Professional Practice

For this module, I created a visual portfolio, compromising of 20-25 images alongside artist and project statements. I began this task by making a creative CV, outlining my photography experience and commissions. The portfolio also included four university projects – ‘Where it Happened’, ‘A Breath’, ‘Residues of a Dream World’, and ‘Shattered Habitats’ – along with a commissioned piece of work. Careful attention was given to image sequencing, scale and overall design to ensure a cohesive and professional presentation that effectively communicated my artistic aesthetic.

This process allowed me to develop essential skills in presenting my work in a professional manner, which will be a valuable skill for my future career in photography. By carefully considering each element of the portfolio, I gained a deeper understanding of how to create a cohesive visual narrative – an essential aspect of professional practice. Additionally, refining the structure and aesthetic of my portfolio allowed me to critically evaluate my own work and its potential impact on a viewer.

Furthermore, I felt that the inclusion of a CV and my commissioned work helps to demonstrate my ability to merge my aesthetic with real-world applications, reinforcing to future clients my preparedness for expectations. I feel that this experience has given me the ability to present my work effectively to future employers, making sure that my portfolio continues to function as a strong representation of my creative work.

For professional practice, we had a class on the importance of using social media for self-promotion. We were given some useful tips on the best ways to boost our interactions and make it easier to track analytics.

Account type:

• Switching to a business account is useful to view insights and analytics to see what is getting the most interest. Can track the best hashtags to get the most interactions and track your performance.

Profile / Bio:

• Include my full name, with website link & tagline
• Links to any other social media accounts
• Important to note that any words used in my bio will show up in searches by other people

Useful practice:

• Schedule posts to be frequent
• Use stories to update ‘work in progress’
• Always respond to DM’s within 24 hours
• Use hashtags
• Use alt text on posts & subtitles on reels for accessibility
• Always consider my audience – who am I trying to reach?
• Likes, comments & shares are the most important type of engagement
• Consider how the feed looks as a whole – make sure that my profile is easy to look at
• Always keep links updated

Here is a look at my current business photography Instagram account after taking on some feedback from our class.

Setting up for our final review in Independent Practice 1 [3rd Year] was a crucial step in my professional development, allowing me to think about the conceptual challenges of displaying my work in a gallery setting. Curating the images introduces a different level of decision making – thinking about the audience engagement.

The main thing for this practice was thinking about how layout affects the meaning. I experimented with different arrangements [which I documented] and analysing the sequencing and spacing. I thought about questions around audience interpretation and interaction, which has been important for me to think about future opportunities where I would showcase my work in a professional setting.

Making adjustments in spacing, and viewing distance can have a noticeable impact on the flow, reinforcing the idea that the presentation of the photographs is just as important as the work itself.

This experience has given me a stronger understanding of exhibition planning, making me think about selecting the right images and fine-tuning my final pieces.
I feel a lot more confident in approaching future exhibitions with a more refined perspective.

Overall the experience in working in a gallery space is something I feel is important for professional practice and worth experimenting with more in the future.

Below are some examples that I tried with my images, thinking about diptych’s, print size and lighting options.

Through my Instagram, I was contacted by a local band in Brighton who had a gig planned near me, and they wanted some footage and photographs. After previously photographing another musician [Orange Bloom], I felt confident in accepting this commission and working with the band.

Myself and my partner Joel, who is a freelance photographer, worked closely with the band to discuss with them their aesthetic, and figure out what the final result would look like for them. Initially, the band wanted just footage of the show, however, after talking through the importance of having images of the band, and how the DSLR camera might struggle more with low-light footage, we reached the conclusion of myself and Joel taking photographs and the band using their phone to take footage as the camera works better in the darker venue.

This shoot was somewhat challenging for me as it was a different venue from what I am used to, quite crowded and dark which meant that I had to account for this beforehand – setting up the camera early with the correct settings.

The final results were successful and I feel confident in accepting future event photography opportunities, and have already been asked to shoot another show for this band. It has been a great learning experience for me to work with a completely different aesthetic to my norm, and to get some work with a new potential client which will bring about more opportunities for work.

January 16, 2025.

Helen Cammock is a British photographer who previously graduated from the University of Brighton and was recently awarded the Turner Prize in 2019. Helen came to do an artist talk with us where she discussed her experience in printmaking and installation.

She began the talk by telling us about how she started through ‘writing and processing language’. When studying at university, she begun incorporating text into her work, as her understanding of the reading was important to her studies.
Once in her third year of university, she knew she wanted to begin working with moving image, trying out lots of new mediums whilst she had access to the facilities from the tech team.

As Helen’s work continued once she left university, she used her personal stories to further her research, and helping other people to express themselves through her art. She is conscious of how being commissioned to do work can be a chance to work differently and adapt to the clients needs.

She discussed with us the importance of exploring narratives through your work, giving a voice to the invisible and highlight other peoples perspectives.

This artist talk was helpful for me to hear the stories from people with different lived experience, and learning how that can affect your work as a photographer. These are unique perspectives that I would like to include in some of my future work.
This has given me some interesting ideas to go away with and think about for future project themes.

