Photographer's wages according to ecarrers.sg

[sjackal]

hope not off topic.

for me i am tied down by my financial commitments, but i still hope to be my own boss and go into photography FT. Now I am single so I am planning in the event I am still single years down the road.

If I am single:
- Finished up my IT degree which I had been dragging on (this is my backup in case one day i need to step back to work force after going into photography FT)
- Continue my current FT job till I own and fully paid for my own roof.
- Rent out my room/flat (this will be my FT income) then do photography FT (anything earned from photography will be surplus to what I earn from my room/flat rental), and of cos i had to watch my spending lifestyle so i dun overspend.

If I am attached halfway through my plan and settle down:
- I should have a degree by then, and I will need to find a FT job if my photography is not doing well or continue doing photography FT if I am doing well.
- Probably stop renting out my room/flat since now I have a wife and I respect our own privacy against "strangers" (tenants)

If your part time photography is paying you more than your full time job, its a no brainer, I am talking about per year basis, or at least per quarter, NOT per hour or per day. But its not going to happen for most people, unless his/her dayjob pays really low.

Also one has to look beyond dollars and cents and ask if you possess the tenacity of the self-employeds especially if you are used to a monthly fixed pay.

It might be more profitable as a part time job during the weekends and many photographers stay this way, a full timer is in a whole different league (in a business sense).

JMH2Cs

 

[2100]

Something bad happened to one of my FT photographer acquaintaince, files corruption it seems...... out of action for months and might not be back. You have to factor this in (compensation risk) as part of the career plan, which may put you out of action. Of coz can put into contract that you are not going to be liable.

 

[sjackal]

Something bad happened to one of my FT photographer acquaintaince, files corruption it seems...... out of action for months and might not be back. You have to factor this in (compensation risk) as part of the career plan, which may put you out of action. Of coz can put into contract that you are not going to be liable.

Hmmm, my files are backed in Raid 1 array, which is in turn backed daily to ext hd, each clients folder is also backed to DVDs for separate storage. Sometimes I DVDed the RAW immediately upon reaching home if the job is of great importance. I know of people doing way more drastic measures than I do to protect the files. One needs to have a work flow discipline nailed down if one is serious about this. It's not just files and money but also reputation and responsibilities.

 

[2100]

Hmmm, my files are backed in Raid 1 array, which is in turn backed daily to ext hd, each clients folder is also backed to DVDs for separate storage. Sometimes I DVDed the RAW immediately upon reaching home if the job is of great importance. I know of people doing way more drastic measures than I do to protect the files. One needs to have a work flow discipline nailed down if one is serious about this. It's not just files and money but also reputation and responsibilities.

It was backed up. Apparently it was all properly backed up....but the files were corrupted and he didn't know it till it was opened up (doesn't show up on preview and on PC thumbnail). On-cam preview you won't see it anyway, its from the cam processing and not card. One of my own case, I was lucky to see the corruption (thankfully not a lot) and then take action to recover some files which were not there...actually the customer called to enquire why some were missing, ie I would not know coz I do delete on-site the bad pix (ie anyway card not yet overwritten so I was heng-heng). The files are all there, But the data is corrupted when you open. Got a loophole here....only way to solve it is to check all filesize to see if it looks proper + PP fast. My current way of working is that the cards are used round-robin in cycles of 3 weddings. Maybe need to double liao....

My own exp : I had like 3 x CHAs, and that is ok since you will just not use the card and go home and recover. If you are lucky, just some of the files are corrupted, and since I am shooting jpg I could just crop the good parts. Once I had several weddings in the card, the card I saw that it had 200 over GB of freespace and some ASCII chars and that meant something was wrong. I copied out all the jpgs and apparently everything looked ok. What I did LUCKILY is that the card was put into archive (nobody wants to re-use a card which showed FAULT). Customer called up to ask why some were not there, ran a recovery and saw the missing files. I guess the worst case is that you do not know that the files are missing and corrputed, everything looked ok, you copied them out and re-use. Sure LPPL.

 

[sjackal]

I know what you mean liao. The data is corrupted from capture time, or very early stages of post work, like during upload. That's why I don't format cards until it rotates into use before a shoot. Is that what you mean that you have enough cards to last 3 weddings before needing to format again?

I would think his got a bad card, or he had bad practices like deleting in camera, especially near the end of memory capacity, then writing more data over the old, etc etc.

Must be very stressful for him.

