Commercial photography

After this lecture, I decided to reach out to a company they have worked for before voluntarily and asked if they wanted me to produce photographs for them and charge for them! I scheduled a meeting with her and asked where she’s at with her business and what kind of thing she’s looking for! We made lots of storyboards on Pinterest and decided to create an angelic shoot for her jewelry! This is something out of my comfort zone as I normally shoot portraiture! But I was excited about branching out and learning new skills!She was super happy with the results and also sent me some products that I could share on my Instagram! Overall, this is something that I can add to my CV, and I might start reaching out to smaller businesses, more often to gain more experience! I thoroughly enjoy doing this shoot and I’ve overall gained a lot of confidence in myself as a photographer!

 

I also got to do some self portraiture modelling me jewellery! This is something I haven’t done before but she posted them on her website. Because I reached out to her She said in the future, she will definitely ask for me to do work again. Networking and creating friends within the business world is something really important as she is also mention me to some of her other friends who have small businesses and want to work with me in the future! 

Making money

As a portrait photographer, I use a lot of my friends and family in my work but I need to start branching out and getting used to paying people to be in my work. Prices do vary depending on how high up you are in the modeling world. But also getting used to doing model release forms so I have my own back! For my current project I am doing at university I have started to produce model release forms and, in some cases, pay my models for working with me. Because I am wanting to start selling my own work I need consent from the models so that I can sell images that include them. But before I sell my work I need to know what other people are charging and this lecture really helped me understand what I need to be charging.

I need to make sure that I am:

  • Market value, not a per-hour estimate.
  • Research – compare and contrast how other emerging and more established photographic artists are pricing.
  • Set prices at a conservative level for your first edition of prints – just as it’s better to sell out a print run, it’s better to gradually increase prices than cut them.
  • This increase can happen slowly over time, but it also can happen over a single edition of work, which is often priced on a sliding scale these days

I Have created a model release form template that I have got approved by my tutors so I can use this in the future too when I ask models to work with me!

Working with galleries and art projects

We had guest speaker Lindsey Smith come in and talk to us about working with galleries and the process she went through whilst studying and how she got to be an established artist. She has worked in collaboration with a range of organisations to design, deliver and evaluate learning and engagement initiatives. Her main peace of advice was to keep networking as well as have the confidence to reach out to people to see if they want to produce collaborative work or to see if you can get exhibited in a gallery. Having a strong portfolio is something I need to consider as I do want to be exhibited into galleries. Now that we are planning our grad show this will be a great opportunity to network and put myself out there!

I have selected some images and started to build my portfolio up as well as begin to do my CV and artist bio.

Artist bio:

Ella Frost is a British visual artist currently in attendance of The University of Brighton for BA(Hons) Photography, of which she is in her third year. Frost’s work re-imagines our relationship with the photographic image: documentation of truth, memory, and existence are explored through the use of portraiture. Working with alternative processes and merging analogue & digital technology with contemporary methods, Frost explores the power of portraits to challenge existing narratives and boundaries. By reflecting on the history of the portrait and engaging with current views of the portrait, she creates abstract work reflecting on these ideas within photography by editing and manipulating her images to reimagine their possibilities.

Through her studies at the University of Brighton Frost has established strong concepts and creative interests within her visual practice. Through the exploration of 35mm film as well as studio shoots, frosts works visualises the truth within photography as she bushed the boundaries between reality and fictionality. Her wider visual concepts incorporate these ideas by using mixed medias to aesthetically convey her concepts as well as researching into the historical and critical analysis of photography. Her work guides the viewer to the depict world. During 2022 my project ‘Conceal & Reveal, which was made by splashing developer onto my prints in the darkroom, was shown in ‘Indagation’. The exhibition was displayed at Edward Street by the university of Brighton. This series as well as ‘conceal & reveal continued’ is also soon to be displayed at the Free Range in London as well as another exhibition held by the university of Brighton.

CV:

 

Self Promotion

It is so essential as an upcoming artist to be promotion your work when you can. You need to be different as everyone is using social media and coming up with new ways to promote themselves. TikTok is an upcoming social media site, so I will look into how I can use this platform here.

Two types of promotion include:

Self-promotion:

This should be ongoing and includes, building your profile, using online media, Instagram, content and updates should be posted, and building a network as well as business time.

“When an artist starts out, often they need to self-initiate exhibitions and projects, as well as be active about applying for opportunities. Though you will likely be initiating some of your own projects throughout your career, everyone hopes that eventually, opportunities will come to you, rather than you having to chase them down. (So you’ll be invited more frequently to participate in exhibitions, residencies, etc). If you don’t promote what you do and make it visible, there is less (if any) chance that this will happen, and a lot of the effort that you put into making your work and projects is wasted.” – Rosalind Davis

Promotion:

This is project specific and should include, building excitement, audience, writing and communicating, and social media campaigns.

