What advise would you give to someone who kinda likes science, loves filming and photography, loves writing and editing

Question: What advise would you give to someone who kinda likes science, loves filming and photography, loves writing and editing videos, loves trains, and also likes learning about animals because all those things are me summed up in a nutshell
- Keywords:
  career,
  filming,
  job,
  science,
  train,
  video,
  writing
Asked by anon-250902 on 27 Mar 2020.
- Robert Ives answered on 27 Mar 2020:
  
  I see that your dream job would be a zoologist, director and author (and a billionaire). Actually, when I was at school, my biggest inspiration was David Attenborough, who happens to be a zoologist (self taught), a director and an author. It’s great that you are interested in so many different things, a nice mix of arts and science and I would say you definitely have an interest in science through your love of trains and animals. You list your loves, your hobbies, and hopefully one or a few of these will become your career. I would say keep loving the things you love and over time, you should hopefully start to find that one of these will inspire you more than the others, will have you asking yourself more questions about it and wanting to search for your own answers. That may well be the best choice for you. And often, one can lead to another. If you get a job working with animals and people can see you actually know a lot about your work, this can often lead to you writing articles for magazines/ journals, making short videos, etc. That’s kind of what happened with me. Whatever you decide to do, keep asking questions. Good luck.
- Philip Denniff answered on 28 Mar 2020:
  
  That’s a huge wide range of interests and will hold you in good stead when its time to look for a career, which hopefully will include one or two of your loves. Even if your career takes a completely different direction it is amazing how other interests can help you. For example I was interested in the colour of dried blood and wanted a way to measure it. Photography was an obvious answer but I had never developed much of an interest in it. Take home advice be curious and ask why, about everything.
- Zoya answered on 28 Mar 2020:
  
  Hi, I see you have a lot of interests , you might find science communication or scientific journalism interesting, it would combine your passion for science, film. photography and writing. Being a journalist can involve travelling, so you can get on a lot of trains too!
- Kaitlin Wade answered on 28 Mar 2020:
  
  Well firstly, these are GREAT interests! My first piece of advice would be to continue doing these things, if they are the things that you love ! If you’re thinking about what do in the future, maybe think about what you would like to do for a day job or career (i.e., what interests you the most?). For example, I’m a scientist but I love taking photos, travelling and watching everything that David Attenborough produces in my spare time. In University, there are lots of societies that help you pursue extra-curricular activities and socialise with people who love the same things as you (for example, I was part of the “photograph society” at University, even though I did Biology and Mathematics as my degree). SO MANY OPTIONS! Sounds like Zoology, Veterinary Sciences or Biology sounds like a good path for you but research these things and see what you think is most interesting and that will allow you pursue all of these things.
- Edoardo Vescovi answered on 28 Mar 2020:
  
  I’d suggest that you find a job that covers the interests you value the most – e.g. scientist or photographer. Take one with focus on a secondary interest – e.g. research on animals’ protection/health or animal photography – or complete it with one or two hobbies. Science can definitely have amazing crossovers with (apparently) distant fields where people of science — with scientific education or with scientific profession — can take the lead: in science-inspired art projects (e.g. https://stfc.ukri.org/news-events-and-publications/whats-happening/moon-shot-collides-art-and-science/), science-themed short movies (http://scgp.stonybrook.edu/archives/21602) and science-inspired pottery (https://www.instagram.com/nadavdrukker/). I hope these examples inspire you to look for a unique blending of your interests.
- Katie Sparks answered on 30 Mar 2020:
  
  I think you should keep going will all your interests! Explore them and find where you find your own voice, and that may change over time. You could make a series like “All the stations”, Vicky and Geoff did that for fun and then have even written books about it too.
  I could see you being an engineer, design “remote detection systems” to support keeping the railways safe, that could be videos and cameras that are on all trains and then perhaps even some computer that can identify what is a problem.
  In terms of animals, how easy is it for someone with a guide dog to get a train? What are the challenges of training guide dogs for public transport?
  What I’ve learnt over time is that being confident to ask questions, combined with having some maths and writing skills (which you can get from science), can help you explore lots of things that you are interested in.
  
  Have you thought about looking at the science of filming and photography? There is a lot of physics in there, but lots of lovely stories too. One nice starting point (and there are lots) is the National Science & Media Museum, who have lots of things online: https://www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories
  
  Good luck!
- Lucy Kelly answered on 30 Mar 2020:
  
  There are so many jobs which can combine your interests! If you enjoy writing and editing videos you could always start a science youtube channel, there are lots out there – Kurzgesagt is my favourite. Science and the arts often go hand in hand, so there are lots of great opportunities for you to follow both sides of your interests. Wildlife photography and film-making might be a great area for you to look into, this would be such a dream career getting to spend time making videos of animals! At university there are lots of extracurricular societies which can help you explore these more and develop your skills, they are really useful. Also, maybe look into science photography competitions, the royal society of biology runs various competitions through the year focussed on science and art.
  Good luck!
- Eóghan Forde answered on 30 Mar 2020:
  
  Hello all,
  
  Sorry, my reply is so late. I can see that you have already received great advice from many other scientists.
  
  I would simply repeat many of their suggestions. Your interests can help aid your employability in many careers with the skills you learn from these interests becoming complementary to the work you do. This particularly helps in science where the art of writing and explaining the work you are doing is really important for helping others to understand the significance of your research. Additionally, literature in science and definitely in engineering (for trains) relies on artwork that visually explains the work that has been done during research.
  
  If you like learning about animals you could consider veterinary science, I currently live and work near the Roslin Institute in Scotland where they worked on Dolly the Sheep (Check Google!).
  Photography in my field of work is usually related to work done on microscopes. Follow the link below and it should take you to a recent picture taken in my laboratory: https://twitter.com/EdinUni_IRR/status/1243500364147625986
  
  Remember that you can always keep many hobbies and interests outside of work! You should ask your teachers if they have any good hobbies!
- Michael Schubert answered on 31 Mar 2020:
  
  You have so many interests that you’ll have your choice of careers! Keep pursuing what interests you and, in time, the ones you care about most will show themselves. When you know what fascinates you most of all, you’ll know which things to pursue as a career and which ones to save for a hobby. (Don’t worry – you don’t have to quit any of them unless you want to!)
  
  There’s a quote by science fiction writer Robert Heinlein that I think suits you very well: “A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyse a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialisation is for insects.”
- Simone Sturniolo answered on 2 Apr 2020:
  
  The others have already given some great suggestions so allow me a small one – if you like science, and love photography, read up on optics if you haven’t already! Photography is one field where you really need to apply it in order to understand all the technical details and control better your equipment and what you do with it, so it’ll both be fun and very useful.
- Hannah Blyth answered on 2 Apr 2020:
  
  All great answers from other scientists! Hopefully when you are applying for university or are thinking of doing some sort of Masters (a degree after your first Undergraduate degree) the Biological Photography and Imaging classes/course at the University of Nottingham might still be going! Very popular modules amongst the Biology/Zoology students!
- David Sobral answered on 4 Apr 2020:
  
  Keep exploring, questioning and follow what you really like
- Lauren Burns answered on 6 Apr 2020:
  
  Your enthusiasm for the world around us is absolutely fantastic! If you have so many interests, you can explore all of them throughout life. The beauty is, with all these interests, then you can’t make a wrong decision! Even if you pursue one career, and later decide it isn’t for you – then try out a different one. Either way, I wish you all the best. Trust in yourself, and you will make the decision that is best for you at that time.