One of the rules for our end of year show is that all work is to be selected from the number of different projects that we have covered throughout the year.
I have spent sometime this week trying to sort out the images that I want to print for my end of year show. I want to ensure that I show a range of different techniques, subjects and styles of photography.
The venue and times for the end of year show have also been finalised and so I have added this information to my poster. My finalised poster can be seen below.
INSERT IMAGE
We have also agreed a minimum number of 5 prints per person and are going to frame our images. We have also contributed to sorted drinks and nibbles for the opening night.
In the last exhibition we did not have any music and so we have decided to make a CD to give a more relaxed and creative ambiance. We are also going to try and contact some of the music students to see if they would be interested in playing a set for the opening night. This will help them to promote their band as well as aid us to promote the event.
One of the tutors has designed an end of year show poster for both the Hnd and FdA students which will be put up around college. I too am planning to putting up several mini posters in the college to promote my work and also send out an e-shot to the rest of the student body using the college emailing system.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Portrait studio
It has been decided that for WR3 we are to run a portrait studio. This obviously will take a lot of planning and so as a group we have been preparing some of the work towards the end of this semester.
Last week we sat down and made a plan of action where everyone was given a task to complete. This ranged from poster design which was my role, to contacting photographers and organising phone lines and contact details.
Everyone will get the opportunity to cover different roles within the business from assisting, administration and also being the photographer. In order to ensure that the quality of the images are maintained to a certain standard there are also some other things that we need to consider.
Hopefully after our first few customers word of mouth will help to promote the business. People who have visited the studio are likely to show family and friends the work that we have produced. If one of these people then decided that they wanted to visit the studio they would expect something of a similar nature. As we are going to be on rotation with different jobs, it may mean that the person with the photographers role will not necessarily be the person who took the pictures they saw.
Every photographer has their own style and way of shooting however to run this business successfully and allow each person to fulfil a different role some rules and guidelines. This will help to ensure that the quality and style of the images produced by the company are the same. This is something that Venture had done successfully. They have studio spaces and photographers all over the UK and successfully promote a certain "feel" within their photography.
To ensure that we can do this, we are going to set the studio lighting and backgrounds up in a specified way. Softboxes, hard heads and reflectors will be placed in the same spot (which will be marked out on the floor) for all portraits. The same college camera will also be used to ensure consistency in the work that the studio produces.
Last week we sat down and made a plan of action where everyone was given a task to complete. This ranged from poster design which was my role, to contacting photographers and organising phone lines and contact details.
Everyone will get the opportunity to cover different roles within the business from assisting, administration and also being the photographer. In order to ensure that the quality of the images are maintained to a certain standard there are also some other things that we need to consider.
Hopefully after our first few customers word of mouth will help to promote the business. People who have visited the studio are likely to show family and friends the work that we have produced. If one of these people then decided that they wanted to visit the studio they would expect something of a similar nature. As we are going to be on rotation with different jobs, it may mean that the person with the photographers role will not necessarily be the person who took the pictures they saw.
Every photographer has their own style and way of shooting however to run this business successfully and allow each person to fulfil a different role some rules and guidelines. This will help to ensure that the quality and style of the images produced by the company are the same. This is something that Venture had done successfully. They have studio spaces and photographers all over the UK and successfully promote a certain "feel" within their photography.
To ensure that we can do this, we are going to set the studio lighting and backgrounds up in a specified way. Softboxes, hard heads and reflectors will be placed in the same spot (which will be marked out on the floor) for all portraits. The same college camera will also be used to ensure consistency in the work that the studio produces.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Cream tea anyone?
With the summer months drawing closer I thought that it would be a good idea to shoot a tea party. I have recently seen a few images in several magazines of tea parties and wanted to create something along similar lines.
Over the last couple of days we have had some great sunlight and so I decided to use this to my advantage and shoot using this light.
Over the last couple of days we have had some great sunlight and so I decided to use this to my advantage and shoot using this light.
Critique from a professional
Today we were asked to bring along the 10 chosen images shot for the Istock brief for a stock photographer to look at. As I mentioned earlier I thought very hard about the images that I wanted to incorporate into this portfolio and looked on their website for regulations and acceptance rule.s In doing this i stumbled upon what type of images they are currently looking for and what they are less likely to accept.
With this information I decided to concentrate on the area of food photography. I shot a wide range of different products and all were shot with natural daylight.
After completing the portfolio I showed it to the stock photographer and listened to his critique. This then enabled me to make my decision for my final three images to submit to the online library.
The following three shots are what I chose to submit.
Mini pizza breads
Afternoon Tea
Raspberry fool
Paul seemed impressed with my shots and said that , "They would be an asset to any photographers portfolio." Although this may have been the case when I received feedback from I stock they stated that my images had been rejected because they were too similar with regard to subject i.e. food and lighting i.e. daylight. I was then invited to resubmit a further 3 images which were accepted. These can be seen below.
Tomatoes
Christmas lights
Wheelchair
With this information I decided to concentrate on the area of food photography. I shot a wide range of different products and all were shot with natural daylight.
After completing the portfolio I showed it to the stock photographer and listened to his critique. This then enabled me to make my decision for my final three images to submit to the online library.
The following three shots are what I chose to submit.
