Formal Training vs. Interest
To be honest, everyone learns best within his or her own style of learning. I went to photography school when I was younger, and honestly, I didn’t like it. I learned techniques that I knew were pointless, and the amount of money that I was putting into the education was excessive. Most all post-secondary education is quite over-rated and overpriced, but it is sadly often a means to an end in today’s society.
Fortunately, the arts are unlike the scientific fields. The arts don’t require set guidelines in order to be effective. Science is exact. The beauty of art lies within its uncertainty and ability to move forward despite the unknown. Often, art can be pointless, useless, and redundant, but that’s part of the territory. Art is what you make of it – it may serve the artist, but not the community.
Formal training is often not required in the arts. The arts follow certain rules, but ironically, breaking them is often what makes them memorable. Techniques can be learned, and a “scientific” way to being correct does not hold the same importance as it does within the physical realm of science.
Of course, there are important techniques within the arts that are need to be learned in order to excel. However, I don’t believe that formal education is needed for the artistically inclined. A mind in tune and sensitive to creative particulars is able to not only understand them, but also learn how to apply them.
The worst part of photography school was not the curriculum, but the pretentious atmosphere that surrounded it. Other art students were talented, but also there were those who were hypercritical of other’s work. This can stem from a variety of reasons. It can come from genuinely wanting to help improve the artwork of another, it can come from a disconnection of understanding the artistic form of another student, or if can be by an intention to discredit and defame the other artist.
I dislike the idea that people can objectively analyze another person, because it’s not possible. We all use personal lenses, and it often comes down to preference rather than objective understanding. The world doesn’t allow for objectivity in the realm of art. It’s usually ego or preference.
If we’re to pursue art, we’re better off staying true to ourselves. The artists who make a lasting impression are those who weren’t doing it to be technically accurate, but those who are trying to make a difference or simply express themselves.
For further related reading, please check out: Stilling the Mind.