It was backed up. Apparently it was all properly backed up....but the files were corrupted and he didn't know it till it was opened up (doesn't show up on preview and on PC thumbnail). On-cam preview you won't see it anyway, its from the cam processing and not card. One of my own case, I was lucky to see the corruption (thankfully not a lot) and then take action to recover some files which were not there...actually the customer called to enquire why some were missing, ie I would not know coz I do delete on-site the bad pix (ie anyway card not yet overwritten so I was heng-heng). The files are all there, But the data is corrupted when you open. Got a loophole here....only way to solve it is to check all filesize to see if it looks proper + PP fast. My current way of working is that the cards are used round-robin in cycles of 3 weddings. Maybe need to double liao....

My own exp : I had like 3 x CHAs, and that is ok since you will just not use the card and go home and recover. If you are lucky, just some of the files are corrupted, and since I am shooting jpg I could just crop the good parts. Once I had several weddings in the card, the card I saw that it had 200 over GB of freespace and some ASCII chars and that meant something was wrong. I copied out all the jpgs and apparently everything looked ok. What I did LUCKILY is that the card was put into archive (nobody wants to re-use a card which showed FAULT). Customer called up to ask why some were not there, ran a recovery and saw the missing files. I guess the worst case is that you do not know that the files are missing and corrputed, everything looked ok, you copied them out and re-use. Sure LPPL.

 

[bayusuputra]

shinken has pointed out the real picture of wedding photography industrial, too many photographers rush in, only those fit and mean will survive.

it is the same thing happen to the portrait sector now, whenever people see potential will start to jump on the bandwagon.

I can share with you one thing, whenever you see customers/client dare to come and ask for FREE, it shows that this sector has more supply than demand, even you won't do but others will, that how customers/client dare to ask around.

Hart also pointed out clearly, running a photography business, proficiency in business practice is more important than the photography skills.

many others say passion in photography is very important, yes it is truth, but you need to be alive before you can talk about passion. So what if you can't make a living, provide the necessity to your family, can you feed everybody with your passion in photography?

Cheesecake, 2100 and many others are the people sharing with you the insider stories. a full time photographer in never a glamorous job, don't be fooled by the movies. it takes don't know how many thousand photographers to make one superstar photographer.

whatever you do, you need to work hard, harder then your competitors, persistent, keep doing even most people has already given up. The fruits of your labor won't come easily. Give up hard way you will have noting, so think carefully before you start.

best of luck.

Yup, i am thinking reeeeaaally hard now.. i don't want to regret it.. i actually really interested in architectural and forensic photography to be honest, besides journalism.. and i realise that all these can't provide me with a fixed income.. that's why i am thinking about getting a normal full time job as well.. i am yet to speak to the school regarding the course in detail, i want to ask them about career path that i can choose other than being a FT photographer, that's why i am asking around here whether there is any other job that BFA in Photography can take in the creative sector other than being a FT photographer..

as a background, why i want to transfer from engineering is because, i can't cope up with the course.. and i can't transfer to any business major as well, their requirements are higher than engineering, and all i can think is photography and other design related courses.. but will those allow me to have a normal fixed job in the future that i can take and make photography as supplemental job during the weekends?

 

[Agetan]

Yup, i am thinking reeeeaaally hard now.. i don't want to regret it.. i actually really interested in architectural and forensic photography to be honest, besides journalism.. and i realise that all these can't provide me with a fixed income.. that's why i am thinking about getting a normal full time job as well.. i am yet to speak to the school regarding the course in detail, i want to ask them about career path that i can choose other than being a FT photographer, that's why i am asking around here whether there is any other job that BFA in Photography can take in the creative sector other than being a FT photographer..

as a background, why i want to transfer from engineering is because, i can't cope up with the course.. and i can't transfer to any business major as well, their requirements are higher than engineering, and all i can think is photography and other design related courses.. but will those allow me to have a normal fixed job in the future that i can take and make photography as supplemental job during the weekends?

From what u have written, u really are confused and don't know what you want.

What makes you think that you can't cope with Eng but can cope with BFA? Don't expect the course will be all so interesting as you will need to do math and things like that too.

From what I feel is, you prefer secure job and not really comfortable with risk, so I would really think twice to even running any business part time or full time as you won't last very long before you give up again. So your only option is to work for others and could take odd jobs here and there in photography if u are lucky.

