Photographers To Assist

Tania Richards

Today I was googling photographers based in Bristol to whom I could write an email and ask if I could assist them. I have found plenty of them, but just a few were interesting. The first photographer is Tania Richards. The reason why she caught my eye was that she has plenty of experience in photographing different things, from places to portraits, commercial to personal work. Her style is very simple yet capturing important moments in life in a raw and natural form. On her website I have found that she loves working with others, so that might be my chance even if she's not really my type of photographer, but I want to gain experience. To see more of her work click here.

Tania Richards

Jason Ingram

Jason Ingram

Another interesting photographer I have found is Jason Ingram - freelance photographer. I prefer his style  than Tania's plus he works for few magazines such as BBC Gardens, Gardener's World, Waitrose Food Illustrated etc., so he would be the perfect photographer to see working if I want to develop in editorial photography. Just don't know how realistic it would be to get the assisting job for him, because he travels a lot and also collaborates with other photographers already. But I will give it a try, because I thing it would be worth it! His website is attached here.





As I mentioned earlier, I might be interested in commercial photography as well. But for this type of job you must have plenty of experience to do your work well. Since have none, I have found a photographer who does and maybe I would be lucky enough to work with him and learn from him - Ian Wade. His work is stunning and he has plenty of experience of working for various magazines, companies and even museums and also won the BBC wildlife photographer's of the year title. He is one of these photographers I will definitely contact. See more Ian's images here.

Ian Wade

Ian Wade

So here you have my main three options. I also have the fourth one which is the photographer mentioned earlier - Rebecca Bernstein. If I am not going to be successful with any of these photographers, I can always look for the job to apply for at Arts Jobs. There is always another option!

Tutorial, Photo Choosing And Fifth Step

Today I had the tutorial with my tutor about the Professional Practice file and the presentation we will have next week. I did say to her that I am a bit concerned about the editorial photography, because I can't find any relevant information about what to do to get the job at the magazine apart from taking a part in various competitions and showing your images in every trustworthy photographic website. As I heard from photographer Lloyd Ellington who works at Bath Chronicle Newspaper that nowadays you just need to know where to show yourself, usually it is enough to post your photographs on the internet and if the magazine or newspaper likes your photographic style they commission you to do something for them. Of course, well known magazines would not search the internet and visit random websites to find photographers. You need to work your way through. How to do it? Suzanne, my tutor, suggested to find the assisting job since we are all 'green' photographers who will graduate this year and don't know much about how it really works. Assisting for another experienced photographer would 'open your eyes' and you would know what to do afterwards plus you would make new contacts and this world is all about contacts...
So I guess now I came up to the fifth step after preparation - find an interesting photographer who lives nearby, send an email and ask for an assisting job or go to the nearest magazine to show your portfolio and expect to get the job. The thing is you wouldn't get one if you wouldn't have first four steps done - strong Portfolio and CV, being known on the internet, locally or internationally, by exhibiting your work/participating in contests. Another thing I could do after assisting - commercial photography, or at least give it a thought.
And about the CV.. my tutor said that we do not need to have a CV which looks like a piece of art. It distracts your attention when you read it and usually if you need a new employee and you get hundreds of CV's you read them very quickly and if it does not interest you at the beginning, you wouldn't finish reading it and move forward to the next one. So then again, I assume my artist statement must be very strong therefore creative and maybe even humorous(?) if it goes at the top of the CV. So the conclusions are that I will use no picture whatsoever on my CV because it distracts the reader, will keep it simple to read (not overcrowded and written in sections) and also will have to think about re-writing my artist statement probably which you can read in our website for London's show. I think it should be shorter but I will keep the main information as it is because it tells what I do and like.
In the end, I would also like to share with all the photographs I am choosing from to create my Portfolio.

