Pro Studies - New Blog

I have created a new blog to display my best work/photos. I also may however show some photos that are tests, in the making and trial and errors. The blog will be mostly focussed on my photos though may have some text in as well to explain the images. 
http://nicolalcallaghan.blogspot.co.uk/

Pro Studies(13/3/15) -

The last lesson before my tutorial and before the break for the Easter Holidays. We went over everything needed for the report and a few extra things. The title of the report is the title of the brief 'Working within the Photographic Industry'. I need to blog, have a digital archive of my photos (best work) and have a CV as well as write the report. Other things we went over have been mentioned in previous blog posts, just things need to write the report and actually how to write the report and what to put in appendices etc and about the summary etc. The blog to include a mixture of taught sessions, research, ideas, artists, industry and evidence to support my knowledge of the appropriate creative industry. To upload the report and CV as a PDF when submitting so nothing can be altered and changed.
In the lesson we also got told about Alamy, which has a plentiful stock of photos if you are looking to purchase one/ some. It sells the rights of images so you can use it for a certain number of time. Photographers can sell their images on their for people to use for the company or brand etc.  
http://www.alamy.com/
Another website where you can buy the rights to an image is Stockimo (part of Alamy), which has images taken on Iphones. https://www.stockimo.com/
Another, separate website to buy photos is Millennium Images http://www.milim.com/

Pro Studies(28/11/14) - Pricing and Costing

Another lesson for professional studies was on pricing and costing our work. We learned that the value of our work is influenced by a number of various factors:
Quality & Distinctiveness
Reputation & Experience
Geographic Location
Competition from others and lastly price. 
Is the price I'm selling at profitable from the cost of my work.
OVERHEADS - Costs general to the business
DIRECT COSTS - Specific to a piece of work
We were told of websites to look at regarding this, they are:
https://www.nuj.org.uk/site-search/?keywords=freelance+fees+guide

https://www.a-n.co.uk/explore/news/for/the+artist+fees+toolkit

For the selling and cost - Work out how much it costs to print the image then times that by 4, rough guide. Think who you're selling it to. 

Pro Studies (7/11/14) - Report Writing

One of the lessons we had for our professional studies was on report writing. In the lesson we were given a run down of the does and don'ts in report writing. From my notes I learned that: a report is not as in depth as an essay, it is mainly stating facts, it is best to use short paragraphs, short sentences. Also to use short facts, e.g could use bullet points whenever necessary and as many times as you wish. Some basics were also mentioned, things that I already knew but they are good to hear again. Things like a summery is the main point of the conclusion, sums up everything you have talked about in a small paragraph or two. It is outlining what the report is about. For the report we use the same referencing style as an essay. We got told what to use for Primary research (Questionnaires, interviews, surveys, museum visits etc) and Secondary research (Books, journals, internet) and that we can only use 10% internet, just like our essays. We got told to consider what information we will need and want for our report, need to think of a list of specific, to the point questions and link the facts logically.  Write the report in third person. The intro slightly differs from the summary, though the summary is at the top of the report and not nearly last at the bottom. Recommendations are how the matter could be resolved and to list them by priority, so the most important at the top of the list. We also got told what appendices are and what to place in this section of the report. This can include visits, leaflets, emails both sent and received, questionnaires and anything else to add to the report which we may not have included before. For actual writing aspect we were told to keep it short and to the point, and to try not repeat what we've already said too much. Presentation wise we were also told to bullet point lists, don't have to write sentences, just to bullet point the facts. Space out lines (1.5 line space) and to keep it the same so it flows and looks right. It's best to check over and proof read the report. Paragraphs to be used for intro, conclusion and main body. Write the date you looked at the website for referencing if you used the internet. 

Pro Studies Entered a Competition

For part of my report I have to enter a competition and write about it with a part of the photography industry. The competition I chose was by the AOP (Association Of Photographers). It was a student award/ competition which I entered and within the four briefs given I chose to enter a one about animals charity in which you have to enter a photo that can be used online to advertise what the(se) charity(charities) do for the animals. The four pictures I decided to enter are:

Pro Studies (26/9/2015) - What do artists do all day?

