Evaluations

International Markets & Contexts

I thought this project was best yet. Initially I wasn’t motivated at all as I’m not overly keen on shooting work for a gallery setting. However once we began talking as a group we started to throw some ideas onto the table. We first decided on Culture as a starting point and each began thinking of where we could take this. After a few sessions with the tutors we mutually agreed that culture was too broad of a subject and we would be better being more selective. We then decided on identity and I began looking for a photographer. Early on I came across Martin Schoeller and decided he was the photographer for me. This sparked the ideas for my own work and I initially wanted to get into the studio and emulate Schoellers work. I spent some time doing research for the festival and creating some designs amongst preparing for the presentation. I then decided that if I shot in the same style as him the work on display would be too similar. I began experimenting with portraits outside of a studio environment and after shooting 2 people I decided this was the method for me. I found it hard trying to balance to research and development of the festival alongside shooting my personal work so I decided to leave myself a week at the end dedicated to shooting.

On the photographic side of things I’m happy with my images. They’ve turned out exactly how I had hoped and I feel like I’ve stuck the balance between simplicity and effectiveness. The key element for me was to have the same composition throughout and similar tones/colours. I had a clear set of aims when started I knew I could shoot 7/8 people and have enough content to create my exhibition. I was initially hoping to shoot males and females in a set age group but decided that all males worked together as a set. I only shot one female throughout and decided not to include that shot as it didn’t bring anything new to my project. I was very selective with the editing of my photos as I wanted a clean feel to them hence shooting in natural light. I used adobe lightroom to make small crop adjustments as well as correct white balance and exposure. This was made easy by the fact I shot RAW. When thinking about the framing of my work I took some inspiration from a few gallery visits and selected black frames with minimal space between complimented by vinyl lettering.

As a group I think we’ve worked very well. We allocated each other jobs and met up regularly to ensure we were all on track. I was tasked with the branding of the festival and used adobe illustrator to create an initial logo, which the group were very happy with. I then implemented the logo into the leaflet and letters etc. I took it upon myself to attend the photography show at Birmingham NEC and used this as an opportunity to research into frames and printing. I got several leaflets and spoke to several companies for pricing and then presented these to the group. We then decided on a company to use for each and began working on the budget.



Areas of Photographic Practice B

I thought this project was the most challenging yet. Photographically I enjoyed every second of it however finding an idea at the start was a real struggle. It was really hard to get out of the comfort zone of sending emails and actually pick up the phone and make the effort to go and meet people. It was hard to find an idea that was stimulating enough to base 6 weeks worth of time as well as being newsworthy as well as ‘Hidden’. I spent the first 2 weeks drawing a blank and then came across Salford Lads club, which was my saving grace. I contacted them and waiting another 2 weeks for a reply, which was a mistake on my part, I put all my eggs in one basket and it could have backfired. In hindsight I should have had at least 1 other idea lined up but luckily it all worked out in the end.

On the photographic side of things I’m happy with my images. They’ve turned out exactly how I had hoped and I feel like I’ve stuck the balance between simplicity and effectiveness. I had a clear set of aims when I first went the club, my first shoot was more about getting comfortable with the people at the club and I tried to ease into the photography and give them my time first. I spent 2 hours talking to one the guys there before I pulled my camera out and I think this helped the relationship I developed with the club. They then left me to my own devices, which was a privilege. My first shoot went well, I got a feel for the sort of shots I was after but I didn’t get everything I wanted so I asked to revisit the club the week after. This gave me time to speak to Les about my ideas and research the style of shots needed for a successful photojournalism piece.

My second shoot was much more focused than the first. I went in with a clear head and knew exactly what I wanted to achieve and I wasn’t leaving until I had those shots. I spent a few hours in the club exploring every inch and photographing everything from a few angles. I wanted to have as many shots as possible so I had the broadest choice for my final edit. I enjoyed doing these shoots because I could be meticulous, I had time to make sure the image was framed exactly how I wanted it. I had freedom to move around and experiment and this was a plus for me. I’m very happy with my 10 final images and the overall subject I chose. It was of genuine interest to me and it was nice to experiment with photojournalism and to work alongside real editors to tight deadlines.

I did struggle with research in this project. I looked at the work of Sean Smith at IWMN and this helped inform my style of shooting but it was hard to research ‘for ideas’. At the start of the project I took to the Internet to find out what was happening in Salford. Originally I drew a blank on this and decided to look through newspapers and try and find clubs or organisations doing positive things in Salford. This gave me little ideas and then I stumbled across the club by chance and originally saw potential in the volunteers working at the club. I decided to look at their website and this was when I saw the Smiths room. I was then sure this was the project I wanted to cover. Looking at photojournalists didn’t really help me, I found it more useful to look through publications, magazines and online news sites to look at the style of photography that they were using in their articles. It was from this I drew up my shot list and decided on the format of my images. I wanted to tell a story through my images rather than shoot images to show every detail I wanted each image to show just enough detail to lead onto the next. I decided to use establishing shots of the club to bring the interest into the Smiths room. At all times I was shooting I was thinking about what I would like to see if I was reading an article about SLC. It was from this I decided on my final shots, I wanted to see where the room was, who was involved, why it was created and generally what was inside.

