Final PDP/Reflection

Overall I am happy with my final chosen developments, they are all subjects on which I struggle with in photography and in day to day life. All are achievable with professionalism and dedication, however it is down to me to be able to carry them on throughout my career and life. This assignment has helped me a lot to discover what help I need to becoming a photographer, it has allowed for me to share my thoughts with fellow students and with the tutors. Most importantly it has give me time to think about what I am lacking and has given me the opportunity to now work on them, to become better at what I do. 

Motivation

One of my many weaknesses in photography and through life is motivation. I sometimes struggle to control myself when it comes to work and doing simple things in day to day life. It has recently dawned on me that photography may not be something I want to do after University, this isn't because of my lack of love for the art but because of materialistic things such as money. I understand that money isn't everything in life, but it is sadly a vital part of it. As I keep mentioning different photographers have talked to us about working as a photographer and its disadvantages, which has, to put into words, 'put me off' basing my career around photography. Photography has been and always will be an art that is close to me, as I have been photographing for many years now, Therefore I have decided to take the opportunity given from the assignment to use 'motivation' as one of my developments.

As you can probably tell by now, I aspire to become a documentary/war photographer. To get my mind back on track, I thought it suitable to discuss the photographers that made me want to become a photographer and the people that keep me motivated.

James Nachtwey. James Nachtwey is an American photojournalist and war photographer. Ever since I watched a film about Nachtwey (War Photographer) it has inspired me too want to travel the world and document the misfortunes of others who can not tell their own story. There is a quote that I hold close which says ""I have been a witness, and these pictures are my testimony. The events I have recorded should not be forgotten and must not be repeated." - James Nachtwey. Ever since reading this quote it has encouraged me to use my skills as a photographer to speak for those who can't. As you may be able to tell from my own work, I too photograph dark subject's to create disbelieve and shock to the viewer. This isn't to make the viewers uncomfortable but to show them what is infront of there faces everyday without recognition. 

I never really planned on using 'motivation' as one of my final developments, but now I come to think of it, it seems to be a perfect example of a development which I truly need to work on. Maybe it is something I need to overcome on my own, to get in the right frame of mind of what I want to do in the future. One thing is for certain, If I do decided not to carry on my photography career, I will continue photographing for the rest of my life, as it is how I communicate with people, through my images. 

Contacting Companies (Continued)

At my current stage as a photographer, although money does sound nice too a person my age, I believe it too be more important as a growing photographer to get recognised. Therefore I have decided to start contacting different charities who are looking for a photographer. Considering my aim is to become a war photographer, Moira insisted that charities is a good place to start. As often enough it is charities who help people abroad in war and poverty stricken areas.

I started too look through the bigger charities that I know of, for example, Oxfam and Unicef. Whilst looking through the Unicef websites I thought it wise to look through the up and coming events that are taking place in the UK. This could be an opportunity to photography the event and get to know some of the workers of Unicef.

David Bull, the Executive Director of UNICEF UK, will be the host for the evening. It is taking place in London, on Monday 9 December 2013 6.30pm-7.45pm at St Paul’s Church. As you can see the event has already taken place and there are no events shown on the website for this year. However, considering we are coming up to the new year very shortly, I am sure there will be other opportunities for me to go to an event and talk to the employee's on Unicef. 

Unicef do have photo stories on their websites, I think it would be wise for me to contact the company and let them know my situation as a photographer and would be willing to help photograph an event. 

I have found an email which may be useful for me too use for a place of contact. The short paragraphs explain that is any form of media need a story from Unicef then they can receive by using the various contact details. I need too start somewhere, so I think it is best to try and make contact with the company.

Reflections on current PDP

I chose my current three developments because I feel that it is something lacking from my overall performance as a photographer at this moment in time. I chose developments which are suitable for an on-going period of time, meaning I should never really stop, entering competitions/contacting companies for work. We have had a few guest speakers come in over the duration of this assignment and they have all had one thing too say in common, which is, photographers struggling too find work in the current climate. This was quite worrying for a student photographer too hear, therefore I dedicated two of my developments to never stop looking for work, even if that is competitions. This will give me a good frame of mind when leaving University and will hopefully encourage me to continue it upon departure. 
My third development (editing) was a skill I rarely use within my own photography as I think it is vital too let people see a photograph how it is taken to provide raw emotion. However, I understand that Photoshop is a massive part of photography now and various employers/companies may be looking for editing skills when offering jobs. Therefore I have tried to accommodate that within my developments, learning Photoshop will hopefully give me an advantage over other possible candidates. 

