WORKSHOP: Online and Physical Portfolios

Moira held the session today looking at portfolios and websites, both online and offline. She brought in her own physical printed portfolio for us to discuss. She also gave us some questions to think about whilst we were researching:

Does the template provide links to social media, and is that important?

What do you want to do with your website, or what do you want it to do? (Interactive, front page, lots of thumbnails, text based, moving image based)

Have you looked at your website on your phone, tablet, netbook, computer, etc?

Do you want Flash?

Can you search archives, or just current work?

Do you want thumbnails that enlarge to full sized images?

RESEARCH (Online Portfolios)

Jamie Simonds used Indexhibit, although his site is pretty basic and is focused upon the photographs that he has taken rather than the website design. He has no links to social media, or any external links apart from the Indexhibit website, which could mean he hasn't paid for the template. I was not impressed with his contact page, the text is so small that you could miss his contact details if you glanced. I then decided to research more into the Indexhibit website, which is also horribly laid out, the colours are really bad on the eyes and the layout is harsh and difficult to follow.

Rankin's website has an opening page, with separate links to different parts of his website, such as his photography portfolio, his film portfolio, his magazine page and his creative content agency founded by himself. His photography portfolio has a link for a mailing list, whilst having a rolling series of images of different projects he has undertaken recently.

Tom Hoops has a simple website designed on Wordpress, that has a rolling scroll of images under each title, such as recent, ladies, gents and editorial. I had a website like this last year, but decided to change it as the format was not suited well to people viewing on a windows computer as the scrolling was difficult on the mouse. He has external links to Facebook, his personal blog and his Twitter feed but a small contact page with a form and email address.

Morgan Norman's website is a similar style to the type of website I am designing now. His layout is in a collage format, and the photographs act as thumbnails to link to external pages. Under each image, it will be assigned to a section category such as news, editorial, celebrity and advertising, and some of the series will be under numerous categories as they relate to the same topic. There are no links to external social media apart from a contact page which consists of his Instagram name and his Pinterest boards.

Anna White's website is quite long, and her website was smaller on a laptop format. However, her website is formatted to mobile phones so it is easier to view. Her website was created using Cargo Collective. Upon researching, you have to apply for an account and get accepted for a free website hosting page, where you can have a limited number of megabytes and project space.

Is it free, or is there a cost? What are you paying for?

Wix do offers for £50 for a years subscription, and their templates are super professional and easy to edit and make personal. They are who I have my website with at the moment, as I have moved from Format. Their website is easy to create templates, but their are no free options. Some portfolio hosting websites, including Wix, offer free hosting, but you have to advertise their name underneath or on your page, as well as having their name after your domain, e.g. www.laurajaneparkinson.wix.com.

What is the advantage of having a website, rather than a blog?

The advantage of having a website rather than a blog as people see you as more professional, and will automatically see you as a professional photographer rather than an amateur. It also is good to have a collection of your work online, as if people type in your name into Google and your website comes up, they can see all your work in one place, with good formatting. I was given to option to have a blog link on my page, but learning from the past, I always forget to update my blog so people might get the impression I do not care about photography or do not participate in lots of different project to excel myself. I then looked at my website on my phone and found that it is automatically formatted to be shown on a tablet/phone. This is a really good, time saving way to have as part of my website package, as it means I do not have to format my website for each individual screen resolution. 

Do you want links to social media and external sources?

I personally love having external links to social media and other pages I am active on. My website is updated every two weeks, whereas my Instagram is updated every day. I have a big following on Instagram, of 1,100+ followers, whereas my website is rarely viewed unless I give out a business card or someone tries to find me. I also have links to my Facebook page, which has 900+ likes, as people can see the history of my projects that were produced before my website was built.

Do you want a biography?

We had a biography writing workshop, and since then I have developed it and published it to my new website, I think it is a good thing to have on my website as it gives the viewer an insight into my style and interests before they view my work. I also think it gives a face to the name, rather than the viewer imaging what someone could be like. I have also added my selected commissions and exhibitions to my page so people can see what I have been up to recently. I am also planning to include a PDF link to my CV.

