13th October 2023

professional practice blog one: reflections + the future

Writing this weekly journal will help track my progression into the professional world and show my research and development of how I intend to create a brand for myself. This first blog will be about reflections and the future. My first look into the professional world was my experience with my second-year exhibition, where we produced and exhibited images that we had taken within our second year of university.

The project title was ‘Through the Stalkers Eye’, which was a series of images capturing the hidden dangers of the new digital age. I zoomed into the use of WebCams, how they can be abused, and the dangers behind who could be watching. The series consisted of 16 images that looked as though someone had been watching and capturing private moments in a teenage girl’s room. These images were captured through a real Webcam, making the images feel more authentic and realistic, helping to tell this story.

With this exhibition, we had to produce an exhibition plan, where we had to measure out the exact measurements of how big we expected our project to be on the wall. We also had to create a plan of how we wanted our final project to look. It gave me the experience I needed to help me improve for this year‘s exhibition, which will be my final year project. I now know how to professionally exhibit my work in a professional manner with planning.

List of things I did for my second-year exhibition.

• Sketch of my final piece
• Budget plan
• measuring the sizes of different aspects of my final piece
• perfecting prints
• developed my communication skills.
• creating a professional look to my images

Another piece of experience I had received during my second year of university would have been my freelance opportunities. This experience and opportunity helped my development in the professional world as I had my first look into taking photos for a professional client. I was asked to photograph images of my clients products, machinery, and workers so that they could put these images on their new website. This is my first paid job, which helped me gain confidence in my work. It also gave me an opportunity to show off what I can do for other clients.

Overall, all of these experiences have helped me gain the confidence to develop myself and my photography. This has also helped develop my brand, as I was able to create a better portfolio and looked into creating a logo and becoming more professional. Having this experience, I feel like I’m going to freelance photography straight after leaving university, as I have now gained some experience and I feel confident enough to get into that type of work.

Thank you for reading.

Mel Wright

10th November 2023

Professional practice blog post two: Claire Wearen + starting my branding

This week’s blog is about a guest speaker who came into a professional practice lecture. Claire Wearen is the current festival director at the photo fringe and code director of corridor projects. Listening to Claire speak, I was inspired by the journey she had gone on to get where she is today, starting with working with some of the best documentary photographers to being able to become a director of a well-known charity that specialises in lens-based artists helping people who are up-and-coming photographers.
While conducting my own research, I looked through Claire‘s Instagram, where I was able to see how a professional photographer has built her brand and become what she is today. This has given me inspiration to brand and build myself so that I am able to grow and become more well-known in the photography world.

What is photo fringe? They are a charity-based organisation providing professional development and opportunities for artists that specialise in lens-based work. They are well known for helping new talent and promoting their work. Every two years, phot fringe sets up a festival where they are able to promote and showcase new and upcoming work and artists, a place for everyone to come and enjoy.

Now that I had this inspiration, I wanted to start setting up my brand. I have set up an Instagram and a Flickr portfolio for my work. This will enable people to see my work and what I am capable of. On my Instagram, I am able to update people on the work I am producing, for example, my upcoming project for my final piece. I’ll be capturing a process in the dark room and the progress of my images as they develop. By doing this, it will show future clients that would be watching on my Instagram what I am capable of and the skills that I have. I will also be able to see my progression through the years, and I can look back on my old work, which will help me improve and develop.

• I added colour to my account to make it stand out.
• i posted my favourite images that i have taken and also paid work to show what i can do.
• i posted insists so that they can see my progress and what i am up to.
• I made sure to add that i am currently studying at the University of Brighton.

This is my logo I had created on illustrator.

• I wanted a simple logo
• I chose the colour grey to fit with my CV that i had started and also i felt it fit my brand well.
• I wanted an elegant look that is professional

Thank you for reading

Mel Wright

24th November 2023

professional practice blog post three: self employment + future practice

For this week’s blog, I will be talking about the research I have conducted into developing my business and how I would approach the self-employment process. I will also look into my future practice and what I am interested in.