I’ve really enjoyed this project, it was my most challenging yet and probably the one I think I’ve succeeded in the most. In a matter of days I went from no idea to a solid idea with 2 shoots organised. I’ve finished the project with a solid set of 10 photos that I think are well suited to a news story and a gallery display. I’ve had a great time shooting the Smiths room and trying my hand at a photojournalism piece.



Areas of Photographic Practice A

I’ve found this module very interesting and I have really enjoyed doing it. It was difficult to begin with because I really struggled to come up with a concept that I felt was both interesting and reflected my word ‘timepiece’. The group presentations really helped me advance and narrow down my ideas and it was also great to see what others in the group were going. I personally working in smaller numbers worked very well for this project, we got to know each other’s ideas well and could see the progress on a weekly basis.

On the photographic side of things I’m happy with my images. They’ve turned out exactly how I had hoped and I feel like I’ve stuck the balance between simplicity and effectiveness. The number of images was something I was struggling with at first. Initially I was looking at 10-15 images and after some discussion I decided this was far too many, I knew I could get my narrative across in at least half of that number so I settled on 6 images and I’m glad I did. I feel I have reached a resolved idea that is in essence a circular narrative revolved around the word ‘timepiece’. I’ve chosen to show the bare minimum of a daily routine of someone who lives a very mundane working life and in doing so have got across a feeling of a repetitive routine in 6 images.

I liked the presentations in this project, it’s a great way to build confidence and learnt to talk about my ideas and take feedback. Having weekly sessions with the same group was a great advantage as we bonded well and everyone contributed in helping me with my ideas.

With this project I didn’t find it particularly useful to research practicing photographers. I focused more on my subject matter and the reasoning for my ideas. I looked into photographers who use narrative and this really did help me early on. It was also useful to look outside photography at films, books etc. that had a circular narrative. Again this influenced my ideas and helped with clarifying what a circular narrative was.

I also found it useful to talk to the group about narratives as I got a different perspective, which helped me broaden my thoughts and appreciate how people would interpret my initial thoughts. We were encouraged to look at photographers, filmmakers, authors; videographers that again helped broaden my appreciation for narrative.

I did enjoy this project and it was nice to have some direction at the start but to then have total freedom to interpret our words ands create our own ideas. 



Professional Practice For Photographic Communication

In this module I really struggled to engage with my rephotography project. From the start I was unsure of how to get creative with it and it didn’t really interest me. After a visit to the archive I began to take an interest into the history of Salford. It was fascinating to see how much things had changed and in some cases how things hadn’t changed at all. We were asked to create 6-10 images, which would get displayed in the Salford Art Gallery as part of a course wide exhibition with the first year students.

We were given areas on a map and in a group we visited the archive. It was a slight drawback being given a certain area as our area wasn’t particularly interesting at first glance but having said that it gave us a focus straight away so logistically it made sense to be split off into areas from the start. After visiting the archives I decided to focus on change. I realised that my area was mostly residential and not very interesting however we had 2 major roads, Bury New Road and Eccles Old Road. I found a number of images on Bury New Road and instantly recognised the places having travelled down the road only a few times. This sparked my interest to try and show how little some things have changed.

I decided that I would combine my own images with archive photography in an attempt to display how little had changed and also demonstrate the advances in photographic technology by combining digital and film photography within a single image. I feel my final image is somewhat interesting and puts my ideas across but if I’m true to myself it’s not my best work purely because the project didn’t motivate me to push myself. I struggled to find 6 images in the archive that were of good enough quality to use and also communicated my ideas but I got there in the end.

It was a good experience that we got to prepare our work for display in a gallery however things were a little un organised with printing as we had a size that seemed slightly random and it was an uphill struggle finding a printer to print that size, mount and deliver within the short time frame.

I enjoyed the work experience aspect of this project. It was a very positive experience that I enjoyed and it has informed my decision about further freelance work in the future. I have seen what it takes to become a successful photographer in a competitive market and also work alongside clients to deliver high quality work that they are happy with. Writing the report gave me chance to reflect on my experience and pick out the positives and also touch on the things I learnt during my time with Tate Studio.

Wedding photography

In the past few months I have been offering wedding photography with another photographer, Adam at Tate Studio. We have been quite successful in our endeavours and have had very positive feedback from our clients.