Creating CV

Your CV is very important and crucial to have, at least at the beginning. But creating one is a quite a hard task to do, because it is different from a normal CV which you would use to find a job. Main things it needs to have are experience i.e. exhibitions held, contests in which you have taken place, and main things you are capable of doing with your camera which would refer to technical skills. Also, adding your education is quite important. By education I mean University you've finished, all the schools you've attended are not as important. Me personally, I would add the short artists statement to start my CV with, because I think it is the key to the main understanding who you are and what you are doing.
I remember my first photographic CV I prepared last year for the professional practice file. It wasn't as good as it should be and it didn't have all the information I would add now. But the layout was quite easy to understand and it looked good visually. I took the example from the CV I have found on the internet by Adam Rowney:

Well, it does look nice and neat but I am not sure if I want to use my whole image on my CV, yet I think it looks quite striking and makes you want to read it. As in the second example, there might be a lot of good information written, but I just would't be that interested.

There's the third example I have found which just talks for itself. Only by looking at CV you see that the photographer is able to manipulate his images with photoshop quite well and it just looks interesting. 

After finding this example, I think I will use my image on my CV, but not as a whole background, just a part of it. But I am still mostly impressed with the first example, which has all simple information you need.

I was impressed by another example, how creative can you get? 

It's a pity I don't understand Italian, but this CV is just stunning! Using all these symbols is very creative and humorous, while at the same time maintaining a professional level and attitude.

To sum up, I would like my CV to be distinctive (then again, who wouldn't?). Instead of using plain design or just putting a photograph on the background, I would like to manipulate the space by adding small pictures, and maybe, using last CV as an example, make it more interesting by changing the layout and whole presentation. Coming back to the last example, although some may see lack of professionalism in it, I see a person who is great at providing overall visually stunning product - therefore, a CV should not only be a brief of your education and achievements, it should stand out as a piece of artwork on its own. 

Film Developing & Scanning Facilities, Loans Companies

Following the post about first four steps I would need to add the post about where to scan and print photographs after finishing university. Also, the darkroom facilities I might need when using film camera and if ambitious enough to make everything myself. I have looked for professional printing places and all I came up with apart from Bower Ashton's Digital Darkroom was the Photographique. I usually print my photographs there anyways, and they are good quality images, but their film developing abilities are not that good, I have to say. My 120mm films always come back with 'moons' and scratches, but don't get me wrong, 35mm film developing is excellent at Photographique. It's just I wouldn't trust them with my important films.
It might be because of the rush (they can develop your film and print your images in half an hour), but it is just not acceptable when you are paying for it and if you want to use your images for an exhibition afterwards. So for a bigger film developing I would definitely find another place. In fact, I know one - Peak Imaging, it was suggested to us by our technicians at university. Of course, films wouldn't be developed in one day, you would need to send them by post and wait at least couple of days for them to come back, but they also develop the large format films, and it is quite hard to find the trustworthy place to give away your large format film to be developed, especially when you spend a lot of time by taking image with a large format camera which is really heavy and not that easy to use, plus, large format films are very expensive. At least I wouldn't like it to be ruined. But for scanning I would try Photographique's service, they are one out from a very few who do scan medium format films. I have also found another company called NegScanner. They also scan large format films.
I have also looked for the darkrooms around Bristol and everyone recommends the darkroom which is in St Pauls area. You can work with any film (colour or B/W, 35mm to large format) at one out of then enlargers they have, there are also the B/W film developing facilities. It is a pity that I like to shoot in colour, it would be so much easier to develop the film myself. The Membership prices are really good, only 42£ for 12 months which then gives you access for 10£ per session, down from 16£ for non members. You can find more information on Bristol City Council website.
On the other hand, nowadays when everything is so expensive, it's not really smart to photograph with film format camera, because you need to buy the film, and process it somewhere, then scan it. It takes a lot of time and patience, whereas with digital camera you would just need to pay for prints. For those sillies, like me, who chose to photograph with film cameras there are loans companies, so that they would not need to start from scratch and would have a start up point. There is a company called the Arts Council, working in partnership with The National Lottery, which can provide you a grant of no less than £1000 if your application is successful. Like all loans companies, they ask for supporting material about your project which requires funding; certain points, i.e. duration of the project, where the project is to be carried out (Inside/outside EU) determine the eligibility for the application. Even though, I am not that kind of person who would ask for grant or loan, you can never know. Their website:

• http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/apply-for-funding/grants-for-the-arts/

P.S. I have got the answer from the Alma Tavern. They said that you need to book the place in advance, because there are many local artists who would like to exhibit their work, but if they sell the piece work, they do not take any percentage from you and they do not have any other fees. The owner wants to encourage the artists to exhibit their work in Alma Tavern to help them to show themselves and the only profit Tavern gets is the decoration on it's walls. How amazing is that?