When researching, I came across ‘Beyond the Lens, which is a book about what you will expect when leaving university and starting your photography brand. This book gave me advice on how I should take advantage of the privileges I have with being at university: ‘Take full advantage of all the free gear and studio space you are offered’ ‘listen to people’s advice and look at ways to apply it to your own work or ways of thinking’ Beyond the Lens: Rights, Ethics, and Business Practice in Professional Photography (2014). 4th ed., pp. 131) This tells me that I should learn and take advantage of everything I can before I am alone in the photography business world.

There was a chapter in this book that really intrigued me, as it was about architectural photography, which is what my final project will be about. In this chapter, Paul McMullin talked about his views and other aspects of architectural photography. Some notes I had gotten from this piece of writing:

• For every assignment from a client, there has to be a clear idea of what is required.
• How many images are expected?
• delivery method
• end usage
• clear and concise instructions, in which detail is important.
• which elevations, and perhaps even instructions about what should be excluded from the shots.
• It’s important to ensure that you follow clients instructions, as you want them to like your work and keep using you for their architecture photography.
• Ensure that the equipment that you are using suits your type of photography.
• (Beyond the Lens: Rights, Ethics, and Business Practice in Professional Photography (2014), 4th ed., pp. 153–155).

All of the pieces of advice I have received from reading this chapter I will be able to incorporate into my up-and-coming project for my final year. But also take this into my future career, as I feel architectural photography is something that intrigues me and that I would consider doing in the future.

I feel more confident going into my project after reading about a real person who has had experience in that field and understands what is required of them to achieve the best architectural photography. This is extremely important for me to develop and improve my images, helping me create the best images I can for my final year exhibition

Thank you for reading

Mel Wright

8th December 2023

professional practice blog four: Running a successful photography business + Ola Teper

Through my research, I read in Running a Successful Photography Business by Lisa Pritchard that one of the chapters was about fine-tuning your brand. Pritchard says, ‘As a professional photographer, you are a brand. Lisa goes on to say that clients will buy a photographer the same way that they would if they were to buy a brand or something from a brand.

• What does your brand promise?
• What are you promising to deliver when you get commissioned?
• What is your specialty?
• What sets you apart?
• It might be that you have a knack for always gathering a great team.
• You might have diversified.
• Are you trying to reach the right clients with the right work?
• Your photography and the market you are promoting it to should be a perfect fit.
• Your work could be too editorial for the advertising market.

Pritchard, L. (2017). Running a successful photography business. London, UK: Bloomsbury Academic, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (p. 35–39).

Ola Teper is a photographic artist who studied at the University of Brighton, doing BA Hons in photography and MA photography, and is now moving onto a PhD. Seeing Ola’s work that was done by a BA student just like what I am doing currently helped inspire me and show what another student had done for their final piece of work. They talked about the pathway to developing their practice as photographers, which gave me confidence in how I could go about developing my professional practice.

5th February 2024

professional practice blog post five: copyright + photography and ethics

This is blog six, where I will be writing about copyright and how it will affect my work.

As a photographer, you might like to capture candid images of people to capture raw emotion and unplanned moments. If you wanted to use those images for your work or to publish, the thought of copyright and ethics could come up. Through research and my professional practice lecture, I was able to find out that if the images are taken in public, it is not illegal to take them. However, it becomes an issue when the photographer gains money from that image, which is why it is important to have a model release form. Even though it is not needed, it is important to help keep the photographer out of trouble. There are different ways of having a release form; for example, you could print some for people to sign or there are apps on your phone that are easier and quicker to get permission to use those images.

As the law stands in the United Kingdom, we have the right to freedom of expression, which means that we can take images of whatever we like without permission, but if there are signs saying not to photograph, then it’s important to follow that. This is good for my project as I will be photographing architecture, buildings, etc. I need to be aware of people’s privacy and ensure I am following rules. But I also have reassurance that I am able to take photos freely without having to discard them if I am asked to, as I have a right to freedom of expression.

Learning and researching these topics is very important for my development in the professional world, as I might come across problems with them. Having learned about them, I am able to get a better understanding of what I can and cannot do with my work.

Thank you for reading

Mel Wright

19th February 2024

professional practice blog post six: research into selling prints

For this blog, I will be writing about my research into being able to sell my final third-year work at my exhibition. A third-year exhibition is a popular place for people to come and look at up-and-coming artists, where they would consider buying their work as they might see you making more advances in your field of work. For artists like me who are just leaving university and haven’t experienced selling and producing work yet, this is a great opportunity to show off the work you have produced.