This is an area of photography that I have been working in on a purely commercial basis. It's a good way to earn money but I don't find it all that interesting or fulfilling. I could not see myself working full time as a wedding photographer but I am more than happy to complete a few a year as I do get a degree of satisfaction out of them.

"Report – Matt Smith

Tate Studio work experience

For my work experience section of this project I was luckily enough to be asked to assist at a wedding. Adam at Tate studio was kind enough to let me come along for the day and be his second shooter/assistant.

I had been involved from the start and CC’d into all the emails with the clients Paul & Carol. This was a great thing as I got to experience the work that goes into booking, organising and ensuring the clients were confident of their choice. After getting details for the day – Date, time, location etc Adam sent a shot list over to the clients. This was an in-depth shot list containing the typical ‘wedding photographs’ ranging from photos of the dress right through to the formal family photographs. The clients then chose which of the pictures they wanted and also this was their change to include any specific images they wanted. As for Paul & Carol they were keen to have the children photographed as much as possible so we had to bear this in mind throughout the day.

Unfortunately I had not been able to meet either of them before the day, which is bad practice for a wedding photographer. An initial meeting allows a relationship between a photographer and a client and helps calm nerves on the day.

At the start of the day I met up with Adam and we ran through the gear to check we had the right stuff for the day. I was tasked with loading and cataloguing the gear so we knew exactly what we had so that nothing went missing. Once this was sorted we headed off to the location. Once there we had a good look around at the ceremony room to get an idea of the equipment we would need and general layout. Once this was done we decided that he would stay on location and photograph the bridal party getting ready and I would travel to the grooms house and photograph him getting ready.

When I arrived at Pauls house I was greeted by his father and I introduced myself and was then introduced to Paul and other key members of the wedding such as the best man. I spent a few minutes talking to Paul about what he wanted from his photographs and then we set to work capturing him getting ready and generally enjoying time with his best man, brothers and other family. I spent around an hour shooting with Paul before I headed back to the location to meet with Adam and await Pauls arrival. After shooting with Paul I was much more confident and in the short time with him I had built up enough of a relationship for him to trust me. The biggest challenged we faced on the day was poor lighting conditions in the reception of the location. This was where the guests were arriving and drinks were held before the ceremony began. To combat poor lighting conditions I used an external speedlight (Canon 580 EXII) and bounced the flash off the roof/wall where possible to diffuse the light and give a much softer light to the photographs. This managed to save a lot of the photographs that would have otherwise been unsuitable without flash.

Since I had photographed the groom beforehand we decided it was best to stick with this format and I was tasked with going into the ceremony with him and the guests and photographing the atmosphere before the bride arrived. I achieved this by using a long 70-200mm lens, which allowed me to get some great candid shots of the guests and Paul. One key shot for every wedding is the groom waiting at the end of the aisle for the bridge and I was keen to get this shot right so I stuck with the 70-200mm and pre focused and composed my shot ready for Carol to make her entrance.

The ceremony went without a hitch and Adam was happy with the shots I was getting when we had a brief meeting after the ceremony. We were then tasked to do the formal photographs and Adam had asked me to photograph them so that he could organise the wedding party. We decided to do this outside as the space inside was small and had tungsten lighting. The outside space allowed us to use natural light and fit the entire party into one shot. At this point we were going through the shot list and ticking off the shots the clients had selected to ensure we covered everything. We then gave them chance to get any photographs with people who weren’t on the shot list. I was shooting on a Canon 5D Mk3 with a 17-40mm lens, which gives a really wide field of view but can distort really easily if you aren’t careful. I had to be mindful of this as I didn’t want to distort anyone in the photographs so to ensure this didn’t happen I tried to stay around 20mm.

I was happy to be entrusted to shoot what some people would call the most important photographs of a wedding. There was an element of pressure but with Adam organising the shots all I had to do was compose, focus and ensure the exposure was correct. One thing I learnt as I went along was that even if the shot was perfect it was good to shoot an extra 5 or so frames to make sure no one has their eyes closed or hair covered their face etc.

Throughout the day I was shooting RAW, this was a tip from Adam as it provides the most editing capabilities but there is a trade off in file size. RAW files are much larger than JPEG however the benefits of shooting RAW far outweigh the drawback of file size.

After the formal shots we had some downtime in which we dumped all of the photographs to a Macbook to ensure we had a backup copy should anything go wrong with the cards. This also gave us a chance to reflect and gave me a chance to get some feedback from Adam. He was very happy with my performance so far and how I presented myself to the clients. I quickly discovered that wedding photography isn’t like many other areas of commercial photography. You have to remain professional at all times but use humor and other traits to help keep people calm in the chaos of the day. Luckily I got on really well with Paul & Carol and they were very accommodating towards us as photographers. After having a look through my images I was very happy with the results as was Adam.

