Below is a small chart showing Photography student graduates in 2020 and their image making work over the next year.
A third of graduates may find it difficult to stay motivated, or perhaps go into a different career choice.
A third will try to stay creative, making work for around a year until they fall behind and begin to head in a new direction
However, I want to me the last third. The type of creative who never gets bored, is always putting our new work and keeping inspired by looking at images all around them. Im sure I will have days or even weeks where I feel down, and don’t pick up my camera. However its about how I bounce back and keep going through the dark days that will help me produce the better work with each passing year. So I have identified which category of graduate I fall under, but I need to know HOW I will create work.
The main ways to show my work to the public are below in a table that mentions their cost, time to launch, effectiveness and key tasks to launch.
From this table, I already have a full instagram page that is just dedicated to my creative work, with posts that date back as far as July 2016, I have no need to make another. Try to post at least once a week, with a story each day. I use instagram to reach out to artists and photographers, not always for work but to just compliment their recent work. These small interacts can really help pay off in the ling run. I would like to try and sort out my instagram story highlights, it would only take a day to have set categories for photo / video. This way, any visitors to my site can easily see more work than what is posted on my feed. I do have a Facebook and twitter photography page, and in the future I would like to be much more active on them, but for now I want to focus on my instagram audience.
I have had my website up and running for 18 months now. I use squarespace to constantly tweak things, blog posts and publish new work every month. A website is never done, and every 3 months I tend to go through an overhaul and change the layout completely, I really enjoying seeing my work on a screen in so many different catalogs. Throughout this Professional Context project I will be updating all areas of my website, so from the time writing this to the due date I think it will look completely different.
A feature in a magazine is something I have never really looked into, while I am definitely in the right industry for it (live music) I have yet to properly look into that demographic. I think it would be amazing to have my photo printed in a magazine such ass clash or metal hammer, they are high profile companies who’s product is seen by thousands of people. I want to set a task for myself to get my first publish in a magazine by the end of 2020.
For my last project, I created a small run of black and white zine’s to use as a business card. I used InDesign to create the layout of my A6 book, and printed it with Owen in my University, I handed out so many that I can’t really remember how many I originally printed, I think it was in 50’s. Due to me demographic in Bath, I knew that photos of bands like The 1975, while impressive doesn’t reflect the work I would create if hired by a student band, so I limited myself to only used photos I have taken of small bands in Bath. This way it gave a clear message to the band of what work they could expect of me if hired. I had so much positive feedback that I have now put into production a second edition, and expect to start printed them at the end of March.
Since first year, we knew that in the summer of 2020 we would hold our final exhibition that celebrates our three year journey together as a year group. Last years graduates held theirs in London, and from the brief conversations we’ve had a year group I think we are going to follow their footsteps and look for a space to display our work in the city. Over the next few weeks we are going to meet weekly to discuss and plan our end of year exhibition, there is still a lot that hasn’t been decided like the name, location or date. Due to this, I will be making a separate blog post about out show.
An art fair is slightly different to an exhibition. As a solo photographer I wouldn’t have control over as much compared to if I was curating it. I would be allocated a space to display my images and be confined to that area. It would cost over £3000, this would cover prints, travel and expensive while im there (depending on how many days the show it, it could cost more). A feature in an art fair is something I will aim for in the future, its in my 5 - 10 year plan. I first need to be noticed by a gallery, have the facilities to print and maybe have a book published as well.
Finally, the big goal for me as an image maker is to sequence, design and print a book of mine. Over the next few years I think I will publish multiple books in zine format, but nothing bigger than A4 or hardback. In my 5 - 10 year plan, I would like to self publish a book that includes all my best work, from trips on tour, documenting the landscape, to one of portraits with a point and shoot. It will be a celebrating of all my hard work over the years to come. It won’t happen over night, and it might not happen till I am 50. However I have made promise to myself that one day I will publish a book of all my best work.
Which one will work for me?
All of these methods take time and money, at each stage of my professional career I will have to evaluate what launch would work best at that time. For example, if I just had a small UK run and two festivals with the same band, I want to be posted the content on my socials daily, I will also likely be in contact with press outlets to be features on website and prints, and at the end of the tour I could make a small limited run of a zine to celebrate the summer working with the band. While the photos could end up in my book, I probably won’t hold an exhibition for the work. It just doesn’t fit the way the images were intended to be seen.
On the other-hand, not everything that comes my way has to be completed, in the last three years I have had two example of this. One would be a band stating they don’t want to pay me for an up coming show, this doesn’t pay my bills or even cover the expense of travel. Its a definite no when working with these band. The other was when I was approached by local magazine Bath Life, I actually emailed them first asking if they had any work for a photographer local to Bath. However when they got back to me they said they do no pay photographers and that they also own all rights to images I take for them. This was also a hard no. In the future it may be difficult to know the difference between someone trying to use me for photos and someone generally interested in my work, this is why it is important to always write up a brief contact for both parties.