Looking at the price points of your work, different paper types would raise the price of the image. People are paying for work and the process that went on behind closed doors. For me, darkroom paper can be expensive. I would be using silver gelatine paper, which is specifically used for the darkroom, so this would be a consideration in pricing my images.

It is important as an artist pricing their work that you never go down in price and always go up, as you don’t want people complaining about being charged different amounts than someone else. I have decided to price my images at around £80, as I feel that as a starting price or a graduate student, the price reflects the work that has gone into the piece but is also reasonable for a student’s piece of work.

Thank you for reading

Mel Wright

26th February 2024

professional practice blog post seven: CV + Biography

This blog is about how I will be creating my CV and biography for the second half of my professional practice.

I started with my CV, where I used Illustrator to help me create a CV that would stand out and show my artistic skills. I went onto Pinterest to gain ideas and see other photographers CVs so that I could get a better understanding of what would be a well-done CV. After I had come up with some ideas, I went onto Illustrator, where I trialled ideas to see what suited me and my brand. The things I wanted to include in my CV that I felt were important to show my skills were:

1. Profile: This is where I wrote a small piece about myself.
2. Contact: This is where I have put all my contacts and social media.
3. Work experience: this was very important as I wanted to showcase what I had done before.
4. Education: This shows where I have gotten my degree and A level in photography.
5. Skills: I wanted to showcase platforms that I can use that would come in handy.
6. Interests: I want to show that I am social and have other hobbies.

my first CV i created

This is my second CV I created 

I then focused on my biography. A biography is about yourself, how you have gotten into your profession, and also what kind of work you do. This will help employers see a bit about yourself and the education and process of you getting to where you are today. When writing mine, I felt it was important to show that I studied photography at A-level, and as my degree, this shows that I have a lot of experience and education in this profession. Creating a CV and biography is another part of branding yourself and preparing yourself for the professional world.

Thank you for reading

Mel Wright

4th March 2024

Professional practice Blog post eight: Image Analysis

11th March 2024

Professional practice blog post nine: experience in the ‘real world’

The first real-life experience I had in freelance photography would be my opportunity to work with fellow students at the University of Brighton taking headshot photos, and in return, they helped me out with my second-year project I was working on at the time.

This was a great experience for me as I was able to use a professional studio with studio lighting, tripods, professional camera gear, props and backgrounds, and lenses. This helped me build my professional practice, and I am now able to use these things in a professional environment to create high-quality images. I was also able to experience a full day of shooting, as this shoot took 5 hours to set up and complete.

The next professional freelance experience I had was a paid job. This was my first client; he wanted images for his website, so I was hired to take images of their products, machinery, and workers.

This has helped my confidence and knowledge, as the client had instructed me on what they wanted from the shoot and the kind of images that would suit the website he was creating. I spent the whole day at the company’s main workplace. Once I had taken the images, it took me a week to edit all the images and finalise which photographs would suit the website well. Overall,  my client was happy with the outcome and loved my work. This was great as he now hires me to take any other images he might need, for example, on his company’s Instagram and Facebook.

Having these experiences in the real world means that when I graduate, I will be able to go straight into freelancing, as I have the knowledge of dealing with clients and what they might expect from a shoot.

Thank you for reading

Mel Wright

18th March 2024

Professional practice blog post ten: Conclusion for professional practice

In conclusion, for my professional practice, all aspects of my blog have contributed to the development of my professional practice, including my brand evolution, preparing for a job application, research into starting my own photography business, freelancing, and inspiration from other photographers and artists that have gone through a similar journey.

All of these aspects have helped my confidence and knowledge to help me grow into the’real world’ and give me an advantage in beginning my journey. I have now gained experience with different aspects of professional practice.

Leading on from this, I need to carry on my progress in professional practice as there is still more to learn, for example, gaining more freelance experience with more clients so that I am able to build my brand and also doing more research into how I could go about developing my brand and advertising myself for people to see.

Combining the contributing aspects that I have discussed throughout my blog, I can see a clear improvement as time goes on; I can see my brand grow, and I can see more interest in my social media as I continue to develop myself and grow

Thank you for reading

Mel Wright