During the actual exhibition, visitors were encouraged to take a photograph of their choice off the wall, and reposition it elsewhere in the gallery based on what they thought looked aesthetically correct. The interactive element of this show introduced the additional layer of interest for the audience, engaging them more and making sure they were focusing in on each image individually.

Overall this activity has helped me to work on my collaborative skills, working with a group of people to curate the gallery, and seeing other peoples work.

Securing my first photography commission was an important milestone for me, giving me the chance to apply my skills in a client-based context. I was commissioned by music artist Orange Bloom for his upcoming album and artist photographs which would be used on his Spotify. This was my first opportunity to work collaboratively with someone to fulfil their vision based on a short brief.

The aesthetic that Bill was leaning toward was an urban, alternative feel which guided our location choices for this shoot. We decided to work in areas around Brighton that heavily featured graffiti to align with his music style.

From a technical perspective, shooting on location meant navigating the unpredictable lighting conditions, busy environments and everchanging weather. As I was using natural lighting for this shoot, I had to think more critically about how to use the landscape to alter this.

This commission also made me think about how site-specific photography can influence the meaning of an image, using the backdrop as a narrative itself. I was taught about the importance of flexibility, collaboration and decision-making to work on a brief. It was rewarding to see how the final images reflect Orange Bloom’s identity and merged with my photographic style.

This project was a big step for me as it provided invaluable experience that will help me on future commissions. The skill of combining my personal aesthetic and style with a clients brief is something I now feel confident in doing for future projects.

During my time as student ambassador, I had the opportunity to work with Fergus Heron and Lindsey Smith at Phoenix Art Space to assist in a photography session for students aged 16-18, who were studying photography in college. The session was centred around Heron’s project ‘Phoenix Place‘ – an exhibition that was featured in Photo Fringe 2024: Common Ground. 

This session was a chance for the students to engage in the themes and narratives that Fergus had presented in his work, thinking about place and identity. During the workshop we did a series of creative exercises to improve on their observational and critical thinking skills. The exercises included drawing out small sections of a photograph of their choice, writing captions based on what they can see and using framing techniques to describe the landscape outside. These activities motivated the students to focus on smaller details that they might usually miss when glancing through the exhibition space the first time.

Helping Fergus & Lindsey at this workshop developed my understanding of the different ways that people interact with art. It was great experience for me to work with people of a different age to evolve my communication skills and adapt my approach to each persons creative processes.

Helping Lindsey and Fergus to organise this provided more insights into photography education and the impact that interactive learning can have on young students. This will help me going forward for any workshops that I assist on in the future, ensuring I encourage the structured timetable whilst keeping a welcoming atmosphere and promote independent learning.

For the second year show, I was a part of the marketing team, in charge of promoting the event and managing social media content. As a team we were in charge of taking over the @uobphotography Instagram account, using a schedule to post on certain days and specific images that had been sent in by our classmates. In addition to this, we were in charge of putting up posters around the city and university buildings, asking businesses to display them and share information to their customers.

My main focus for the marketing group was putting up posters, whilst still assisting with Instagram posts occasionally when needed.
A small section of us were divided into different parts of Brighton, making sure the majority of the city had posters, getting as wide a reach as possible. As it is not legal to put up posters in public, we put our attention on shops, cafes and other independent businesses. Doing this approach allowed us to engage with the public and spread the word about the show. We made sure to chat with each business, explaining the purpose of the exhibition and allowing them to engage with the work.
This process helped me with confidence and developing communication skills and learn the importance of networking and promoting future projects.

After exhibition night, the class were able to look around the space and critically think about positives and negatives of the event and think about how we would do things differently for the final year graduation show. The event as a whole was a great opportunity for me to look at my work in a gallery space and reflect on the presentation of my future projects. Furthermore, as a whole it allowed me to think about the importance of working within a team to collaborate on something as large as an exhibition.

November 21, 2024.

Andy Lo Pò is a London based photographer working in commercial and editorial photography.
We were given the opportunity to speak to Andy about his freelance work and experience in the industry. He spoke to us about the difficulties of commissions, landing a job and the ‘on and off’ nature of freelance work.

The difference between advertising and editorial work

Editorial work is the work we see in magazines and websites, which is becoming less common and popular in the modern world. Advertising is the images that we see more commonly in public like billboards, posters and public transport. Andy told us about his experience starting out working in editorial photography, giving us an insight into this type of work environment. When just starting out, you typically work with a much smaller group – just yourself, the model and sometimes an assistant.

Andy’s work ranges from editorial fashion shoots to television show shoots, where he would work with a much larger crew in a bigger studio setting. You would be working with an art director, producer and clients so there is not formally one person in charge of the shoot. At any given time, there is typically 10-30 people on set at these bigger shoots. Andy went through with us how difficult it can be to land these jobs and what you typically have to go through to get there.

Landing the job

The first thing you should do is set yourself up with an agent, though not everybody feels the need to do this step. They will typically contact companies for you about commissions, and get you set up with the brief for the project. The brief can be anywhere from 10-40 pages with photographic examples, outlining the job. In response to this you are meant to send back a pitch, letting the company know how you would complete the job and try to sell yourself.

There is a lot of back and forth in this industry between yourself, the agency and the photo studios, giving feedback and job information.