PHYSICAL PORTFOLIOS

Moira then showed us her physical portfolios from her BA degree and her current professional practice. Her BA portfolio consisted of a folder with high quality sleeves with her work in a chronological format. She also had a sleeve at the back, which consisted of her press clippings from exhibitions, slides that she presented in her first solo exhibition. She then showed us her A4 box portfolio, where she places all her work, from landscapes to documentary, in poly pockets so she can mix and match for different interviews. In the past I have used a massive A2 carry along portfolio to print my images and place in. Now I realise that the presentation of this is not satisfactory, and a smaller portfolio is definitely better. She recommended the London Graphic Centre, Sliverprint, Plastic Sandwich and Cowling & Wilcox for classic portfolios, especially leather bound portfolios. Moira recommended a maximum of 15-20 images in our printed portfolio, as we have not yet had enough opportunities to showcase. As we grow as professional photographers, we can extend this maximum image count.

This was a really helpful workshop, I feel like now I can start thinking about printing my portfolio for submission to Professional Frameworks as I know more about what styles are available and how they look in real life. I also can develop my new website now, having looked at alternative examples of other professional photographers. I plan to buy my porfolio box or book this evening and start planning for my final submission.

Business Plan/Invoices

Invoices and business plans are important for freelance photographers who are wanting to take on work and gain payment from their clients. I have had experience sending invoices to Sportsfive, and the University helped me compile this together in a professional way. I have also had to send invoices to clients for weddings and photo shoots in the past.

I have presented here a mock up invoice showing how my invoice template is presented, and price breakdown of services provided and expenses covered. I decided to use a type font for my invoice, as it is easy to read and professional looking, with my logo in the left hand corner.

UPDATE: PDP, Photography Interests and Current Practice

Over the Christmas break, my work has shifted from being fashion and portrait based, to documentary and still life. I have been visiting the town of Blackpool a lot, and after reading a book looking into iconic Blackpool hotels, I decided to develop a photographic series looking into the history of the buildings and where they are now. I was shocked to find that 90% of the iconic hotels were closed down, either for the season or forever. A lot of the buildings toward the Central Pier were under demolition, due to the roof collapsing in what seemed to be high winds, and they did not have the money to repair. It seems sad for me that something that represents a town so iconically, is being taken over by the "monsters" of the hotel industry such as Travelodge, Premier Inn and Ibis. I have been documenting this shift in hotels using my 35mm Canon film camera, and colour film, as the feel and look of film suits the towns meaning much better than digital. Therefore, I have developed my PDP to fit with this, and decided to develop and refine my film photography, and research more into the downfall of the local hotel industry. I have also expanded my PDP to cover alternative areas, or to expand on the ones previously included in my older PDP.

I still am interested in fashion and portraiture photography, but at the moment I am concentrating on my new passion of film photography, as well as my volunteering and teaching roles and my final major project. I plan to get these film photographs of Blackpool exhibited in either a group exhibition or a solo exhibition, hopefully by the end of 2015.

WORKSHOP: The Editorial Industry

Jason Lock came in to give us an editorial masterclass, with his own research and experiences in the industry and tips we need to know. We have already had this lecture last year, but I felt like I needed to see it with a fresh pair of eyes, especially seeing as I have grown photographically since last year. He planned to cover the following areas:

~ Industry Overview: Specific area of work

~ The Importance of Research

~ Note-Taking and Archiving

~ The Contact Sheet

~ The Published Feature 

The Importance of Research

He started off talking about reading and research, as well as asking questions about the specific topic he is photographing. He stressed that we need a deeper understanding of the subject before we begin exploring and shooting, as to create a well informed story and not offend anyone. He also talked about having a personal interest in the subject, checking whether the idea has been done before and if it has been done before, how can you make it better? He spoke of photographer Mark Power, who used to research into an idea and if he found something remotely similar, he would scrap it and start again. Although a very strong principle, I don't want to recreate other people's ideas and stories, which is why I believe also that research is super important. 