“Project-specific promotion might be about getting people to turn up to an exhibition opening or participants to workshops; and ongoing promotional activity which is about being more broadly visible within the arts sector making people aware that you’re out there, making work.” – Laura Eldret

I need to be:

  • Be discoverable
  • Online – website
  • Online – social media profile
  • In person – at events, openings, exhibitions
  • Be ready
  • Be making work
  • Be showing work
  • Be documenting work
  • Keep online profiles up to date § Have business cards (with you!)
  • Be authentic…

So I have decided to make a tiktok and do a day in the life of a photography student! This overall got 600+ views and a company I have previously worked for saw it and asked me to do more work for them! I posted this on my main Instagram as well as my photography account to reach as many people as possible.

Clear and concise

Blog post week six: Social Media + Self promotion

Perpetration is key, we need to be actively making work and showing work to peers. Documentation of this process can also be included within an account of some sort like Instagram or a website. Update this regularly so the algorithm will put your work onto people’s feeds! Authenticity is so important now days too, your work needs to stand out and your profile is a different layer of art, does it have the sequence, is it aesthetically pleasing to look at? I need to rebrand my Instagram so it is more engaging, I need to analyse my profile and see how I can make it captivating!

Self promotion:

  • Build your profile
  • Solidify your online support – Instagram, website, business time …
  • Network with people

 

Promotion:

  • Builds excitement
  • Reaches your audience
  • Communication and writing is key
  • Social media campagnas

I don’t post often on my Instagram, and this is something I will do more to engage more people. I have also added a bio to make my account clearer and more concise as this is the first thing people see when they view your profile. I have also archived some of my work to make my feed flow more. I have downloaded the app preview where I can upload my images and move them to see how they would look on my Instagram feed. I want to include all my work in progress too so people can actively see I’m producing work.

Fake it till you make it

Blog post week five public speaking

I think no matter what you say, as long as you have confidence you will be fine. In the past when it comes to public speaking you may think that your voice sounds wobbly or that everyone is waiting for you to slip up but sometimes you must fake it till you make it. Things I have found useful in the past are recording myself and talking to people who know nothing about photography. Sometimes I feel like when talking to professionals you need to use all these fancy words but sometimes you sound like you don’t know what you are talking about so only use vocabulary you are used to. You aren’t trying to please anyone else other than yourself.

I then watched a Ted talk by Dr. Jen Gunter and she was talking about sleep, I noticed within this ted talk body language is so important to keep people engaged. She is using her hands for emphasis but not too much that it is distracting. She decided what she wanted to get out of her ted talk and also used animations to back up what she is saying o it isn’t too boring. There’s a booming industry waiting to tell you all the ways a lack of sleep can ruin your health but if you feel like you are reasonably well rested, sleep throughout the night with no disturbances or can I stay awake throughout the day you genuinely have nothing to worry about.

From listening to various ted talks I know I need to be confident, do my research, think about my body language, talk about something I’m passionate about, and stay calm. I have practiced this by talking to my friends in my Uni house about my photography project and have gained feedback such as, you need to dumb it down, I’m talking too fast from this I have filmed myself and analysed it, so I know what I need to work on for next time. I have also written a full speech in case my mind goes foggy and if I feel like I’m going too quickly I can return to these prompts.

 

 

 

Less force more flow

Blog post week four visual portfolio

Portfolios are essentially us showing off our best work to a client, gallery, or agency. They should have flow as well as impact. The first and last images should have the most impact. We should know your prospective client – be realistic about their creative boundaries and refresh it regularly to keep it up-to-date and include a mix of personal and commissioned work. My portfolio now has an array of images including how even though there is no flow or impact.

These images are taken from various projects some personal some academic, so I want to focus on the fashion elements more and create a portfolio. I’m in the process of doing a portfolio for these images. I have narrowed the images down from 158 to 10 strong images, I have gained feedback about editing through this process and have started to print off some of my prints to have in a portfolio box.

Finding our path

Week three: Applying for Residencies, Exhibitions, and Funding (and Commissions)

Screenshot: http://www.zoechilderley.co.uk/beyondthepale?lightbox=dataItem-kur9u5wi4

I didn’t realise how many different paths you can go down as an artist and how you get there but today an artist talk from Zoe Childerley gave me comfort in figuring out what is my path and how I get to it. I feel like each week everything is slowly starting to all come together things such as funding, art residencies, and the application process is all starting to make sense. I’ve never heard of art residencies before, “Residencies are temporary periods for an artist to work on a project or develop new ideas. They are time out of your usual work to develop new art and ideas.”Artist residencies (no date) Artquest. Available at: https://artquest.org.uk/how-to-articles/artist-residencies/ (Accessed: October 23, 2022). Beyond the Pale, a project created by Zoe whilst exploring the 100-mile-long border in Northumberland in 2016 during her residency, explores a narrative around territory, land, and belonging on the Anglo-Scottish border. To fund this project Zoe applied for DYCP (develop your creative practice) through the arts council – https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/our-open-funds/new-arts-council. They invest public money from the government and the national lottery to make sure that everyone’s creativity is given the chance to flourish through a wide range of experiences.

