Building Your Personal MFA
2020 is almost here and I know many of us are thinking of goals to reach in the new year. I want to share some of my own thoughts on goal making as purposing to build my own educational goals has really changed my creative life. :)
Several years ago, I was looking to improve my portrait photography business and I read the book, The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman. In the book, the author distills down the most useful information and principles you would receive during and MBA program at a business school.
After reading the book, I decided to create my own education plan and based it on several art schools programs. I visited college websites, noted their degree plans and used those classes as my first year of study.
The next year, I tweaked the plan to focus on fewer topics (and honestly things I was more interested in than the History of Photography). It inspired me to take my photography goals and interests seriously and to plan my own creative course of study. I began to be very purposeful in learning the knowledge and skills that I needed in order to move my photography the direction I wanted it to go.
I recently shared my Personal MFA process on Clickin Moms and I wanted to share it here in case anyone else is interested (you can always skip to the bottom to get the highlight reel. I can be wordy.😝):
Designing Your Own Personal Course-of-Study:
I really love the end of the year. Not just because of the holidays and the time I have to celebrate with friends and family but also because that is when I start planning my own personal course of study for the next year.
You might ask, what is a personal course of study and how do I get one? It just so happens that I would love to share my own method for this process with you. 😉
A course of study is a planned academic program that will result in a specific goal. I am a researcher at heart and I love to learn new things and take every photography course I can get my hands on. However, I have found that I can overwhelm myself with educational opportunities by stockpiling content that is unnecessary or redundant. Building an intentional study plan helps me to stay focused on my goals and dig deeper into educational resources.
Brainstorm Topics
To build a personal course of study, you can begin by brainstorming the subjects you would like to focus on over the year.
Some good questions to get yourself started are:
What do I struggle with?
What am I inspired by or curious about?
What is holding me back from reaching certain goals?
Think outside of normal photography topics to specific issues that you have and what knowledge or practices may help you overcome them.
Here is the start for one of my own plans:
Make yourself a list of all of the subjects you are interested in by using sticky notes, a phone app, or a mindmapping site like I have shown above (Mindmup).
Thinking beyond normal photography related topics can really help direct you towards making meaningful and creative work. I put aside learning more on backlighting and shooting in the golden hour, to focus on floral design, OCF, and color theory. These subjects were intensely interesting to me and helped me to discover that I was traveling on the wrong photography path.
You do what works for you.
Focus on your personal interests and goals. Your topics may include things like: child psychology, dog training, managing money, working with difficult people, interior decorating, gardening, etc. Your subjects will vary depending on your photography niche and plan.
Think outside of the box and really focus on what problem you need to solve and what knowledge you will need to solve it.
Once you have made a list of the topics you are interested in, narrow it down to your top three picks. I think three picks is the perfect amount and gives you just enough wiggle room if you decide you want to add another topic or two as the year progresses.
Plan out your year by including any specific goals you would like to reach and how much time you want to devote to each topic. For the brainstorming list above, I might choose classical art, OCF, and flowers as my three main topics. My plan might look something like this:
Jan-March: Using gels in OCF, do a 30-day portrait challenge for March using gels for 10 of those days.
April-June: Concentrate on floral still life images. Learn flower arranging and color harmony.
July-August: Classical Art, study 10 different artists and their use of compositional and color.
Sept-Nov: Study the elements of art and the principles of design .
December: Review the year and plan the next year.
Break your goals down into manageable chunks and give yourself plenty of time to camp out and explore each subject. In 2017, color theory was my assigned topic for February. I discovered that I was fascinated by it and almost two years later I am still studying it with intensity.
After completing the outline you will get to do the funnest part: gathering resources.
Resources can include any source that is useful for educating yourself. You could plan one-on-one instruction with a knowledgeable teacher, do on-line or in person classes, check out books and magazines or compile a list of relevant Youtube videos.
Again, think outside of the box when compiling your resources. There is so much to learn from none photography related sources.
As an example, I wanted to improve my still life images but my flower arranging skills sucked. I enrolled in an in-person floral design class and bought a book on floral arranging as part of my study.
Are spunky children making your head spin during a family session? Focus on child behavior and start with something like this Tedtalk on getting kids to engage.
Maybe you need to delve deeper into your own personality and how you might interact better with others. Try out the Youtube channel Charisma on Command for inspiration.
Give some thought to what issues you struggle with or goals you would like to reach. Chose resources that will help with those specific subjects.
I incentivize my studies by forcing myself to finish one topic before I can peek into the resources for future subjects. I love books and seeing them on my shelves is a great motivation to keep working through my scheduled goals.
As you work through your planned material be flexible with changes as you may discover an interest being ignited unexpectedly or the desire to dig deeper into one subject.
Make it fun but helpful. You may know that you do not want to focus on bookkeeping, so concentrate your studies on it for a week at a time and spread the topic out over the year. If you stick to it, reward yourself (preferably, with chocolate). Be flexible and open to change as the year passes.
Be sure and share your plan with an encouraging accountability partner or group. Set up a time to check in with them regularly throughout the year in order to help stay motivated and inspired. The act of writing it down and sharing it out loud with another person will help you to work toward your goals.
To sum up:
Brainstorm Topics
Narrow to 1-3 Top Picks
Gather Resources
Schedule Goals and incentives
Be Flexible and Regroup if Needed
Involve Others
The main thing is to keep it interesting and fun, this will keep you going throughout the whole year. Keep it simple and manageable by giving yourself plenty of time with realistic expectations. At the end of the year throw yourself a little party for graduating from your personal course of study. I treat myself to a new book (or chocolate, did I mention chocolate?).
I would love to see your thoughts or how you handle your own photography education.
Please feel free to comment if you have any questions and happy learning!