He spoke about his own work, and how he gets given jobs from magazines with a very small timeframe to complete them in. He recently was given a commission for a football magazine, to photograph sellers of a particular magazine that they wanted for a story. With such a small time frame, he began by mind mapping contacts that he knew and they stemmed from there. It's really important for me to began in making a book of contacts that I meet, especially models and make up artists, to make sure I have a wide range of contacts to call upon when I need assistance for shoots. 

Notes and Archive 

Jason spoke about the differences between digital and traditional copies of ideas, and how there are benefits to both. I currently use digital copies of ideas when I am out and about and transfer them to my laptop later, as well as writing them down in a notebook or address book. I find that using both approaches makes it easier to make sure that my notes are lost forever, due to either loss of notebooks or loss of digital copies. He also spoke about keeping books of people's names, contact details, telephone number, address and email address to contact them later for help photographic shoots and series. Model release forms are also a massive part of photography, especially for the publication of stories and images for magazines. I always keep a catalogue of model release forms, but I don't always keep on top of it, which I need to make sure I do when I plan to get my work published in magazines towards the end of the summer. 

The Contact Sheet

A contact sheet is the traditional analogue workflow, and was used with older photographers when they shot on film and then began the process of choosing their images for publication and printing. Nowadays, we have the digital equivalent, where we can print our images in small format and then chose the best. I use the traditional contact sheet on the computer using Adobe Bridge, where I star rate my work according to how good they are. The best images are starred at 5 stars, whereas images that the model asked for are starred as 1. This makes sure that I get all the images to the model, especially if we work time for print, as well as editing the photographs I am happy with. Jason spoke about how he used contact sheets to archive his images, especially when he was travelling to choose different images that are better suited to different briefs. Martin Parr used to print his images on 7x5 prints, lay them out on the floor and then one by one, turn them over if he was not happy with them. Printing my photographs would be a better way to decided whether I like my images or not, because I am always changing my mind about my best images. 

Stuart Franklin - Moss Side, Manchester

Martin Parr - Bad Weather

Peter Marlow - Margaret Thatcher

In conclusion, this workshop was especially inspiring for me, as it gave me an insight into a possible future career choice that I could have. Jason Lock was very inspirational and seeing his own personal editorial work was good and helped me believe I could be successful too.

PDP Development - Task 3 - UCLan Collaboration

I got my first email directly to my website the other week, which was really exciting as it is nice to see that my website was getting noticed on social media. It was from a group of students from the University of Central Lancashire, which is near where I live, who were interested in collaborate on a high concept shoot that would be exhibited in Preston for their final major show. I was really excited for this, and enjoyed every second of the shoot! We shot at the Grand Theatre in Blackpool, and I was astounded by the amazing architecture and painting that hung from all the walls. The interior of the building was stunning, and knew from then on I had to put 100% into the shoot to get the best possible images for my portfolio. I used two red head lights to create contrast and depth to all my images, and found myself standing on chairs, hanging from balconies and lying in the centre of the stage in all the dust and muck. It was, hand on my heart, one of the best and friendliest collaborations of my photographic career, and I look forward to working with the group again on future collaboration.

WORKSHOP: CV, Biography Writing, Statement Writing and Elevator Pitches

To begin the lesson we took at look at the website of Sophie Gerrard, and how she constructs her biography for her page to introduce herself. She complies a short but sweet biography, talking about her education, how she began her career, where she is based now and what she does. She also lists various exhibitions that she has presented her work at, as well as awards she has won. This impressed us in a small biography and makes us believe their is more amazing facts about this photographer that we do not know. My biography on my website is short and only looks at my biggest achievements rather than numerous things I have done. My biography is around 150 words in length, with lists underneath of clients I have worked for and exhibitions I have held. I think a smaller biography works better for me due to my lack of experience in the industry compared with award winning photographers such as Gerrard.

