Let’s answer this question quickly and simply, shall we? With a definitive, no! Of course you don’t. You can read about it in books. Watch YouTube videos, or just make it up as you go along. You might learn from family members, from friends or teach yourself.

That’s photography. Available to everyone, whether your technical, or creative abilities are low or high, it doesn’t matter. But, of course photography is deceptive and not that simple.

Photography needs a subject, it needs something, someone or somewhere to document and that is where it gets difficult. How to choose these and why to choose these, is the big challenge for anyone working with the medium. Beginner or professional. And that is when studying photography can become important. Not essential, but useful. You could argue that any form of studying is important to photography and you would be correct. My own studies were in art and graphic design, before I began working as a professional photographer. I know of other photographers who have come from studying the humanities, sciences and engineering. All areas that inform an awareness of subject.

Before we discuss studying photography, we need to divide potential cohorts into two distinct generations. Young and older! The young come straight from school, with heads filled with prior education focused on grades and grade related teaching structures, at least in the UK this is the case. They have often enjoyed photography at school and decided that it would be ‘fun’ or ‘interesting’ to explore it in more depth. Invariably these students have very little life experience, that they can bring to their photography, which in itself can provide a barrier to their development. It is the possibility for personal growth outside of photography that university offers, which allows young photographers to find the stories that matter to them, which they can then document. No personal growth, no subject matter.

I would therefore suggest that a photography course for 18-21 year olds, should focus on subject matter over any and every form of technical skill. If you are reading this and learnt photography in a more traditional format you are probably horrified by such a suggestion, but things have changed, and the teaching of photography must change to where we are now.

If you are an older student with the benefit of life experience, you may think that it is much easier to find an area of focus for your photography, but my experience proves the opposite. Life experience can result in confusion, when it comes to deciding on subject matter. A sense of too much choice can be overwhelming, which an informed outsider or good teacher can unpick. That unpicking can be quick, but it often isn’t and can take a matter of years, depending on the photographer’s willingness and ability to focus on simplicity of purpose , rather than complexity of intent. Something, that cannot be learnt on YouTube or in a weekend workshop.

Studying photography is far more complex than reading a manual. I often say that I am more of a psychologist, than a photographer, when it comes to teaching the medium. Working with the person, more than the camera. This is not something that is often considered, when this discussion is entered into, or dismissed by the self-taught photographer. Teaching photography is the same as teaching any subject, it needs to be taught well. The teaching needs to be rigorous and challenging, but always empathetic. It needs to go beyond the obvious. There is no space for arrogance by either the student or teacher. Confidence, yes, arrogance, no.

Returning to my original answer to the question in the headline of this article, I hope you can see that I was being both truthful and untruthful. The true answer to the question depends upon your expectations from photography. If you want to make photographs, you dont need any education in the medium, but if you want to go deeper you do. Neither position should be dismissed, they are both as valid as each other. So, please do not ignorantly rant against photo education or look down on those who do not have it. That’s what I think, but I’ll just end this article with some recent words from a couple of my students both young and old, “I am now more capable of critical editing, constructing a narrative, and understanding the deeper implications of what I am producing. Most importantly, I now have a clearer understanding of how to create work that is not only visually strong, but conceptually meaningful and relevant beyond my own perspective.” “I am very grateful to have learned the true meaning of what it means to be a photographer and the personal meaning behind a photographer’s work. Now I can say with confidence who I am as a photographer.”

Dr.Grant Scott
After fifteen years art directing photography books and magazines such as Elle and Tatler, Scott began to work as a photographer for a number of advertising and editorial clients in 2000. Alongside his photographic career Scott has art directed numerous advertising campaigns, worked as a creative director at Sotheby’s, art directed foto8 magazine, founded his own photographic gallery, edited Professional Photographer magazine and launched his own title for photographers and filmmakers Hungry Eye. He founded the United Nations of Photography in 2012, and is now a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, and a BBC Radio contributor. Scott is the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Routledge 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Routledge 2019), What Does Photography Mean To You? (Bluecoat Press 2020) and Inside Vogue House: One building, seven magazines, sixty years of stories, (Orphans Publishing 2024). His photography has been published in At Home With The Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006) and Crash Happy: A Night at The Bangers (Cafe Royal Books 2012). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was premiered in 2018.

© Grant Scott 2026