On 25th April 2015, I photographed my second wedding. The bride was a family friend so I knew I wanted to make a good impression and do really well on this job. I felt more confident this time because I had already photographed a wedding so I knew what I needed to do and I knew I could prove myself as a photographer. The ceremony was in a lovely little church, followed by the reception at a pub afterwards. I had a great day and my clients love the preview photos I have been posting onto my Facebook portfolio. I’m excited to do my remaining weddings for the year and hopefully I will be able to photograph more next year.
ARD504 Creative Futures
The Photography Show, NEC Birmingham (22nd to 23rd March)
This year, I was lucky enough to visit The Photography Show at the NEC in Birmingham. This would be a great opportunity for me to see all of the different photography companies in one place. I was hoping to see more freelance photographer showcasing their work but it was mainly company selling equipment and their services.
My favourite part of the day was meeting representatives from Nikon and Canon and discussing the latest camera models and lenses. It was great to see all of the latest cameras and get an idea of what lenses I could purchase when I’m able to afford to.
Another great part of the day was looking at the companies who supply USB presentation boxes and albums. I met with Sim Imaging, Loxely and Kodak who showed me the different services they offer and the products they have. I decided to use Sim Imaging for my latest wedding and the USB I ordered was lovely.
The final part of the day, I met with a photographer called Richard Seymour who specialises in Aerial and Automotive. He gave a talk on using a special drone which helps him to take his shots, but he also described the huge extent and lengths he goes to in order to get the perfect shot. I was lucky enough to talk to him again later and he was lovely and gave some really good tips about keeping to it and not giving up even when things will be tough. I really enjoyed talking to him and learning from him.
Overall I had a really good day. I learnt a lot in terms of how I can run my own business and the resources I have, but also that its important to keep with what you love. I can’t wait to return to the show next year!
Huw Davies – Artist, Sculptor, Producer and Film Maker?!
I loved Huw Davies’ lecture. He was a great guy, so funny and very friendly. His lecture described his career, and showed he has been self employed for most of his working life. This was a great opportunity for me to see a professional and it showed me that you can be self employed as a full time career, it isn’t impossible to do. I know it may be hard at first and I might find it difficult but it would be really rewarding and fun to do. He worked for the BBC for 8 years during his current career. I don’t think theres anything wrong with that. If a good opportunity comes along then theres nothing wrong with taking it, the business you have will still be there to go back to. This is the key thing that I got from the lecture. I really would love to have my own business and successfully run it. There are times where I think it would be impossible and I wouldn’t succeed, but listening to someone who has probably been in the same situation and felt the same makes me realise that maybe its worth the risk.
Michael Borkowsky & Sharon Mossbeck – Utilising Social Networking
This lecture was also a helpful one. My freelance is predominately through my social media accounts and I just wanted a few new ideas on how I could use these to their full potential. I currently use Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, Google+ and LinkedIn for my freelance. I use Facebook most since most of the community where I live are on there and it gives me more of an opportunity to spread my work and to gain followers who are more local to me. These two young artists showed me that using social networking can be very beneficial and can help towards building your business and ultimately finding work. They also said that Flickr is a good way to show your work off and can create a mini portfolio to showcase the work you have. I learnt that Twitter seems to be the most popular form of social networking at the moment, as the site has the ability to re-tweet chosen posts, which can then be shown in different circles or ‘lists’ as they’re called. This could definitely be a useful element to get my work across to a larger audience.
Mike Corcoran – Selling Art Online
Because I take a lot of landscape and macro pictures, I thought that this could be a good lecture to attend. It could give me some ideas of how I can go about selling my work online. I’ve been using Etsy for a while but I dont think I’ve been using it as much as I could. Mike was very helpful in this lecture. He gave out lots of tips and tricks for selling on the internet. I think it would be beneficial for me to try because it would get my name out there and known to people, but also I can make money from my photographs. I’m concentrating more on my portraiture at the moment but maybe an online shop could be good for me when I begin to have more clients and decide that selling online could be the best option for me.
Mike Cocoran – Getting Started: The First Step on The Road to Turning Professional
I knew Mike’s lecture was a key one for me to go to. I’m currently running my freelance photography on the side of studying. I wouldn’t say I’m a professional, but this would give me an insight into how I could make that step. There was so much helpful information in this lecture, I was so glad I attended. It helped me to think about what I need for my business and how I can begin the process of becoming self employed. I’d need help with the self assessment and actually registering my business but I think I could run a successful business at some point. I just need the confidence to do it.
Phil Connor: Working in the Photographic Industry
This had to be my favourite talk of the whole event. It was great to hear a professional who is making a living in the industry and to listen to how his career has progressed over the years.
It was good to see the variety of work Phil has put together and I enjoyed listening to him talk about his experiences and teach us about what it is that makes a good photographer. I love his work, I want to be a portraiture photographer when I’ve graduated and he has definitely influenced me to want to keep with my dream and not to give up, even if it means making sacrifices. He was really down to earth and such a nice guy. He had a chat with me after the talk and he came across as a professional but also he wanted to share his knowledge and advise me how to keep going and get into the industry.
Dr Susan Chapman: Teaching as a Career Option
This talk was an interesting one for me. I have always kept in mind that maybe I could train for a PGCE in the future, which is why I wanted to attend this talk. This gave me a better insight into what I would need to get onto a PGCE course and gave me an idea of financing and also what would happen on the duration of the course. I know the representative was a Welsh lecturer, but I was disappointed that there wasn’t much information about English universities and what PGCE courses they offer. This does however open an opportunity for me to look into the different universities to see what requirements they have to get a place on the course. I’m still keen on joining a PGCE course and this certainly influenced me to look into and potentially try to get a place onto one of these courses.
Lucy Jones and Shereen Massingham – Work Experience… you know its important, so how are you going to get some?
I was a little disappointed by this talk if I’m honest. I went into it thinking that it would give me details about potential places to maybe attend for work experience, but instead it was just explaining what you need to be able to take on work experience. Aspects such as a certain skill set and a CV. I genuinely felt this didn’t help me much. I attended a work placement last May so I was aware of what I would need to be able to obtain one. I think it would have been more beneficial if we were told of certain places which would allow student to shadow or work for them.
Bedwyr Williams – ‘Crewe; Its Part of my Downfall’
I really enjoyed the first keynote of the week. I was really interested in the work Bedwyr had created and I thought he was a brilliantly funny man. My favourite aspect of him was that his work is very simple, but creative. I enjoyed hearing about the work he had created over the years. His videos came across as quite peculiar but I personally enjoyed them. Because he’s only from a small town, he made me think that anything is possible when it comes to fulfilling a dream. It doesn’t matter where you come from, you can still make it and you can still have a good career.
Ell Roberts 