If you’ve been feeling frustrated because you’ve already spent months learning about photography, but still don’t feel like you understand what you’re doing, you’ve probably wondered how long it actually takes to learn photography!

I know from personal experience that learning photography really can be overwhelming and frustrating, and it can feel like it’s just taking too 👏 darn 👏 long.

A lot of the time, we’d just love to skip the learning part, and start getting good photos from the day we pick up our camera!

Which begs the question, how long does it take to learn photography, or at least good enough that you feel confident saying you are a photographer?

That’s what we are going to look at today!

I am going to say right from the start, I don’t know exactly how long it will take you, so everything I say here is a generalisation.

But I can give you a damn good idea, based on my own personal experience, but also - and probably more importantly - from teaching the 2000+ students in my Auto to Awesome program, and from helping thousands more over the last 8 years here at Live Snap Love.

Let’s start by talking about how long it took me…

My Photography Journey….

So I first picked up a camera with the intention of learning photography back in 2007, and I actually quickly gave up, probably in 2007 or 2008, because I just couldn’t figure it out!

I had actually taken one of those Open Unversity photography courses and it was awful - it was all about refraction and circle of confusion, and really didn’t teach you HOW to take great images, more about how the camera worked. (and it was as dull as dishwater)

It really put me off photography, so it wasn’t until my son was born in 2009 that I picked up my camera, and really started to learn again. So I usually credit this as when I started to learn photography, but really, I had started a couple of years before, it was just that my camera collected dust for quite a while 😊

From this point, it took me around three years before I was taking decent images, and then maybe a further 6 months of practicing, until I could confidently get the photos I saw in my head, on demand.

So, if we don’t include the false start in 2007, it would say it took around 3 - 4 years from being a total beginner to having “learnt” photography.

Let me dive into that a little bit more for you, and how I spent those 4 years:

I spent the first two years trying to figure it out on my own, through blog posts, videos etc, and whilst I definitely picked up lots of really useful information, nothing really connected.

I always had this feeling I was missing something, because no matter how many blog posts I read, or video tutorials I watched, or how much I practised, I couldn’t always get the images I wanted. Sure, I lucked out from time to time, but there was no consistency, and I didn’t feel confident about my photos.

It was an incredibly frustrating time, so if that is where you are now, I feel for you, and I understand exactly what you are going through.

At this point, I admitted defeat, and enrolled in a few different photography courses in quick succession, determined to figure this whole photography thing out.

I definitely already knew a lot of what was in those courses, but there was so much that I didn’t know I didn’t know, so I hadn’t even known to search for them.

That is something I hear all the time from people who join us in the Auto to Awesome program who are a bit more experienced - that they didn’t realise certain things, but now that they did, all their random bits of knowledge connected, and it is started to all come together.

Once you have the info though, it’s all about practice!

Because it does take a few months until you have built in the muscle memory for everything you have learnt, and can just try out different things - for example different lighting, or different focusing techniques.

So, what about others?

As I said, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and teaching thousands of photographers over the years, and I can tell you that this 3 year mark is consistent with people who try to go it alone. (and most of them ended up taking a few courses along the way!)

Sure, I’ve known some who have done it in two, and others who took longer, more like 4 years, but I would say that the average is around 3.

You’ll notice that I said go it alone, because it is a different timeline for those who invest in their learning right from the beginning, rather than waiting until they couldn't figure it out on their own.

They got their faster - usually around 3 - 6 months, because instead of spending months reading random information and then even more months trying to patch it together, and then trying to figure out what they missed, they skipped straight past all that and could go straight to practising, and as a result got better much more quickly.

The Trade Off Between Time and Money

When it comes to learning photography, there is a trade off between time and money. (as there is with everything in life!)

If you want to save time and get to the end result faster, have some of the hard work done for you and purchase a course.

Or if saving money is more important, save the cash and try to learn yourself, but just know that it will take you longer.

My recommendation is this: if you are short on time, struggling to get the photos you want, or it’s just important to get better photos quickly (for example so you don’t miss your child growing up, or you want to make the most of your travel photos in retirement) then take a course as it will provide you with that shortcut.

That’s because when you have all the information available to you, laid out in the order you need to learn it, with every step connecting to the last, you will be able to move you forward quicker.

Honestly - and this is just my opinion so you can take it or leave it - time is always the most important consideration!

That’s because time is a finite resource, we can never, ever get more of it, no matter what we do, so I am NOW ruthless over preserving my time. (I learnt my lesson the hard way!)

If I can spend a little money (a renewable resource) to save years of time (a finite resource) then you can bet your bottom dollar that I’m going to take it.

I created my acclaimed Auto to Awesome program exactly for this purpose, so if you want something that will get you from A to B in the shortest amount of time, and with the least amount of frustration, then be sure to check it out - here's three years worth of knowledge distilled into a 6 - 8 week step by step program right there 😉

If saving money is more important to you, and you have all the time in the world, then that’s fine too! You'll absolutely still get there, but it will just take you that bit longer, and you may have periods of frustration where you can’t figure it out.

I can help you here too, just grab a copy of my FREE 90 Day Photography Learning Blueprint. It will give you roadmap for you to follow so at least you have something to work to!

To Sum Up…

So, a rough guide would be 3 -4 years if you go it alone, and 3- 6 months with a course, but of course, there are huge variables within that.

If you invest in your learning by taking a course and put in a few hours a week learning and practicing, you are going to be at the shorter end of that timescale!

But if only pick your camera up once a month, of course it will take you longer, even with a course - you still have to put in the time.

This is also why you cannot measure your success against anyone else's, since you may very well have taken different paths to get there!

So if you are currently jealous that someone you know is getting better quicker than you, they have maybe invested in a course and are spending more time on it than you.

Simply focus on your own journey, and on what YOU need to do to reach your goal, within the timeframe you want.

You can ALWAYS be learning!

One more thing I want to say, is that in photography, you will probably always be learning!

When you feel like you have the technical side down, so you understand your camera settings, and and are taking beautiful exposed, tack sharp, gorgeously lit images, you’ll probably want to branch out and try even more things and get even MORE advanced with your use of light and composition.

And you’ll probably start want to try out something new because it keeps things fresh and exciting - it could be a new style of photography like macro, or new subjects like architecture or street photography.

That’s what makes photography such an amazing hobby - because you will always have something new to try!

Finally, if you have a question you’d love me to answer, or a topic you’d like me to discuss on the podcast, I’d love to hear from you. I want to talk about what you want to listen to, so just let me know.

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