We then looked at an extended biography of the photographer Mandy Lee Jandrell, who talks more in depth about her work and how she began her career journey. Although an extended biography provides more information to the reader, I find that it goes on to a while, and I lose interest half way through. With this example, I found it was easier to read than other extended biographies. 

We then explores what is included in a biography. We decided that almost all professional biographies are written from a third person perspective, always commenting on the photographer does rather than I have. They also talk about their biggest achievements, where they have exhibited, where they have studies (especially if they have studies a Masters at a Univeristy regarded as being professional), areas and specialisms, where they have had work published, who they have worked with or for (such as clients and jobs) and awards they have gained because of their work.

We then began with a two line introduction to ourselves and our practice: 

"Laura Jane Parkinson is a published fashion and portrait photographer based in the UK. She creates her work in the style of fashion and magazine editorials, that explore beauty within the human form."

We were then asked to expand upon this with 50-70 words:

"Laura Jane Parkinson has worked for a number of magazines, as well as producing images for fashion brands and advertisements. Her studies at the University of Salford have fuelled her drive to produce imagery that explores colour, elegance and feminism. She is especially inspired by cinema and nature, and incorporates these themes into her photographic work"

It was interested to be able to see the biography of Moira and how she explained her work, I feel that my biography so far is strong and better than the current version on my website. I originally used the work exceptional to describe my imagery, seeing as this is written in the third person, I would expect this would be okay. However, Moira commented on he fact I had used it, and would only recommend using this word if it was retrieved from a quote, such as from a magazine or newspaper. I will plan to include quotes from the newspaper that documented our Islington Mill exhibition, so I can include feedback from reputable external sources.

Moira then asked us to speak about a specific series of work we have completed or is part of our continuing research and photographic exploration. She spoke about her recently completed series looking at coal workers, which was funded by the National Media Museum. She spoke about her project meaning, who she was funded by and how she presented it.

"Laura Jane Parkinson is currently exploring her love of beauty, elegance and fairytales, and intertwining them with food photography advertisements and issues of consumerism. Her work looks at both the beauty of fairytales, as well as the underlying issues within them that are unbeknown to the children reading them. She explores the small details within dress, styling and looks, whilst paying close attention to food used within these stories that will later fuel consumerism within society."

Moira commented on how she found my paragraph confusing, and feels that the series would need a title. Most people in the lesson began their paragraph with who they were such as "Laura Jane Parkinson is a fashion and portrait photographer who..." and including a title within their work, even if it was just blank, underneath, I have changed this paragraph.

"Laura Jane Parkinson is a fashion and beauty photographer, currently exploring her love of beauty, elegance and fairytales within the series titled "Consume Me". She intertwines food photography advertisements and issues of consumerism, with the beauty of the human form within fairytales. Her work looks at both the beauty of fairytales, as well as the underlying issues within them that are unbeknown to the children reading them. She explores the small details within dress, styling and looks, whilst paying close attention to food used within these stories that will later fuel consumerism within society."

After we finished talking about biographies and writing them, Moira advised us to join sites like Axis and LinkedIn. I am already logged onto LinkedIn, but had never heard of Axis before. It offers free public liability insurance when you sign up to the website, which is really helpful if I want to pursue a career in being self employed. Overall this workshop was extremely helpful, especially coming towards my graduation and further studies in the upcoming year.

PDP Development - Task 3 - Experimental Ballet

I was assisting a friend on a studio shoot a couple of weeks before Christmas, as she was photographing some ballet dancers and gymnasts and needed help setting up the lighting! Whilst on a break, one of the ballet dancers said she had seen my website online and would love to work with me sometime. With a studio and lighting right in front of me, I decided to set up the backdrop, simple lighting set up and outfit within 5 minutes, and we took a total of 20 shots. Here are my final three! Although these were very quick edits and shall not be appearing on my portfolio, it was nice to know that under pressure, I can produce this type of imagery.