Self-employment & Freelancer's wage

Now I want to talk about freelance photography from the money aspect. How much you should earn and how to register yourself as self-employed. First of all, if you want to be a freelancer, you must register as self-employed and therefore pay taxes and National Insurance contributions. Size of these depend of the income. HMRC allows three months of time for new self-employed since the start of their employment to register before issuing a fine, £100 with subsequent fines being greater. Also, it is important to understand the pattern for a freelancer photographer work. As mentioned in London Freelance Guide, no matter how short or little the work is, it should still be commisioned for no less than one working day. The reasons are provided, too: whereas usual 9-5, 5/7 job provides income for day to day living as well as health insurance and pension, freelance photographers realistically have 3, 4 working days at best per week - rest of the time is taken up by preparation, and later development of pictures. Therefore a freelance photographer should earn same amount of money working 48 weeks a year (with four weeks of holiday) 3 days a week - a total of just under 150, as a person working 48 weeks 5 days a week - 240. Consequently, an average price for a beginning photographer day's work should be around £400, and definitely no less than £250. Of course, depending on the photographer, a greater day's commision fee could be applied. It is important to allow the customers to fully comprehend situation of being a freelance photographer; and that a price of £400 is not too much to ask for a two-three day work, even though there may only be few direct contact hours. In addition, even the shortest of jobs, lasting hour or two, should still, as mentioned before, charged for a full day (or a half day, which due to provided reasons should be no less than 60% of day's pay) because of all preparation and development work that fol

First Four Steps

I was thinking about all my possibilities and decided that I would love to stay in Bristol for a bit more, I could build up my portfolio by participating in contests and try to get the job in a magazine as an editorial photographer, in the end, Bristol has a name of a cultural city. Apart from the editorial job, I would love to become a freelancer and I am going to explore and analyse what I should do in the next six months after finishing university from both sides.

Rebecca Bernstein

First of all, I have found the location based editorial photographer who lives in Bristol and works for few magazines - Rebecca Bernstein. Her clients are:

Rebecca Bernstein

BBC Food
Barclays Smartwomen
Big Issue UK/Japan
Countryfile Magazine
Dott Cornwall
Forward Publishing
Gardens Illustrated Magazine
Le Figaro
Sainsbury’s Magazine
St James’s House Media 
The Seafood Restaurant Ltd
Sunday Times Newspapers
The Telegraph Magazine
The Garden-RHS

This gives you an idea that you can actually work for more than one magazine and that is what I will try to achieve. First of all, I have found that Telegraph magazine has various competitions which I could enter and try to win and if I am lucky enough to do so, it would help me to show my work to the public, plus, it might draw some attention from other magazines, newspapers and etc.. For example this weeks entry is for the best holiday snapshot. You can find it here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/hubs/thebigpicture/. So that is one of the first things I am going to do. Also, I will start to upload my pictures to the Alamy website and it might win me some money as well - you never know. Plus, there are more than enough of choices when you google "photography competitions".

Rob White

I never thought I could do a great food photography, but now I am thinking about this as a possibility as well. I have found a photographer who has drawn my attention and is great at creating it - Rob White. I was thinking that I would like to photograph food if in different and creative ways and also apply for a job in food magazine who would be happy to get a different taste of food photography. In Rob's example he works in many food related magazines such as Waitrose, Tesco and Sainsbury's, he also does advertising photography for Hellman's, Nestle, Burger King and etc... The thing is, his photographs are really amazing: rich in colour and patterns and if I would apply for the job in food magazine, I would try to do some creative shots of food before and would definitely try to engage the different style. You can find more of Rob's work in here: http://www.robwhitephoto.com/photography.html

