications or specialist knowledge, particularly for curatorial and conservation positions, but a photography degree can provide a useful foundation.

Teach photography

If you enjoy explaining things almost as much as you enjoy taking photographs, teaching could be an option. Photography graduates can go into education, although the qualifications required depend on what and where they want to teach.

There are also opportunities outside traditional schools and universities, including workshops, private tuition, online courses and photography clubs. Teaching can also become an additional income stream alongside professional photography.

Work in film and video

Photography and filmmaking have a considerable amount of overlap, particularly when it comes to lighting, composition, exposure and visual storytelling.

A photography degree can therefore provide useful skills for careers in cinematography, camera operation, lighting, video production and content creation. You’ll need to develop additional skills because moving images introduce a whole new collection of problems, including sound, movement, frame rates and the joys of editing. Still, understanding how to create a good-looking frame is a pretty useful place to start.

Work in social media and content creation

Modern businesses need an enormous amount of visual content, and photography graduates can find work creating photographs, videos and other visual material for social media and digital marketing.

This might involve working directly for a company, joining a creative agency or working freelance for multiple clients. The ability to produce photographs is increasingly useful alongside skills such as video, editing, graphic design and social media management.

Start your own creative business

A photography degree doesn’t have to lead to a conventional job at all. You could build your own photography business, freelance as a creative, sell prints, license photographs, offer workshops, create educational content or develop several income streams around your skills.

In fact, this is one of the reasons it’s worth thinking beyond the job title “photographer”. Photography can be the foundation for a much broader creative career.

Do you actually need a photography degree?

This is the awkward question. For many photography careers, no, you don’t technically need one. Clients generally care about the quality of your work, your reliability and whether you can deliver what they need. They’re unlikely to ask you to produce your university certificate before booking a family portrait session.

A degree can nevertheless be extremely valuable. It gives you structured time to develop your skills, access to equipment and facilities, feedback from tutors, opportunities to experiment and potentially a network of other creative people.

It can also give you a broader understanding of photography as a visual medium rather than simply teaching you how to operate a camera.

The important thing is to look at what you’re actually getting for the money. If you’re considering a photography degree, investigate the course, facilities, tutors, industry connections and opportunities for developing a professional portfolio rather than choosing one simply because the title sounds interesting.

What employers really want

Whatever career you pursue after your degree, your qualification is only part of the equation. A strong portfolio is often considerably more persuasive than a certificate. Employers and clients want to see evidence that you can actually produce good work.

You’ll also benefit from practical experience, communication skills, business knowledge and an understanding of the particular industry you’re trying to enter. In other words, the degree can open a door, but your portfolio is what gets you invited inside.

So, what can you do with a photography degree?

Quite a lot, actually. You can become a photographer, work in photojournalism, commercial photography, fashion, publishing, picture editing, galleries, museums, education, film, video, social media or creative production. You can also use the skills you’ve learned to build your own business or move into a completely different creative career.

A photography degree isn’t a guarantee of employment, but it can give you a useful combination of technical, creative and critical skills that can be applied in plenty of places.

And if none of those options appeal, there’s always the nuclear option. You can frame the degree and hang it in the bathroom. At least then somebody will get to see it.

Key takeaways

A photography degree can lead to careers in professional photography, photojournalism, commercial and fashion photography, publishing, editing, galleries, education, film, video and digital content.

You don’t necessarily need a degree to become a professional photographer, but formal education can provide valuable training, facilities, feedback, networking and time to develop a portfolio.

Ultimately, what you can do with a photography degree depends less on the piece of paper itself and more on the skills, portfolio and experience you build alongside it.

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