Of course the above will be totally wrong if u can find your inner voice and dramatically change your point of view towards life.

I may not be the best student as I dislike many courses and typically do very badly on courses that deemed easy by many but I excel in courses that majority of student fail and not do well... And I will choose those and make sure I do extremely well. I like challenge and familiarity bores me so I love changes. This is why I do well in business, I don't run away from challenge and I take chances and embrace changes.

If you want to solve your issue now, is to continue with engineering and finish it. If you use BFA degree as the "runaway", it is really scary.

Now, it is your life and you are old enough to decide, no one will benefit more or less for your success and failure than yourself.

So stop asking what you should do to your life... Because our opinion don't matter.

It is sad but true.

Regards,

 

[bayusuputra]

From what u have written, u really are confused and don't know what you want.

What makes you think that you can't cope with Eng but can cope with BFA? Don't expect the course will be all so interesting as you will need to do math and things like that too.

From what I feel is, you prefer secure job and not really comfortable with risk, so I would really think twice to even running any business part time or full time as you won't last very long before you give up again. So your only option is to work for others and could take odd jobs here and there in photography if u are lucky.

Of course the above will be totally wrong if u can find your inner voice and dramatically change your point of view towards life.

I may not be the best student as I dislike many courses and typically do very badly on courses that deemed easy by many but I excel in courses that majority of student fail and not do well... And I will choose those and make sure I do extremely well. I like challenge and familiarity bores me so I love changes. This is why I do well in business, I don't run away from challenge and I take chances and embrace changes.

If you want to solve your issue now, is to continue with engineering and finish it. If you use BFA degree as the "runaway", it is really scary.

Now, it is your life and you are old enough to decide, no one will benefit more or less for your success and failure than yourself.

So stop asking what you should do to your life... Because our opinion don't matter.

It is sad but true.

Regards,

yup, it may seem like as if i don't know what i want in life now.. but who knows? only a handful i think, especially in my age.. my consideration of taking BFA is because i have already asked around and the course is more of a studio/project based course.. why i say i can't cope with engineering is because my maths is very very weak.. the only two times i didn't get U grade for maths during A-levels are prelims and the actual A-level.. I don't question the fact that all course will be easy and all interesting, but i am doing something that i am very weak at right now.. so instead of struggling with the subject (and subsequently, other subjects are affected as well, just like right now, or should i say since my JC days..) and graduate with grades lower than the rest of the cohort (i don't think i can fare that good in job opportunity as well in that case), why not taking something i else? maybe this is really not for me, maybe from the first time i shouldn't be here either..

i like challenges, but i know my limit.. even my mum was quite worried when i decided to take up engineering.. and i think she was right..

this is not a runaway course for me.. that is really scary just like you said.. i applied for architecture as well at NUS, but didn't make it.. so i ended up here now, doing engineering at NTU.. transferring to other Uni is also quite impossible, as it will be difficult, i have to drop out and re-apply as freshman, and i don't think MOE will allow that, given that i am under tuition grant.. but, i don't see this as a runaway course, i see this as another path that i can take, another option..

the reason why i keep asking about the fixed salary job is because i am taking tuition grant from MOE right now, and study loan as well, so i have to serve a 3-year-bond working with a singapore registered company.. this is why i am quite worried that i can't fulfill this requirements and stuff.. and while at the same time building my own career in photography.. and the fixed income i get i will use to repay the tuition loan and as building block for my own career.. we all need some kind of stepping stone, right? buit of course, it will be good if the job can be permanent, or at least until my photography career reaches some level where it is sufficient to earn me a decent living.. it's not that i am not comfortable with risk, but i need to have a solid background and planning first, because risk without planning is suicidal..

not trying to be rude here, but i am not asking what i should do with my own life, whether i should or should not transfer, but asking about what are the job opportunities for a person with a BFA in photography can take up, other than being photographer, so i can think about it myself.. because in the end, i will make my own choice and live with it.. but of course, all your thoughts and inputs are really valuable and i honestly appreciate those, really appreciate..

 

[Agetan]

Furthermore, if you study BFA and got a job at a photography based company, there is no way you can build your own as it will be conflict of interest and they generally will have a contract to prevent you to build your own for non-competition purposes.

Just things that you need to know what most likely it is going to happen.

Regards,

Hart

 

[Cheesecake]

Furthermore, if you study BFA and got a job at a photography based company, there is no way you can build your own as it will be conflict of interest and they generally will have a contract to prevent you to build your own for non-competition purposes.