Currently I do not know what direction I want to go in after I graduate, which is why we have come up with step by step questions which I can refer back to to help me decide my next direction as a photographer.
Your aspirations
(for an example I will be discussing going on a month long trip to Iceland)
-what is the most reasonable next career step
\ I need to evaluate all aspects of my life to decide if I can even afford to proceed with a photography trip. This will include my income, living conditions and out going bills. I need to be able to afford travel, food and shelter while I am there
-what further opportunities might it give me?
\ with the research I have seen online, the photos you can capture in Iceland are always amazing, does this mean my images won’t stand out from the rest? Much like my lecturer Stephen, the images taken in this landscape stay with you forever. Now they are being printed in this book. Will it be the same for me?
-how is this to help me achieve my goal?
\ my dream goal is to publish a book of all areas of photography, Iceland is also been on my list of places to visit for 6 years now. Travelling around the landscape, documenting the people would help me produce enough content to really help my book reach its goal
When planning a trip like this (or any project) I can’t just go out and start shooting. I have to plan every aspect of the journey, and while it probably won’t go all according to it, failure to prepare is preparing to fail. For this section I will use the example of quitting my 9 - 5 job as Tescos to go with a band on a 5 month long tour around UK, Europe, and USA. I have £1500 in savings and all the correct visas.
-what is the most reasonable next career step?
\ if I am working in Tesco’s, I am probably not making images daily. I am looking for an opportunity to go out and take photos at any given chance, express my creativity and make work I am proud of. To go off on tour is something I have always talked about in my work. Its a step I need to take
-what further opportunities might it give me?
\ in the past, I have been offered tours, but turned down as I have no past experience, in this case I probably wouldn’t be going on a 5 month tour if I didn’t have at least some background practice in touring. After the tour, I could publish work digitally and in print that will likely lead to more work in the same field.
-how is this to help me achieve my goal?
\ with one of my goals to be a full time touring content creator, a 5 month tour is the goal. To be able to work with other talented creatives, produce work will sitting in a broken down van, and to capture every single moment is what I have wanted for a long time now.
For this next section, I will be talking about starting a project documenting the change of landscape near my house.
-strength, individuality and topicality of the project
\ the change of landscape is as aspect of photography that has been documented for years. But as technology advanced, so does the changes. For a while now, I have known about the building of a new settlement of houses near my flat, they would be built in what us now a play park for children. I have seen this type of project attempted by many different photographers, however I want to make mine different. I want to take portraits of the workers, of the locals who it effects and even the protestors who stand in the park for days on end. It think this would bring a much more personal, informative presence to the images.
-resonance the project has with people
\ I am certain that the people around me would not want these houses to be built, they want to be seen defending their opinion on the matter. A project that talks about them, their beliefs and their message would certainly be welcome. If this unit of work could go far, it could help them get their message out there.
-will the project sell / editorial / prints?
\ I find it hard to see who would want these prints, photos of the landscape and portraits of the workers has no real audience. I would be completing this project only because I want to, not to make money or to gain a following.
-have original work, can hire a photographer, what makes my wok different?
\ I would not see the need to hire a photographer for this type of project, its local to me and effects the people around me. It would be best received to those people. With projects I have seen about changing landscapes in the past, the photographers seem too polite. They document from afar and don’t ask questions, however I would want to photograph everyone involved in the process, everyone it would effect. That’s where my project would stand out.
-time available
\ if I had a standard 9 - 5 job on the side, I could document the landscape at weekends, or after hours. Construction takes a long time, so I would not be worried about time restrictions.
-funds available
\ if local to me, this project would not cost anything. However if I want to document a larger, more controversial space I might have to travel further from my house, this would cost petrol money and possibly day expenses while I'm there (such as parking and food)
-your location in proximity to the nearest art / commercial creative industry
\ lastly, I think a space art fair or exhibition would be the perfect way to show case this work. It could celebrate the new houses, or how the protestors won and kept their park. Housing communities are always very string together, so it would be very interesting to see where a project like this could end up.
This last section will be about the main aspects I have to keep up when creating work after I graduate. No example in mind, this should work with any new projects / trips
Document my career
\ taking photos is never a chore for me, while I find it challenging and something have to do jobs id rather not, I am still learning this craft as a image maker. When I am 50 I want to look back on all the best projects I completed over the years, bring out old photo books and reflect back on how much I improved. The only way to do this is to keep to a weekly routine; write a one blog post a week, publish a new project once a month and look at other peoples photography every single day. If I do this I will achieve my goals, I will go on tour, I will publish a book, I will pay off my student loans.
Professional / Art CV
\ To gain work from anywhere, I need a CV. I have had one since I was 16. However now I need a separate one that is strictly Photography / Videography related that I can send to clients, galleries or publishers. It should include the basic things a normal CV does, below is a MOC up of what it should look like
Below is a link to my professional CV, I want to write a whole new blog post about it.