Getting Back on Track

Michael Tobyansen worked as a fashion and wedding photographer in the early 1990s, going so far as to enroll in a photography program at a college near his home. He liked the creativity and the challenge of the job and of his classes…until someone stole all of his camera equipment. Michael couldn't work as a photographer without camera gear.

Unable to do photography, Michael started working a series of jobs, eventually landing at the Cape Canaveral Port. He worked as a laborer there for over five years until he woke up one morning and decided he wasn't happy. "I didn't want to be a laborer anymore," he says. "To change things, I sold my house and moved to St. Petersburg."

Quitting his job and moving were just the first steps, though. Michael decided the time was ripe for him to go back to school. And of course there was nothing he wanted to study more than photography. Liking the real-world experience of the instructors in the Digital Photography program at the International Academy of Design and Technology in Tampa, Michael enrolled in the school's Associate degree program.

Although he graduated only a few weeks ago, he started his own freelance photography agency a few months ago. Now that he no longer has to devote time to classes, Michael is putting all his energy into his business. "Because IADT offered me opportunities to assist other photographers while I was still in school, I don't need to worry about interning with anyone now that I've graduated," he says. Michael says about half of the internships he did were positions he found out about through IADT.

The instructors were willing to let students accompany them on their jobs and to watch them in their studios. Every teacher was different, too, approaching the same things in different ways. I learned from every teacher. - Michael Tobyansen | Digital Photography

"In photography, school is not everything; you have to put in your time working as an assistant/intern as well. Some people wait until after they graduate to do this and then find themselves interning for free for six months or so after they've gotten their degree. I made sure to get all the assisting experience I needed while I was still in school. I didn't want to work for free after I had my degree."

Not only did Michael find about half of his assisting positions through IADT, but most of these assisting jobs were for his digital photography instructors. "All of the teachers here are working professional photographers outside of the classroom. I would learn the basics in class, but then if I assisted an instructor outside of class, that was when I learned basically everything I needed to know to work as a photographer in the real world. It was great to have that extended classroom."

"The instructors were willing to let students accompany them on their jobs and to watch them in their studios," Michael says. "Every teacher was different, too, approaching the same things in different ways. I learned from every teacher."

Hopefully one of things Michael learned from an Academy instructor was how to best safeguard his valuable photography equipment. It seems another total loss of gear is about all that can stop him from making it this time around.