For one of the lessons in Professional Studies we watched a BBC Four programme called 'What Do Artists Do All Day?'. The artist on the particular episode we watched was named Cornelia Parker. She is English, has an OBE, she was nominated for a turner prize and is a installation and sculptor artist. Whilst we were watching the programme we were asked to write down some notes about her professionalism. One of the things I noticed while watching, and what I jotted down was, what she does as part of her art is to hook ordinary things together and turns it in to art. One of the things she said was, for her art, she collects material that is deteriorating and which looks unusual. Cornelia also mentioned that it shouldn't feel like you're forced to do it and she doesn't necessarily always know what she is doing but has an inkling and goes with it. She has a vision of how she wants to show and communicate her art and is very self motivated.  

Pro Studies - Entering a Competition

After some of the competitions that have past there is still one on the AOPs (Association of Photographers) that I can enter. The AOP Student Awards 2015, there are 4 categories to choose from. These are 1) Social Media - Animal Conservation. 2) Product shot - Sense 3) Brand Image - Charity 4) Sunday Supplement Cover. I will go in to these in more detail later on. I am unsure which one to choose as of yet. 

Pro Studies - Competitions

As part of my report just under half of it is around me entering a competition. There has been portrait competitions and many others to choose from, I will inform you more when I have done further research and hopefully will have come to a conclusion on which one I will be entering. 

Pro Studies - Archive of my photos

As well as the report I have to select some of my best work and present them on, (I've chosen blogger). I will be looking through and going over the photos that I have taken and choosing the ones that I think are my best and show of my abilities best. I'll pick ones that overall and together combined show a range of photography from portraits in the studio using a 5D Mark 2 to street photography using a 35mml film camera and using my own camera taking my own photos in my free time. I'm not quite sure how many I will select yet as this choice is left up to us however I will try not to choose too many as this will also affect my mark as I will be judged on the choice I make of how many to show as it will determine my editing skills, (do the photos work together as a group, are there too many or not quite enough).

Pro Studies - C.V

For one of the parts of my hand in for pro studies I have to write a skill based CV. I already had a CV so I planned on altering it to fit in with more of the photography based skills and updating it more. This will be just like a normal C.V but will take out the unnecessary information that isn't relevant to photography. Things like my old GCSE results and past work that isn't photography related.  

Pro Sudies - Assignment

For this years assignment we were given a 2500 word report to write however this time it was split in to a 1500 word report on a part of the photographic industry and 1000 words on writing about entering a photographic competition. For the chosen topic I decided to stick with landscape photography. I originally planned to write further in detail about landscape photography, e.g what cameras actual landscape photographers use and other equipment also, where they go to take the photos and what prices they'd sell etc. After having my tutorial it was agreed that I would ask a few landscape photographers some questions regarding being mainly a landscape photographer and what that entails, e.g prices of photographs, how they got in to photography and specifically landscapes. Along with the report we have to  also hand in a skill based C.V, (photography based) as well as a collection of my best photographs presented, I chose to show them on blogger and lastly blog posts for Professional Studies.      

Still Life - Food Idea(s)

At first I was unsure of what to shoot. I thought maybe soup as I thought it seemed quite simple but could look effective however I then thought of choosing salad instead as this would be easier to shoot in the studio (no possible spillage, plus as requested by the brief to use the studio). The food choices we had to choose from were salad, sushi, soup, ravioli or some form of pasta(cooked or not) and limeade. Out of the choices and because of having to shoot in the studio I thought using salad would be best. Once that was settled I then went on to do a bit of research and looked at other photographers photographs of salad (food) to try and get some ideas and inspiration as I have never shot food before so wasn't coming up with too many ideas of how to shoot it that I was happy about. As the maximum lights I'm able to use is 2 flash heads (because of the brief) I think I will use 1 for lighting up the background and 1 focussed on the salad but not too close.