Rob White

In the end. although it might seem as a good chance, I love photographing people the most. I feel like only the portraiture can say something special and deep. So I know that my first step will definitely be taking a part in all of the competitions I can find. The second one will be trying to show my work everywhere as much as possible - Flickr and other photo websites including Alamy as well. The third step will be  exhibiting my work in local pubs and cafes. I know one which is amazing and I chose it carefully from other because my work would fit the atmosphere in there, it's the Alma Tavern & Theatre: http://www.almatavernandtheatre.co.uk/. They do support local artists and photographers and have different monthly exhibitions. I emailed them today about my interest in holding an exhibition there in summer and asked about all the fees and the percentage they take of the work they sell. Let's hope that I will get the answer soon.The next step will see me redacting my CV and Portfolio to reflect all the experience gained - London Exhibition, plus all the extra exhibitions/competitions which I will take part in after graduating - which will then hopefully help me set up a more reliable and maybe even a permanent role within the desired field of subject. As I imagine, all of the four steps will come true in around 2 months time, so after preparing myself for the big step - applying for the editorial job and trying to sell my work to the magazines.

Meeting a Freelance Photographer

I have met a freelance photographer Sid Smallman who is LRPS - Licentiate of Royal Photographic Society. And even better, next day he was going to Bath's photographic society to try his best while submitting a panel of 15 images for Associateship distinction from the RPS which is the national body for photography that has worldwide recognition and as such its distinctions carry kudos. There are three levels of distinction: the Licentiateship, Associateship and Fellowship all of which are highly respected. Any of those awards instantly identify you as someone who is serious about their photography and their level of ability. So there are 5 panel members who inspect the work carefully and discuss it amongst themselves. And he was successful and passed! I am very happy for him. Here is the link to read more about RPS: www.rps.org/associateship
and he was successful! I am very happy for him. Here are some of his photographs..

Sid Smallman

Sid Smallman

Sid Smallman

Since we are still in contact, I asked him about how he earns for living and a bit about freelance photography. He said he couldn't live only from freelance photography (I thought so, who does nowadays?) and he is tutoring digital photography for a nationwide organisation in Devon and Cornwall regions - www.goingdigital.co.uk
What he suggested I should do if I want to follow the footsteps of a freelancer, I should exhibit and show my work wherever and whenever I can. I guess it could apply for any photographer from a freelancer to fashion or documentary photographer. It would help to build up an impressive CV which would show my dedication to photography. He also suggested me to expose more photographs of mine to the internet and such websites as flickr, Pixu, 1x, 500px. Of course, I don't need to forget about competitions, if not fortunate enough to win, they would help me to get used to shooting to a brief which will always stand me in a good stead for any commissions I would accept.
In the end, what I have learnt from him was that it doesn't matter how old are you, if you have aims, you can achieve anything.
You can find more of his work here:

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/sidspix/
• www.sidpix.co.uk

Alamy

Last week we had a lecture about how to earn some money out from your photography by posting them on the internet. There is a company called Alamy which provides you a space for your photographs and tries to sell them. We were told that most of the companies, magazines, newspapers and info websites such as Yahoo! are buying pictures from there. Basically what you need to do is post your image, tag it i.e. if it is a picture of a pie, you tag it as a 'pie' and then if somebody writes an article about the pie and needs a photograph to support it, they simply go to the Alamy's website and add the keyword - 'pie'. Of course, they get millions of results and are able to choose a picture out of the rest. If it is your picture and you are the one out of the million, you get 50% of the whole price of your image and Alamy takes the rest 50% which later on is donated to the research of the cancer.
Sounds good? I guess it does, as long as it is not your main income, because it is more like a lottery. You either loose of you are one of the million who wins. But if you have creative images others do not have, you have more chances to win and sell your work. Other side is that they would like to have more of commercial images which are easier to sell. I am thinking about trying it, even though I would need to shoot in a different way and even to take out my digital camera but apart from that it sounds interesting and you have nothing to loose since they do not have any other hidden fees. Enter their website here:

• http://www.alamy.com/#loc=all