We were booked for the entire day start to finish which is a very long day to be hauling camera gear around so we were glad of the intermission between the ceremony and evening. Once the evening kicked off we were asked to take some candid shots of the guests, as there were many new arrivals that didn’t make the ceremony. We were again faced with very low light and the use of flash was needed. These low light conditions also meant that any lens above f/2 wasn’t really suitable without using very high ISO which introduces grain into the photograph. Luckily we had a 70-200mm f2.8, 50mm f1.4 and a few other low light lenses. We spent the evening very much in the background with the longer lenses photographing guests relaxing and having fun. Every now and then a guest would grab one of us an asked for a posed photograph, which meant I had to use my people skills to get them into the right position and pose.

Overall it was a fantastic experience. I shot around 1200 images on the day and Adam shot around the same. I was then involved with the editing and cataloguing of these images which was a good experience as I got to show Adam how I worked and we both learnt a few things from each other in this process. I used Adobe Lightroom to batch edit the photographs and we ended up with a final export of about 800 between us.

I found the day a very positive experience both as a photographer and a person. It was nice to build a relationship with a client in a short space of time and put them at ease when things got hectic. It was very rewarding to show them a few shots throughout the day and see their excitement; this made the long hours worth it. I was also grateful to be given a lead roll during the day and get thrown in the deep end of wedding photography. I faced my own challenges both photographically and as a professional. It was a great experience and I feel I have impressed Adam and that on the day I was an asset rather than a burden.

I enjoyed the technical challenges that came with the day and the fast paced atmosphere was really exciting. I have benefited greatly from the experience and it’s a new avenue of photography I had never really considered but I have now proven to myself I am capable of being a wedding photographer and may consider further work in this area in the future!"

PDP - Personal Development Plan

Task 1 - I have undertaken studio shoots and worked both safely and efficiently creating several images that I am happy with. I now have a much better idea of how to plan and execute a studio shoot.

Task 2 - I have began to organise my portfolio both physically and online. I am constantly developing as a photographer and work I considered my best 12 months ago is now no longer good enough to be included in my portfolio. This is a natural process and shows me that I am developing my skills as a photographer in a technical aspect and that I am being more critical of my work which is a good thing.

Task 3 - I have undertaken commercial freelance work as a wedding photographer. I had not considered this as a viable career path but since completing several weddings successfully it has now become something I could consider as a career after graduation. I have learnt about how to work professionally in a real life environment and also work effectively to deliver high quality work to clients on time.

Task 4 - I have been looking at the job market in photography and realised there are several paths to take. I could become a team member in a studio shooting product photography or work freelance for myself and undertake a wide range of briefs from weddings to documentary photography. I have recently had an interview for a junior retoucher role in a commercial studio. This was a role I had never considered but after hearing about the role in depth from the company it seems like a really interesting role and could be something I go into.

Overall I have had good success with my personal development plan. Initially setting goals was difficult as I felt like I was doing everything I could to be a good photographer but after setting the goals and working towards them it's clear I was missing out on a large part of being a photographer. I wasn't particularly focussed on my professional practice. Being busy with university work and photographing projects for myself meant that I wasn't working as much as I could towards a professional career and since focusing on my professional development I have undertaken several free lance jobs and gained a solid list of contacts in the photographic industry.

Personal Development

Outside of the course I've been thinking a lot about ways to improve my skills and employability after I've graduated. I've tried to undertake a few new projects in the hope of having a broader portfolio of work and to just keep myself busy.

I've been pushing my automotive photography in my spare time and have undertaken several shoots for personal pleasure. I like to experiment with new techniques and different cars purely as a hobby, it's not something I'm looking to move into as a speciality however I really enjoy doing it and it helps keep photography interesting for me.

I have also been working commercially alongside university for a few clients. I have been photographing premier league football for sport five, an advertising agency based in wilmslow. This has been a great experience and I have now built up a great relationship with the commercial director and frequently recieve calls to undertake work.

In the past 12 months I've been building a relationship with another photographer and together we have built quite a successful wedding photography portfolio. We have undertaken 6 wedding this year and have several more booked. We have been doing both photography and videography which has been a good experience for me, I think videography is a valuable skill to have especially in todays market where clients sometimes want both stills and video.

Wedding photography has always been an area I was keen to avoid but it can be a very lucrative part of the photography market and so I decided to give it a chance. I am glad that I am now involved with it as it's not exactly what I expected. I was always worried that the pressure of having to capture the day would be too much especially if I was the main shooter but after doing a few my confidence has grown greatly and I now know I'm more than capable of it.