 I do believe these are developments which are easily achieved through professionalism and dedication, I hope too maintain these throughout my career as a photography. I believe it too be vital to never stop learning, this is what sets you apart from the others. 

PDP (So far)

Layla Sailor & Anna White (Guest Speakers)

Two guest speakers came in recently do discuss there own career and give us a insight into what photography has to offer. Both women often work together on there photo shoots, being close friends for a while they bounce ideas off one another. They both had some really interesting advice to share.

Layla Sailor was born in Manchester, England in 1978, after completing a degree in photography at Manchester in 2005 she has continued to combine commercial fashion photography with fine art & filmmaking. Layla creates hyper-realistic, dreamlike works focusing on colour and styling, she is mainly inspired by russian traditional crafts, religious iconography and politics.

- http://www.laylasailor.com/272881/home 

Anna White "Originally from Suffolk, I’m a freelance photographer and facilitator who studied photography and graduated with a Masters in 2010.

I have completed a Scholarship collaborating with Bolton Museum and University, working with the wider community, creating an archive of work, documenting peoples everyday lives. As well as doing a long term project with elderly LGBT people recording their often hidden lives, as they concealed their true identity when homosexually was illegal. I also carried out workshops with different community groups, including NEETS, young offenders and refugees. In 2006 completed a long term project with the elderly that has been widely exhibited including Tate Britain" - http://www.annawhite.net/about 

- http://www.annawhite.net/

After both artists had explained there background and how they came about being a photographer they started to discuss together certain aspects of advice which would help us becoming a photographer. A part of the discussion that stood out for me was Layla explaining how photography work comes about and how often, she explained that sometime's she is left for months without constant work and it always turns out that the work appears all at once. This was rather off putting for a student in photography too hear, but I would rather be told the truth than fed lies. 

They both agreed that we should try and branch out from photography, practicing in video might be the edge you need over other contestants of the job. It gives you a wider opportunity for work also. 

Another piece of useful advice was too always be prepared too make mistakes whilst on a photo shoot, they explained that something will always go wrong but you have to control your subjects and don't be shy too ask them for a reshoot. This also counts for equipment, they explained that equipment may not always work the way to want it too, so be prepared to learn quickly and be innovative on the job. 

I learnt a lot from the talk from both Layla and Anna, It is interesting too hear the truth about my chosen career choice from professionals. I would like to add that I admire both of their work, although both having a massive contrast I can understand fully the concept of there ideas through their images. 

Editing

Another one of my personal developments is too understand and learn editing more than I already know. Therefore I started to experiment with different images I have stored on my computer that need editing but have always struggled with doing so. An image I have had for a while was this one:

I fell across this image whilst walking back too Oxford Road train station, there were foreign protesters, protesting against war and rape in Iraq. Although being pleased with this overall photo, I wanted to test myself and try too edit out the boy behind the flag. I am a strong believer of not editing photographs too much, the most I do is change the tones and lighting slightly. However, I thought it best too learn more about photoshop for future reference.

Sadly I didn't print screen my steps, therefore I will try and take you through it step by step, the best I can. The main tool I used is the clone tool, it allows you too select the object next too it and clone it exactly the same, which keep the colouring correct. When you select the tool, hold 'alt' and then select the target, (the brick next too it) and then paint it over the subject piece by piece until your happy that the colouring and brickwork look okay. Then, use the burn tool to add more depth to the colouring to make the lighter patches darker, so it stays nice and contrasted. In this case the brickwork just looks dusty, if it were a colour photo it wouldn't have been as easy. This took my a while to figure out and I used some advice off friends who know the programme better.


 Here is the final edited image, granted it isn't the most spectacular editing skills, but it turned out better than expected considering I struggle with Photoshop:

I have been researching into various photoshop classes and tutorials you can pick up from the internet. From researching I came across a website called 'Photoshop Tutorials'. It has many different links too chose from depending on what kind of level of editing skills you are at the current time, they vary from "basics" too "photo manipulation". For an example, I chose the 'Photo Manipulation' which takes you through step by step on how to create a 'chilling abstract'.