 

Screenshot: https://www.artsjobs.org.uk/artsjobshome/

So, what is it that I exactly want to do? I have been looking on the arts council website (https://www.artscouncil.org.uk) for potential opportunities for when I graduate. The website is so easy to use and has a wide range of areas of art you can go into. It can be as specific as you like to where you work, how much you want to get paid, and whether you want to work full/part-time. Because I have looked through this website I am interested in jobs such as studio assistant, gallery or sales assistant, or marketing assistant. I’m now in the process of refining my cv so I can contact these companies to see what is their application process. The end is near and my professional career is closer than I thought.

Stepping into a professional environment

“If you have nothing to say, say nothing”

Mark Twain

 Communication is key, I cannot classify my work unless I have a voice and it’s my voice that’s going to get me these opportunities. What’s my definition and why is it different from someone else, it’s a dog-eat-dog world and everyone is my competition. This week’s tutorial was reflecting on writing about oneself and went into detail about cover letters, artist statements, artist biography, and Curriculum Vitae.

Then in groups we made an artist statement about Martin Seeds this helped because writing about yourself is less easy so having this to reference was practical although it isn’t finished it gives me confidence when writing my own.

Martin seeds artist statement: Martin Seeds is a visual artist whose work centres around his northern Irish identity and heritage, producing art from a political perspective. His work aims to educate on the political landscape of Northern Ireland. He experiments with Alternative processes merging analogue technology with contemporary methods. Through his visual communication, his work challenges themes that are reflected in his striking aesthetics.

Feedback:

  • Can include his religion
  • Include photography
  • Dates of work – come to prominence at the end of the troubles
  • Is there an element of autobiography within his work

From this lecture, I started to think about how I need to add more substantial things to my cv as well as build my confidence in Photography. I emailed Conall Gleeson and asked if any opportunities are coming up where I can talk to the first years about my work and give academic advice. So, on Monday 17th October I did a 20-minute presentation, I have never spoken publicly about my work, so I felt like this was a good place to start. I started to produce a PowerPoint where I introduced my project conceal and reveal which is a project where I explore the power of portraits and how adding or taking away certain aspects of an image can change this sense of power. Passport-styled Photographs can let you do so much, for example, our passport photos will allow us to travel to a different country and our id will allow us to do that little bit more. just from that little photo, we have so much freedom. Because we are so used to seeing that snippet of an image, we think it represents the whole truth.  Shooting on 35 mm black-and-white film and manipulating my images through the experimentation of the developer Challenge these existing narrative and boundaries. I also included personal experience as a student at the University of Brighton.

This photo was taken during my artist talk.

“When it comes to researching you don’t have to just go to the library and take out a million and one books. Use magazines, podcasts, exhibitions, blogs, and YouTube the list is endless. I have linked a load here for you I also have a pdf of a lot more so anyone who does want that can come up to me at the end and I can email it to you. Use the facilities as you have as much as possible, So the basement, studios, darkroom, library, and first floor are all great places where you and other students can go and do work if you are getting sick of your halls. I was in phoenix halls and I think adjusting to sleeping, studying, showering and whatever else I was doing in there was hard and you do need a change of environment too. Study with people and all help each other. You will spend three years with these people and you all have at least one thing in common – photography. Talk to your coursemates about what work you are doing and get used to talking about your work. When you go to your tutorials engage with them, and ask questions – even if it sounds silly there is no judgment in these spaces, you are all here to learn. Be open-minded about the feedback you are getting. When adjusting to a level of uni the level of feedback you get is so crucial in how we grow and learn as photographers. Be open-minded to the feedback you get, tutors aren’t being mean they are just being honest as they want you to how you can get better even students – had a few students say I don’t like the method I’ve worked why don’t I try this.” Frost E. 2022. Conceal and reveal artist talk. 17th October, 309 Edward Street. I gained confidence throughout the presentation; I received good feedback from Conall Gleeson and the first years were asking lots of questions and were engaging in my PowerPoint, I thoroughly enjoyed doing this and feel confident doing this in a professional environment. It was a good stepping stone into the professional world.

 

Put yourself out there!

Week one: An introduction to professional practice and Guest Speaker: Eva Louisa Jonas

Screenshot: https://evalouisajonas.com/a-rumour-reached-the-village

“Connect with organisations, really think about where you might fit in”. Eva Louisa Jonas

To start off professional practice we had guest speaker Eva Louisa Jonas come in and explain her personal experience within a professional environment, Jonas is an Artist Facilitator, and Collaborator who produces work in a sensory and experimental form when observing and recording her surroundings. I think what inspired me the most about Jonas is how much she puts herself out there, working in a performative element has helped her connect to organisations and people of similar interests. Although I may never feel ready to enter the professional practice world by putting myself out there will get me that little bit closer to the end goal, whatever that may be. By constantly producing work and learning from experience it will guide me to the right community to where I feel like I can fit in. Although I feel comfortable when I have a plan and some sort of structure, I need to expect the unexpected as life isn’t always as straightforward as we like. Everyone’s path is different, and we all have our own way of getting there. I don’t need to know exactly what I want to do as long as I am producing work I enjoy and having an open mind I know I will attract opportunities within the working world. As a response to guest speaker Eva Louisa Jonas, I am going to start mind-mapping potential areas of work I’m interested in or ways in which I can work to guide me to these communities.

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