RESEARCH: The Photography Show (Birmingham)

On Tuesday, me and my fiancé travelled to The Photography Show in Birmingham to see new camera releases, listen to photographers talks and go to the highly awaited Don McCullin talk we had both been looking forward too!

Upon arrival, we headed straight to the Canon and Leica stands to watch demonstrations on their new products. The C100 mark 2 and the C300 were being demonstrated at this time, which was excellent as I have recently been using the C100 for filming and experimentation already. Following this, we headed to the Nikon stand, were there was a fine art photographer named Kirsty Michell talking about her fashion and editorial photography series based on books and fairytale that went viral online. She spoke about budget, and how you can do anything if you put your mind to it. She showed us how she made all of her garments off things people gave her, such as hanging baskets and flowers, and created beautifully sculptured work. Upon returning home, I researched her work and fell in love with her recent photographic series Wonderland, and the meaning behind it.

Her work has made me think more in-depth about planning elaborate shoots on zero budget, as not I know it is possible. I have always hung back on designing high editorial styled shoots, through fear of being out of pocket for essential items such as food or bills. However, now I am going to look around for free items that have been discarded or being given away, for creative ways in which I can make photographs.

Following this inspirational talk, we decided to go and see portfolio books and wedding albums that were available, and see what prices they were being produced at. At the moment, I create my own wedding albums, by buying a high quality photograph album from Boots and inserting images in, rather than printing off a book myself. I charge £60 for this service and include CD's of images, as well as prints of the best images printed larger. On my next wedding, I plan to break even and produce a photo book as showcased by these printing companies. I feel it looks more professional and may get me more wedding work in the future.

Following this, we visited Fotospeed and Innovaart.com to look at their photographic paper that was available, and how cheap it would be to print at home. Recently, my fiancé invested in an industry standard printer from Canon, which is one of the ones DS Colour Lab uses for their A4 prints. I purchased a trail pack of paper to try different techniques, and decided if I wish my future portfolio to be printed on matte paper or gloss.

I then visited the charity PhotoVoice, who produce cameras for young children in deprived areas, and then produce photographic series off their work. I found the project really interesting and pledged £40 to their charity to fund their project. Even though I am a skint student, it is a really important cause to get younger people into photography, especially when they do not have access to it readily in their area. For this price, I also received a signed Martin Parr book, and their first book produced by children taking photographs called "New Londoners". I am going to contact this charity in the future, and see if there are any volunteering opportunities available.

I then visited the Don McCullin talk, which I will speak about in my next post...