Just things that you need to know what most likely it is going to happen.

Regards,

Hart

yup, tas what happened to me, not forgetting some might tie u down to contractual obligations that u're not to work for rival companies.

thus i left the co. to start out on my own. quite an adventure!



i would think that u keep fotography as a hobby and concentrate on ur main career/job.

maybe some weekends u can use it for ur fotography and perhaps even make some $$ out of it. and in time to come, if this sideline brings in more bacon, u might want to consider switching job la.


but then again, $$ isn't everything. tough, but its ur call.

 

[bayusuputra]

Furthermore, if you study BFA and got a job at a photography based company, there is no way you can build your own as it will be conflict of interest and they generally will have a contract to prevent you to build your own for non-competition purposes.

Just things that you need to know what most likely it is going to happen.

Regards,

Hart

oh, i mean like, i take up job as editor or something, and do some photography in the weekend, and the money from the fixed job i can save up so that later i will have less financial burden if i want to start of the business.. it's like others actually, doing full time job, but doing photography as well.. but what full time job one can have if one has BFA?

yup, tas what happened to me, not forgetting some might tie u down to contractual obligations that u're not to work for rival companies.

thus i left the co. to start out on my own. quite an adventure!



i would think that u keep fotography as a hobby and concentrate on ur main career/job.

maybe some weekends u can use it for ur fotography and perhaps even make some $$ out of it. and in time to come, if this sideline brings in more bacon, u might want to consider switching job la.


but then again, $$ isn't everything. tough, but its ur call.

yes, actually this is what i mean.. for starter, i work full time and photography job in the weekends, much like most people do here.. this way i can see how the photography job does and in the same time i can also have fixed income for the early part of my career life..

 

[2100]

Having a Mon-Thur/Fri 8.30-6pm job and having a photography job for other times (1900-0100 on weekdays, Sat-Sun whole day), means that you need to be careful and check if the registered company which employed you allows it. If its any one of those lousy/sunset kind of lowly paid + no prospects like 4-5k/mth jobs kena ceiling already, then I think should be ok as there is no conflict of interest. If its design/advertorial etc.... I think may have a bit of issue with HR. No worries, can keep ultra low profile.

I know there is a IT manager, his VG job still earns quite a fair bit more than that. LOL! VG a bit diff, can whack Express (some of you may know him lah....3 years old in the fraternity). But you must have talent first lah....

Even the banking IT support (specialised) are getting 5 to 7.4k/mth nowadays..... Have you seen how some of the Pinoy FTs spend nowadays?
Just had green tea at Bugis Rockery, raised price to $2 already (couple of years ago @ $1.2, then $1.5). Yakun Teh-Si is $1.70. Now $1.50 soft drinks @ food courts = very cheap!

PS. Did I tell you about the true story about my couples, both from Chartered Semi-conductor, got retrenched on their wedding day, and some of their bros (colleagues) had to be recalled? Joke right?
Question : Do you think the boss dared to show up for the banquet?
Some of the people here in CS would say, what can go wrong during a wedding?

 

[bayusuputra]

Having a Mon-Thur/Fri 8.30-6pm job and having a photography job for other times (1900-0100 on weekdays, Sat-Sun whole day), means that you need to be careful and check if the registered company which employed you allows it. If its any one of those lousy/sunset kind of lowly paid + no prospects like 4-5k/mth jobs kena ceiling already, then I think should be ok as there is no conflict of interest. If its design/advertorial etc.... I think may have a bit of issue with HR. No worries, can keep ultra low profile.

I know there is a IT manager, his VG job still earns quite a fair bit more than that. LOL! VG a bit diff, can whack Express (some of you may know him lah....3 years old in the fraternity). But you must have talent first lah....

Even the banking IT support (specialised) are getting 5 to 7.4k/mth nowadays..... Have you seen how some of the Pinoy FTs spend nowadays?
Just had green tea at Bugis Rockery, raised price to $2 already (couple of years ago @ $1.2, then $1.5). Yakun Teh-Si is $1.70. Now $1.50 soft drinks @ food courts = very cheap!

