RESEARCH: Don McCullin, "Photographing Conflict"

Me and my fiancé purchased tickets for the "Photographic Conflict" talk that Don McCullin was leading, talking about his experiences and work that he had produced. He is such an inspirational speaker, and I came away knowing so much more about the perils and dangers of war photography, and how they damaged his personal life, and photographic work.

(apologies for the awful iPhone quality images!)

The most iconic image that I am aware of is of this man, captured in Vietnam, 1968. Upon McCullin talking about the image, it was made clear that this solider was shell shocked, and awaiting transportation away from the battle zone. McCullin captured many upsetting and eye-opening images of shell-shocked soldiers during many wars, but this is the most iconic.

McCullin also discussed his time spent in Biafra during 1969, whereby he captured many children who were being harassed, discriminated or even killed because of the colour of their skin. Some children were born albino, which meant their skin was a lot lighter than the other children. Some neighbourhood regarded this as a sign of the Devil, so killed the children as soon as they were born, without the consent of the family or mother.

War has it's dangers, and McCullin spoke about how he is lucky to be alive to this day, after several life endangering experiences. His cameras were damaged by bullets and bombs on a regular basis, and he received threats of violence or death off people whom did not want him talking photographs. One of his iconic photographs in the Lebanon, 1976, showed soldiers standing over the body of young girl, and McCullin captured this despite being told to leave the area and not take any photographs, or he would be shot and killed. 

Before attending this talk, I read a recent interview for a few years ago on FT.com, whereby he spoke about his photographic career and how he decided it was the end of war photography for him.

Roused by the idea of one last assignment, McCullin set off for Aleppo in Syria last December, nine years after he had announced his retirement from war reporting. “It was like I’d chosen a cloth to make a suit from,” he says. “You know the material you like and you feel it, just as I know every feeling about war, the characteristics of it, the sounds of it, the smell of it.” (FT.com, 2013)

However, in the talk at The Photography Show, McCullin spoke about his plan to potentially go to the war abroad again in a few weeks. He had been given the opportunity to travel to take photographs by a fellow photographer, and spoke about him not being sure whether to turn it down. He spoke about how war photography is always part of you, and although he has seen some unnerving things, it will be part of his blood and is addictive; he keeps going back for more.

McCullin is such an inspirational speaker, and an amazing man, and to see someone so successful and passionate as his age is astounding. It has made me delve further into his work, and understand more about his practice.

FT.com, 2013, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/8244a942-1648-11e3-a57d-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3VTzySR3X

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...

RESEARCH: Future Employment & Current Job Opportunities

I plan to do my PGCE qualification next year at Edge Hill University, and to continue with that I need to obtain at 2:2 classification in my BA degree. I am working really hard with my modules so that I can achieve this and move forwards with my passion for teaching. In the meantime, I have been working on my CV and cover letters for teaching jobs, as well as building a varied portfolio and knowledge on all aspects of photography, especially studio lighting, product photography and landscapes. My work this year has seen me focus on the technical side of landscapes and astro photography. Whilst I have no actually taken any photographs, I have shadowed successful landscape photographers and learnt technical skills that I can bring into the classroom, in the event of a student needing support and guidance within that subject. 

I have also been buying a lot more photography books, the most recent being 'FRONTLINES' by Sean Smith, which is a book documenting his photographic career out in Iraq. It is not my usual interest, but I understand that my career into teaching will involve me engaging with students with different interests, and broadening my knowledge in all the subject areas can only aid me in finding a job. I took three books to my interview; 'EXPOSURES' by Jane Bown, a Vivian Maier book and a Cecil Beaton book. The teachers at the interview were really impressed with my passion for physical photography books and how I would use these in lessons rather than getting students to engage with websites and articles on the photographers. Therefore, in the future, I plan to buy one photography book a month on a different subject, so that my students have access to books the college may not.

I went onto Indeed.com to search for current openings within the FE sector that related to my subject specialism. Upon looking on here, there are not a lot of opportunities for photography teachers within my area, on a permanent, full time basis. Most of these opportunities require you also to be able to teach GCSE as well as A Level, which I would have to train for as well. Therefore, I am considering being trained in a subject specialism of art and design, to broaden my talent, and therefore, broaden my job search base.

Upon re-searching for art and design jobs, in future education, a few jobs came up that fitted my criteria and were in my local location. I understand that if I want to pursue a career in teaching, I may have to travel some miles to work, which is fine. However, most jobs that are available currently seem to be down south, in London and Essex, which is out of my reach. Hopefully, my course will give me more insight into how I can obtain a job, and career paths I can take into education.

PDP Development - Task 3 - Beauty Shoot

I looked at my portfolio and realised I did not have beauty shots. I decided to contact an agency and get in contact with a model to take some beauty shots to benefit both of our portfolios. I also work with one of my best friends Kelly, and a model I have used recently, Brittany. We all worked well together as a team, and managed to get two pink themed looks done on Emma, and a classic red lip done on Brittany, with a creative purple smokey brow on Kelly. This shoot real,y helped my Photoshop skills, as I gained the ability to use the clone stamp to airbrush skin, but keep texture.

PDP Development - Task 3 - Styled Shoot

I decided to do a styled shoot last week with a model I met on Facebook called Shazia Parveen, and an amazing make up artist from my University called Steph Brennan. We experimented with sports luxe and dressing up different styles of fashion with a pair of Topshop culottes. This really sparked my interest in fashion photography again, and I felt that I learnt a lot more about lighting a white background. I used a large soft box to the right of the studio that lit the model and the background, apart from causing a shadow to the left of the model. I then softened this using another light to the left with a snoot on it. We planned to shoot again in a couple of weeks, but I plan to experiment with colour and using gels.

PDP Development 3: MMU Lookbook

I was asked by some fashion promotion students from MMU to help them with their fashion look book for their final year project, upon recommendation from UCLan students whom I helped last year. They hired a studio called We Are Kin in Northern Quarter, and I just had to take photographs. Their theme was based around the gypsy skirt, and they were styling it using modern day clothing in an attempt to bring it back. 

There have been many lessons learnt from this shoot, one being to always check with the studio that they support your camera with the equipment they have. They had Bowen's flash heads, but they adaptor to trigger the lights from your camera only worked with Nikon cameras and higher end Canons. Therefore, I had to use my on camera flash to trigger the lights, which left a harsh shadow round the right hand side of the model and made using the lights and editing the final images. I had to make the best of a bad situation, and although the images did not come out brilliantly, and I shall not be using them for my portfolio, I have now ordered a trigger so that this situation does not happen again.

PDP Development - Volunteering

I recently went to an interview for Bolton Lads and Girls club, and have been initially accepted as a arts and crafts volunteer, which may open up more opportunities as I progress through the club. I will be working with the junior and senior club at the beginning of my training, which covers ages from 8-18. This also spans the age group of children that I plan to obtaining my teacher training qualification in, which will be excellent practice before I begin my PGCE. I have began to plan activities, that cover a broad range of arts and crafts, such as photography, painting and sculptures, so that when I join I have some creative ideas that I can hopefully impress the children and management with, to show them I have a genuine passion for teaching and the arts.