Freelance photography

So today i wanted to talk about freelance photography, or at least what i know about it. I found a really interesting website which explains what is a freelance photographer exactly and how to sell your work: http://www.thephotoargus.com/freelance/understanding-freelance-photography/. First of all, you need to be very courageous to be 'your own boss', manage to go out of all the troubles without much of a help, plus your work must be pretty strong or you just have to have your own style with different angle of looking at things if you want to be a successful freelancer. To be honest i don't know how good i would be at it, but it is a worth considering thing for every photographer. It could be understood as a highest level of photography as well, but not to everyone. For me, i am more interested in opening my own exhibition somewhere, maybe a gallery or a cafe than trying to sell my photographs to magazines, newspapers or online when a freelancer. Galleries are very expensive and it would cost loads to open your own exhibition starting with around 2000£. There is also another good idea to exhibit your work to the public in a local cafe, pub or a restaurant as well. It wouldn't cost much. Ad there would be many more people who would see your work. Of course, it is important to choose the right location and place for it. I don't want to re-write everything i have found so links are here:

• Exhibiting your work in the Gallery:

http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2009/03/11/gallery-will-exhibit-your-work-if-you-pay-them/

• Arranging your first exhibition:

http://www.finearttips.com/2011/06/how-to-stage-your-first-art-exhibition/

Editorial Photography Basics

I would love to start with photography as a job in general. As i have learnt in our Prof. Practice lectures, first of all, you must choose what you want to do and be able to migrate to another cities of countries, because most of the time you couldn't work at some specific job in photography if you are too far away from main capitols of photography i.e. London, New York or Paris. I would love to say that I am more than happy to move in either of them, but I am simply not a fan of big and overcrowded cities. One might enjoy the mass of people, chaos and noise - and it is ok, even perfect for photography business, which i could not do. But apart from cities too big I am more than happy to move somewhere else. Actually, I even had a plan to move to France or New Zealand next year which is not perfect and suitable for high standard fashion or commercial photography, but I am not even looking at that side. To be honest with you, I have only two thoughts about my work and what should I do. First of all, I would love to be an editorial photographer. I love telling story through photography in an artistic way and especially enjoy taking portraits. You would laugh at me, I know. It is ALMOST impossible to earn enough for living costs with this kind of job, since you would work only 120 days a year (if you are busy) and you would need to earn around £400 a day, to live out from it (which is not realistic nowadays), but it interests me. It is a good answer what is an editorial photographer if you have no idea what I am talking about: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_editorial_photography, I know it is not professional to refer it to wiki sites, but... oh well. So i would really love to be that kind of photographer, photograph people mostly and most importantly - tell a story. Editorial Photographers should join the NUJ - trade union who would fight for your cause, it also publishes a fees guide which can base your expenses on: http://www.londonfreelance.org/feesguide/index.php?language=en&country=UK&section=Welcome.
Another company you should register with is called Editorial Photographers - which provides you with all the latest news and what is happening in the industry http://www.editorialphoto.com/, which would help you to keep yourself on a track.

Laura Hynd

Laura Hynd

Laura Hynd

Editorial Photographers can't earn for living. I remember going to Guest Speaker Lecture, Laura Hynd was talking about her experience as a photographer and she mostly talked about being an editorial photographer - going to unknown places, taking photographs and trying to capture the story behind the walls or a person's outer look. She said that she can hardly live from it but at the same time she enjoys an artistic freedom in this job, she prefers working with natural light and Hasselblad medium format camera. I think I would be happiest person on earth if I could do that because I hate an artificial light, digital cameras and editing photographs with photoshop. The talk itself was very interesting and Laura covered topics as print framing, different layouts (you don't have to be stuck with A2 or A3 format images hanged on a wall in a row). She did explain how she got a job, that she was going for an opinion for her portfolio from a person she knows, who works in the magazine. That is pretty amazing, isn't it? Having contacts is the best thing in every life situation, I would say.

Websites I used:

• What is an editorial photographer:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_editorial_photography

• Can editorial photographers make a living anymore:

http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2008/08/12/can-editorial-photographers-make-a-living-anymore/

• Laura's Hund photography:

http://www.laurahynd.com/

Beginning

So to let you know, this blog is dedicated to one of my modules in photography course. Professional practice is a part of the studying and knowing what are you going to do after university. I called this blog A Life Of A Dreamer because I am always unsure of what i want to do with my life and have many different ideas from photography to other arts. So I am basically going to explore few possibilities with my type of photography which is a bit unusual. My style is editorial - therefore, telling a story. I do like taking photographs in a visually overwhelming way, capturing a basic and simple moments of life in a beautiful way, while uncovering hidden mysteries and stories inside of the people and location.

If you want to see more of my images, click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/urteursule_sutkute/, though it is not my finished portfolio. My website is under construction and hopefully will be finished soon :) (it is also a part of my module - have a finished portfolio, printed as a book or just loose prints, or have a website of our own. I guess the best would be to have them all, but I will stick up to the loose prints in folder for the deadline).