PS. Did I tell you about the true story about my couples, both from Chartered Semi-conductor, got retrenched on their wedding day, and some of their bros (colleagues) had to be recalled? Joke right?
Question : Do you think the boss dared to show up for the banquet?
Some of the people here in CS would say, what can go wrong during a wedding?

i see.. so it is about whether the company will allow also or not.. i will keep that in mind.. i didn't know about this until now.. thank you all for pointing that out.. but lets say i got a job in some magazine as editorial (or maybe some other place like MICA, where they still move in creative sector but not specialise in photography), would that hinder me to work as photographer during the weekends? or lets say i work in a portrait/wedding photography company, generally will they allow me to work during weekends as lets say architectural/photojournalism? i know most of you will say it depends, but they are not totally related right? like ya kun and say, subway.. both food, but different.. so generally, would that still be ok too? or usually companies still don't allow that?

oh, man.. that must ruined the wedding.. i feel really sad for them.. actually, come to think about it, companies nowadays seldom have social ethics.. mostly are too profit driven.. but i can't blame them also.. the world is getting harsher by the day.. no doubt about that.. i really feel sorry for them..

 

[2100]

i see.. so it is about whether the company will allow also or not.. i will keep that in mind.. i didn't know about this until now.. thank you all for pointing that out.. but lets say i got a job in some magazine as editorial (or maybe some other place like MICA, where they still move in creative sector but not specialise in photography), would that hinder me to work as photographer during the weekends?

There are many levels which may prohibit. Say (1) direct supervisor or director/senior director, and (2) HR - they may have a company policy which prohibits "moonlighting", but usually this is not an issue unless someone (jealous) complains on you. If your company esp department culture is the really relaxed type (pretty rare nowadays also lah, govt/statutory boards changed day and nite already LOL!), usually not a problem then.
Seriously if you are not doing it very often - nobody will know. But for weddings you will usually be quite "visible", coz each wedding you tend to meet a lot of their relatives/friends be it at home or at the banquet, so bound to meet some acquaintances or biz vendors etc. So in this case, being popular and having value at work, helps a lot. You know I was the photographer for like 9-10 of my colleagues' weddings and even their daughter's, last time I volunteered for the company's D&D (no joke - 700 tables) and the SVP equivalent of HR also an avid photographer, so exchange tips every time we meet etc. Work smart lah.... Its either ultra low profile, or ultra high profile - but when you really do it seriously you tend not to be able to hide it, so just show your talent in a way that others who are jealous cannot do anything. But I can tell you, when you are at the level which you are earning about 2X of the regular job - usually the regular job already hentak-kaki....you are just keeping it as backup. LOL! :bsmilie: You might even have a 3rd or 4th income as sleeping partner in other small biz then..... "really professional". Depends on how hungry you are (maybe one was pretty poor when they were young or academically weak - but now they have finally grasped how the society works), there are people who are late bloomers?

OT : Agetan, your biz sharing session this Sat 12 Mar, is a pretty hot date for weddings lah.... heh..

 

[Agetan]

OT : Agetan, your biz sharing session this Sat 12 Mar, is a pretty hot date for weddings lah.... heh..

OT: it doesn't worry me... Never mind lor... I have a few more hours to sleep in on weekend for a change. It seems 8am is too early for many...

Regards,

Hart

 

[sinned79]

If your part time photography is paying you more than your full time job, its a no brainer, I am talking about per year basis, or at least per quarter, NOT per hour or per day. But its not going to happen for most people, unless his/her dayjob pays really low.

Also one has to look beyond dollars and cents and ask if you possess the tenacity of the self-employeds especially if you are used to a monthly fixed pay.

It might be more profitable as a part time job during the weekends and many photographers stay this way, a full timer is in a whole different league (in a business sense).

JMH2Cs

thanks for your advise.

i believe by renting out my flat/room, i would have a fixed monthly "pay", anything earned from photography will be surplus to my income. that way i need not to have FT job cos i would like to be my own boss providing my own bread and butter on the table and also... having a FT job means I had to be more selective with my photography jobs, i can only take these jobs during weekends.