As you can see from the image below, it explains well the direct steps too create such a photograph, its a very useful and appears too be free too use to the general public: 

http://www.photoshoptutorials.ws/ 

There are also various different videos on youtube that show you how to use different effects properly and effectively.

I find this kind of method of learning a lot easier than a written step by step, it allows for you to pause and follow the video so you can edit whilst watching. Here is an example of one of the videos:

Contacting Companies

One of my personal developments was to contact different companies which produce work or have work in the same line of subject matter I am interested in. I had the opportunity to speak to Moira about this subject and she gave me some ideas of who I should be contacting, for example, she mentioned the Army, Charities, newspapers and television channels such as Discovery. The profession I want to get into is War photography, hence the before contacts.

Army 

My main choice too contact would be the Army, therefore I started to research into whether or not they take on photographers from outside the Army. I researched into the Army website too find this -

This is giving a chance for the public too witness what the Army is like from the soldiers point of view

- "Opening the display at the National Army Museum was Dan Snow, broadcaster and Honorary Colonel of the Army’s Media Operations Group.

He said: “These professional and amateur pictures capture elements of Army life that we just don’t see otherwise, and it’s a reminder that excellence on operations is not only about the frontline, but also about the individual, the bond between soldiers, the training and hard work, and also the lighter side of life. It’s great that the Army this year are able to put these images on display for the public for the first time." 

Whether or not photographers can contact the Army and work with them is too be seen, the photograph's on the Army website however appear too be from the soldiers themselves. Perhaps I need to take another route into contacting too gain what I need. 

Newspapers  

Newspaper journalists and photographers seem too be the most efficient way of getting a job as a "War Photographer". Many of the major newspaper companies cover war stricken areas such as Iraq and recently in Syria. Contacting one of these big companies could be the start I need too photographing war zones. One of the many ways photographers become recognised from newspapers are from being a freelance photographer. 

Professional photographers enter countries in war and photograph the events that unfold, then sell there work too newspapers. This is a route I have been contemplating for a long time now, whether I could do it off my own back is yet too be seen. From selling work too newspapers, the newspapers then may give you the opportunity too work for them full-time. This is what I am aiming for with my career. 

Entering Competitions

One of my personal developments is entering more competitions. I want too enter more competitions for a variety of different reasons, the main attraction to them though is for recognition, something that every photographer needs to grasp. Therefore I have been searching for different competitions I could take part in for my personal development assignment and for myself.

One of the competitions I have decided to take part in is the National Geographic Travellers Photography Competition 2014. I decided to enter a photograph under the ''natural'' category, the photograph I chose was one I have adored since taking it last christmas in Tatton Park.

This is the first time I have ever entered a photograph to a competition before, It is exciting to be given the opportunity to submit work at an amateur level, competing against professional's and fellow amateurs. It is also nice to see everyone else's work and what they class "natural" as. 

My Stock Photography

For the project we were asked to photograph our personal development in stock photography format. I kept the images as simple as possible, just with the basic meaning of the image showing. I have never had the opportunity to do stock photography before, it was an eye opener of what is classed as stock imagery.

Enter more competitions

Editing different work using Photoshop/Premiere Pro 

Contact a range of companies in the line of work i'm interested in (War Photography) 

All of these personal developments are things I can do from my own home and are things that I must keep up to date on too succeed in them. The only development which may be a struggle to learn properly on my own is the Photoshop elements and Premiere Pro, these are things I may need to get extra lesson's in or use online tutorials. 

Stock photography is something I am not particularly interested in, but I can see how it helps people explain the basic's through a photograph. We were given various websites to visit in relation too stock photography, one being Alamy. I have also researched others in a previous post. 

Photo Competitions

Fresh Faced + Wild Eyed - http://ffwe2013.thephotographersgallery.org.uk/

One of our first sessions involved a presentation on Fresh Faced and Wild Eyed, a photographic competition. The sixth annual exhibition FreshFaced+Wild Eyed once again showcases the talent and diversity of photographic practice emerging from BA and MA courses across the UK. Following an online application process this year's panel of judges selected outstanding work for the exhibition and online gallery. It is interesting too see that previous winners of this competition are now judging future contestants. This seems too be quite a relevant and interesting competition to get involved in and suits those looking for recognition in the photography world.