Mini pizza breads
Afternoon Tea
Raspberry fool
Paul seemed impressed with my shots and said that , "They would be an asset to any photographers portfolio." Although this may have been the case when I received feedback from I stock they stated that my images had been rejected because they were too similar with regard to subject i.e. food and lighting i.e. daylight. I was then invited to resubmit a further 3 images which were accepted. These can be seen below.
Tomatoes
Christmas lights
Wheelchair
Monday, April 26, 2010
Sheffield on a sunny day!
This weekend I spent sometime in Sheffield shopping and happened to take my camera with me in my handbag. With the weather being so nice, I decided to try and do some architectural photography as I do not have a lot of it in my portfolio.
Close to Sheffield train station is a relatively new water sculpture. It is made out of curved stainless steel and looks great when the water runs over it. I chose to shoot this at various angles to show not only how different it could look, but also to see what interesting angles I could make using the same sculpted piece.
Close to Sheffield train station is a relatively new water sculpture. It is made out of curved stainless steel and looks great when the water runs over it. I chose to shoot this at various angles to show not only how different it could look, but also to see what interesting angles I could make using the same sculpted piece.
NDC - Northern Design Compeitition
The NDC was something that was introduced to us several months ago by one of the tutors. In order to show personal progression I have entered this with the images shown below. This is the first competition that I have entered and hope that I will be able to gain some feedback from professional within the industry.
Along with the picture we were required to write a short blurb explaining why we have chosen this image.
Blurb:
I have been studying the art of photography for about a year and a half and during that time I feel I have made some great progress. For me photography enables me to express myself though using my creative abilities on a variety of levels.
The image entitled ‘relax and unwind’ I actually shot for a college project where we were asked to shoot candles. I have chosen to use this as my entry for this competition for several reasons.
Firstly, I feel that it encapsulates my style as a photographer. Personally I feel that photography relies a lot on composition and is why I style most of my work myself. This is also true for this piece.
I have used a small aperture to give depth to the images so that the back is in soft focus and used a long exposure of about a second in order to capture the flame of the candles. This shows that I have learnt different techniques.
Furthermore I have shot this image using only daylight on the location. This gives the image a very natural feel which I think works well with the style of the shot.
I have tried to use a mixture of textures and a variety of similar tones within the image so that everything works in harmony together. I have also ‘built’ the image using different heights and various materials for example the smooth glass container and the fluffy towels.
In post production I chose to de-saturate the colours slightly as I feel it lends itself well to the lighting of the candles. I made a decision not retouch the shot too heavily for imperfections such as marks on the soap, because I think that it gives the image character and again appears to be more organic.
As I become more self-assured about my abilities, entering a competition has further improved my confidence.I have been able to produce am image that I am proud of and put it against other peoples work, which is quite a large milestone within my short photographic career. I look forward to entering more competitions like this in the near future.
Along with the picture we were required to write a short blurb explaining why we have chosen this image.
Blurb:
I have been studying the art of photography for about a year and a half and during that time I feel I have made some great progress. For me photography enables me to express myself though using my creative abilities on a variety of levels.
The image entitled ‘relax and unwind’ I actually shot for a college project where we were asked to shoot candles. I have chosen to use this as my entry for this competition for several reasons.
Firstly, I feel that it encapsulates my style as a photographer. Personally I feel that photography relies a lot on composition and is why I style most of my work myself. This is also true for this piece.
I have used a small aperture to give depth to the images so that the back is in soft focus and used a long exposure of about a second in order to capture the flame of the candles. This shows that I have learnt different techniques.
Furthermore I have shot this image using only daylight on the location. This gives the image a very natural feel which I think works well with the style of the shot.
I have tried to use a mixture of textures and a variety of similar tones within the image so that everything works in harmony together. I have also ‘built’ the image using different heights and various materials for example the smooth glass container and the fluffy towels.
In post production I chose to de-saturate the colours slightly as I feel it lends itself well to the lighting of the candles. I made a decision not retouch the shot too heavily for imperfections such as marks on the soap, because I think that it gives the image character and again appears to be more organic.
As I become more self-assured about my abilities, entering a competition has further improved my confidence.I have been able to produce am image that I am proud of and put it against other peoples work, which is quite a large milestone within my short photographic career. I look forward to entering more competitions like this in the near future.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Posters
For the personal and professional development unit we were asked to create some promotional material, one of which was a poster. In keeping with the theme for both my business cards and photocards, I have generated two A3 and an A4 poster. I have kept the images the same as the photocards so that if a person sees both, they will be able to identify both me and my business. I have yet to add the copy, however I want to write about why I am passionate about photography and why people should use me as a photographer.
A4
In order for my name to "stick" in peoples heads I wanted to create something on my promotional material that had a double meaning. The most obvious thing to me to do was to play on my surname and so that is what I did using the phrases 'the green green grass of home' and 'green with envy'. It is my hope that the play on words will remain in peoples memories when they see my work and will therefore remember me if they need a photographer.
A3
Poster 1
Poster 2
A4
In order for my name to "stick" in peoples heads I wanted to create something on my promotional material that had a double meaning. The most obvious thing to me to do was to play on my surname and so that is what I did using the phrases 'the green green grass of home' and 'green with envy'. It is my hope that the play on words will remain in peoples memories when they see my work and will therefore remember me if they need a photographer.
A3
Poster 1
Poster 2
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