 

[bayusuputra]

There are many levels which may prohibit. Say (1) direct supervisor or director/senior director, and (2) HR - they may have a company policy which prohibits "moonlighting", but usually this is not an issue unless someone (jealous) complains on you. If your company esp department culture is the really relaxed type (pretty rare nowadays also lah, govt/statutory boards changed day and nite already LOL!), usually not a problem then.
Seriously if you are not doing it very often - nobody will know. But for weddings you will usually be quite "visible", coz each wedding you tend to meet a lot of their relatives/friends be it at home or at the banquet, so bound to meet some acquaintances or biz vendors etc. So in this case, being popular and having value at work, helps a lot. You know I was the photographer for like 9-10 of my colleagues' weddings and even their daughter's, last time I volunteered for the company's D&D (no joke - 700 tables) and the SVP equivalent of HR also an avid photographer, so exchange tips every time we meet etc. Work smart lah.... Its either ultra low profile, or ultra high profile - but when you really do it seriously you tend not to be able to hide it, so just show your talent in a way that others who are jealous cannot do anything. But I can tell you, when you are at the level which you are earning about 2X of the regular job - usually the regular job already hentak-kaki....you are just keeping it as backup. LOL! :bsmilie: You might even have a 3rd or 4th income as sleeping partner in other small biz then..... "really professional". Depends on how hungry you are (maybe one was pretty poor when they were young or academically weak - but now they have finally grasped how the society works), there are people who are late bloomers?

OT : Agetan, your biz sharing session this Sat 12 Mar, is a pretty hot date for weddings lah.... heh..

Hhmm, so all comes down again to the usual: "it depends".. haha! yeah, jokes aside, i know what you mean, it is either they are okay, or they will kill you.. but having 2x the salary of regular job is really tempting, maybe i should have some target from now on, so that it can be easier to plan the future and have more motivation for me.. but, yesterday, i went to stefano virgilli's talk at toa payoh, then i met this very nice guy, he told me that if i want to do something, i have to see myself doing it, and be damn good at it, that way i will be valuable, and that will make life so much easier than to be just mediocre.. i guess he's right.. i realised that it all comes down to oneself whether one wants to die die get it or not.. whether one has the passion for what he do or not..

for me, having FT job is for security, but not really for me, rather for my future family.. if i am alone, i don't mind doing waitering and stuff, i actually enjoy being a waiter, and have photography job to supplement it.. but because of family and the responsibility that comes with them, i can't risk it too much.. but when it comes to the time when my pay is already 2x or the same as the FT job, maybe i will just really go full time on photography..

i now realise the pain my parents went through to raise me up.. and i really thank them now.. being adult is really no joke..

 

[2100]

i now realise the pain my parents went through to raise me up.. and i really thank them now.. being adult is really no joke..

I think you are still young lah. haha.... Once you get your flat (I think subsidised direct-from-HDB stuff in Punggol are above 300K min liao), need the $$$ to do up the reno, and then the kids are in the pipeline (or some are shotgun), that's the real bomb. Usually no issue earning $$$ enough for all these for most SGreans, the thing is are you saving enough for retirement? (and do factor in murphy's law, like in any shoot you need backup or even backup's backup). And with inflation shooting so much up before the 2008-2009 crisis and now rearing its head again, better get ready to ride the next crisis wave with any investments.

Perhaps it is through all the wedddings that I have went through that I saw the REALITY of what some parents went through to raise the kids. I see that some are still relatively young (like below 55) but are unable to work due to sickness. Some are so really poor that the flat is pretty barren. The other opposite end you can see how some rich people behave - some good some not so good. heh....

So do earn as much as you can when you are still below 35 years of age (you really can feel it that you cannot cheong after that, as in "peaked already"). And do save as much as you can, spend wisely.

 

[bayusuputra]

So do earn as much as you can when you are still below 35 years of age (you really can feel it that you cannot cheong after that, as in "peaked already"). And do save as much as you can, spend wisely.

:thumbsup:
this is one of the best advices of all time, and applies almost to everyone, especially the last part..

haha, i am still 21 now, but i am already so called "detached" financially from my parents, unless for some emergency then i have no choice but to ask them first.. but for daily necessity, transport lodging food and stuff, i work myself for it.. that's why i can feel it already how hard life is.. haha..

yeah, i just got a book about creative careers in photography, i guess i will be spending my recess week reading that to really contemplate my decision..

 

[lioneldude]

:thumbsup:
this is one of the best advices of all time, and applies almost to everyone, especially the last part..

haha, i am still 21 now, but i am already so called "detached" financially from my parents, unless for some emergency then i have no choice but to ask them first.. but for daily necessity, transport lodging food and stuff, i work myself for it.. that's why i can feel it already how hard life is.. haha..

yeah, i just got a book about creative careers in photography, i guess i will be spending my recess week reading that to really contemplate my decision..

The pay for a Mass Communications degree graduate in a newspaper company in Singapore is slightly under $2.5k starting pay.