Due too one of my developments being too enter more competitions, I thought it wise to research into various other's photographic competitions around the UK. 

World Photography Organisation - https://www.worldphoto.org/competitions/ 

World Photography Organisation runs several different photographic competitions with the company Sony. Ranging from Sony World Photography Awards 2014 - Open Competition too there Youth Award. Here are the requirements and award for the Open competition put on for amateur photographers 

"Are you an amateur photographer or a photography enthusiast? If so, then this is the competition for you! 

The Open Competition offers 10 diverse categories for you to enter, ranging from Action to Travel. As a Basic Member, you can enter up to 3 photographs for free, submitted into one category or spread across multiple categories. 

Increase your chances by upgrading to Advanced Membership (enter up to 8 images) or Premium Membership (enter up to 20 images).
Photographers of all ages, backgrounds and experience levels are invited to enter this competition where great imagery is everything, and creativity is the key ingredient!"

I have looked for evidence of a prize for the open competition but had no luck finding one, however, the recognition from the award at an amateur level is worth more than any amount of money in my opinion. 

For the Professional Competition here are the requirements needed: 

"Are you a serious photographer with a true passion for the job? Do you understand the craft of taking pictures, documenting a story, conceptualising an idea, capturing emotions and evoking a response from those who view the finished product? 

Submit your best work for the chance to become the next Sony World Photography Awards, Professional Photographer of the Year and win our most coveted prize, the L’Iris d’Or, along with prize money of $25,000. 

Important points to note:

• Submissions must be based on a body of work.
• Photographs submitted in to a category must be from the same body of work and will be judged as such.
• Images entered in to the Professional Competition must have been completed or first published in 2013.
• First published in 2013, means that the photographs entered may have been taken before 2012 but due to having been commissioned by a client to be published in 2013, have not been publicly exhibited or published in any online or print media before 2013. For more details see the rules below" 

As you can see there is a substantial amount of money and the coveted prize, the L'Iris d'Or.  

One of the main competitions for students that caught my eye was the Sony World Photography Awards - Student Focus 2014. Although this competition has now been closed for judging it is still a very relevant competition for someone at my level. Here are the requirements for the competition: 

"The 2014 Student Focus Competition Brief was:

Enter an image for the front page of a newspaper.  

This image can be sensationalist or low key, from a local cat rescue to an international environmental concern.  It can document your family, your friends, your neighbourhood, your people, your country or your world but it must make us want to learn more.

Most of today's front-pages are made of pixels rather than paper, but they still have to do the same job they've been doing since 1880. They have to tell us a story in one frame and they have to make us want to read on and ultimately, buy the paper.

Draw attention to an issue that means something to you. Create tomorrow's news in one image.

Captions may be no more than 15 words" 

The Big Picture  - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/hubs/thebigpicture/ 

Coming away from the more coveted awards for photography, there are competitions ran by various newspapers, for example, The Telegraph want our best holiday photographs for the chance to win a £300 worth nikon camera. Prizes are not what is relevant in photography competitions, more of a bonus. What I am personally after is recognition, so perhaps this competition will not be the best for this, however would give me the opportunity for my name to get recognised. 

Paul Herrmann

Paul Herrmann, a director at Redeye came in too talk to us about career opportunities including the market; pricing, pitching and negotiating with clients; copyright and licensing; access, consent and the law.
Paul Herrmann is a photographer and the director of Redeye, the Photography Network. He has been a freelance editorial photographer since the mid 1980s, specialising in social issues and the arts. In the late 1990s he helped start Redeye, and as its director since 2003 built it to the largest and most successful professional development network for photographers in the UK. 
I have had the pleasure of going to a talk at the Chinese Arts Centre and got the opportunity to listen to Paul Herrmann introduce a photographer there.

