year for the financial houses which employ them. This is why the decent ones earn seven to eight figure incomes annually. There are tens of millions of photographers. Photographs don't usually earn a business much money. Therefore there isn't much money there to employ photographers, and when there is, there are so many photographers who often will work for free that employers don't need to pay very much to fill the spot. So much for getting a job making big bucks as a photographer. The positions may be out there, but there are easier ways to earn a living. Education Photography is self-taught. Ansel Adams' only formal education came from working one summer in a San Francisco photo lab. I and everyone I know who does this for a living taught themselves. I read books and practiced. It's nice to have a degree from a photo school, but costs more in money and lost career time than it's worth. If you have what it takes you can teach yourself faster. If you don't have the eye, no schooling will teach it to you. Far more important than learning photography, which is self-taught and not particularly difficult, is to learn what you really need to know, which is to learn how to run your own business in a very competitive world. If you're serious about working as a photographer and attending NYIP or Brooks , I'd suggest some serious guidance counseling. Don't listen to the school's admissions (sales) people. These schools