When giving the talk in our Universities studio Paul mentioned some really interesting things that I hadn't really started to think about yet. For example, pricing and costs. Being a student still I haven't really put much consideration into payment and pricing up different jobs until Paul mentioned it. He mentioned that It is important if working as a freelance photographer to keep personal and business accounts completely separate and too treat all income from jobs as a business matter therefore getting paid for every aspect of your work.When deciding on a price for allowing a company/publication the use of your image's, you need to consider the media that the photo will be used in; the number of times or the length of time that they want to use the photo; where and in what context the image will be used - size of the print, for example; and whether you are giving the client exclusive use of the image or not. These are all factors that evolve around payment which I have never really thought of before, as I have never sold a piece of work in the past. 
Of course he also mentioned that we should be constantly looking into events that Redeye and other companies produce, as it is a good way of meeting other photographers and allowing for ourselves to get recognised. However, there was one subject that startled me to hear from a lecturer which was photographers not getting paid as much as they should anymore, perhaps I got the wrong gist of the matter but Paul made it seem like we were getting into photography in the wrong era and it was a dying profession (money wise).

Overall the talk was very useful and informative, it was a nice change of pace to hear from someone other than our tutors and too view there opinions and also share our own.

Stock Photography

One of our tasks for this assignment was to think about our PDP objectives and use stock photography to emphasise our objectives. I have personally never done stock photography before, so when coming to photograph my chosen objectives I didn't have much of a clue what to look for within an image. Therefore I started to research into what is considered stock photography and how I would go about using my development objectives, which were: 

• Enter more competitions, allow for my name to get realised 
• Contact a wide range of companies with the line of work i'm interested in (War photography)
• Editing different work, such as videos and photography. Gain more experience with Photoshop and Premiere Pro

"Stock photography is the supply of photographs licensed for specific uses. It is used to fulfill the needs of creative assignments instead of hiring a photographer, often for a lower cost. Today, stock images can be presented in searchable online databases. They can be purchased and delivered online. Often, these photographs involve people, and are produced in studios using a wide variety of models posing as professionals, stereotypes, expressing common emotions and gesticulations, or involving pets. Other common stock photography niches include images related to travel and tourism, as well as conceptual photography" 

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_photography 

From researching I can see that one of the major stock photography websites are istock by getty images. Which supply a wide range of stock photo's from Animals and pets too technology. What do I gather from stock photography? Stock photography seems to be a low cost, efficient way of getting one's idea across in a simple but effective manor without the use of hiring a photographer. Most websites I have seen cater to a wide variety of different subjects and are basic, yet straight to the point photographs. 

Professional Frameworks 3

We have been set the task to create and reflect upon our own PDP - Personal Development Plan. The objective of this is to prepare us for after the course, something which I am struggling to get my mind across is what route I want to go down after I finish university, therefore this project should help greatly.

In our first session we were given the task to concentrate on our own work and give some example's of which we were going to develop. I had some ideas in mind already whilst the tutor was explaining the process of the assignment. These development skills are based on area's of which I believe need to work on to gain a head start in my career.

We were all given a table like this:

Over the duration of the assignment we were to work on our chosen development objectives and document how we were going to obtain the objectives we set ourselves. 

Some of the immediate objectives I thought of were: 

• Enter more competitions, allow for my name to get realised 
• Contact a wide range of companies with the line of work i'm interested in (War photography)
• Editing different work, such as videos and photography. Gain more experience with Photoshop and Premiere Pro 

War/Documentary photography is the kind of concept that I am interested in through my photography. Due to this assignment being based on myself, I thought it wise to show some of my work evolving around documentary considering we were asked to think about our own work and what it entails. 

I have done some documentary work based upon the elderly, homeless and an abandoned council estate over my short years at university so far. Here are a couple of photographs from each project to show you were I am currently standing with my documentary work. 

Homeless: 

Gorton: 

Elderly: 

This is a vague over few of three of my university projects, it gives you a slight overview of the types of subjects I cover with my camera. As you can see they all have the same dark theme, I am not sure why I photograph in black & white all the time, but it always fits my mood and the mood of the subject. 

Many of my projects are reflective of some of the great documentary and war photographers through time, one of my personal favourite photographers being Don McCullin. It has always fascinated me how he captures raw emotion through his photographs, this is something I try and incorporate into any subject I am photographing. 

Don McCullin: