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Blog #38 - Format Festival 2019

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https://formatfestival.com/ Yesterday was the Format festival ad an absolutely amazing experience. So many phenomenal photographers shown in one space. Although once space is almost the entire city centre of Derby. Armed with a map of the city and locations where different artists work were, we walked all over the city taking in just how big the festival was and how many photographers and artists were presenting. We startes as a group in The Quad and were shown work by Jack Latham. Given a small talk on his project. How and where he shot and a little bit on himself before opening the floor to questions. Then a look around at the accompanying artists in the exhibition before spreading out and finding our own way around and seeing different works that could be an inspiration to either our professional practices or current body of work. I was excited most to see what inspiration I could draw to put into my own work or works that spoke to a certain artistic side in me. One art...
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Blog #29 - Guest Lecture (With Sophie Traynor)

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http://sophietraynor.com/ After Sophie's workshop yesterday we were joined by her again for a seminar on what it is like to be a freelance photographer. The skills that go into it and how we can get ourselves started. Sophie herself Graduated in 2013 and has been a full time Freelance artist since 2016. She works closely with both studio and location seeming to be adaptable. She talked through many aspects of Freelance, getting started, which area to delve into, taking jobs you don't really like to get the jobs you want, getting on retainer. all this information adding up into what I could possibly do once my degree is finished and I enter the industry myself. One of the most important things Sophie talked about for me is having a trusted network. Starting to build it up from the get go and while you're still in education. From make up artists to to hairdressers and even stylists. Just being nice to the people you're working with is a great start and already ...
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Blog #26 - Large Format Workshop With Yan Preston

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https://www.yanwangpreston.com/ This Valentines Day was one of the busiest of my academic career. From morning workshops and individual tutorials to possibly the most exciting and fascinating workshop to happen all year. Today we got to see a Large Format camera up close and person. The session with only a small group of student (Only 3 of us), Lead by Yan Preston. I personally have never worked with Large Format cameras, the biggest I have gone is digital medium format. So this was a new experience for me, which I was very excited for. To start the day we were shown some prints that Yan herself had shot with a Large Format Camera, before we were shown the actual camera itself as seen above.  Next we were given a quick demonstration of how the camera works. How it moves and which parts do what. Then we were shown the film and how to load it into a cartridge, which you would normally do in a dark room but thankfully Yan had pre-loaded cartridges. Then it was time to g...
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Blog #24 - Lens Culture Portrait Award Submission

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This is my submission for the Lens Culture Portrait Awards. When looking through all the photos I had taken for this project, this one in particular sticks out to me. It's my favourite image that I have shot. It makes me feel a sense of pride submitting it to an official competition. This is actually also the first submission I have entered and although I doubt I will make it into the final ranks, I believe in my own skills.  This type of photography is something I would also like to continue pursuing in the future. Both the fashion aspect and the portraiture aspect. I seem to succeed when photographing something I am passionate about, whether it be a story based project or Fashion.  Here are the guidelines for the submission: "For the sixth year, the  LensCulture Portrait Awards 2019  are searching the globe for photographers making the most captivating portraits.  We’re eager to see innovative new approaches as well as stunning traditional work — fr...
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Blog #20 - Lighting Workshop (With Rick Kelly)

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http://www.rkellyphoto.com/ Today the Wednesday guest Lecture was Richard Kelly. He gave a presentation of his own work with the Likes of Doc Martens and bands such as The Arctic Monkeys. He came to give a Studio and Location lighting refresher. Demonstrating how to use the location lights and seeing it tether captured in real time. I particularly enjoyed this workshop, from the gentle learning atmosphere to the time Richard spent with each of us after the session to talk over our work. Not to mention I am notoriously bad with studio lighting, I prefer natural location light so this workshop was valuable in that was as well as seeing how yet another photographer shoots. Everyone has their own unique way of doing things and learning someones was is always a fun challenge that I enjoy.  We started in The Student Union in the University and set up a small makeshift studio base and first saw Richard photographing and talking through his techniques, showing is the diffe...
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Blog #12 - Speed Dating Peer Review and Idea Change

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For today session we did something called Speed dating peer review. It is where we present one or a collection of images to our peers and tell them about our idea in two minutes. We tell them everything they need to know about the project and they ask questions in turn. After my idea change these are the images I managed to snap. I wanted the vibe of the TV show Outlander. My main inspiration for my new idea. These images were very quickly shot and not what I had originally planned but you work with what you have. I shot these in my back garden with this model. Sadly I had lost most of the available light and only had a harsh on camera flash. To battle this I turned all the lights on in the window and got a small warm lit camping lantern to get the effect seen. Sadly, due to the lack of light I found it difficult to focus as you can see in the landscape image. The way I explained my project in the beginning was an homage to Outlander as that is what inspired me. I want...
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Blog #10 - Bella West Workshop (Lighting Masterclass)

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http://www.bellawest.co.uk/ Today we had a Visit from Bella West, a photographer from BIPP. She came to give is a workshop on lighting and creating your own style and brand. I really enjoyed this workshop because of the demonstration she gave us as pictured above. We got to see in real time what it was like photographing in different lighting locations and using completely natural light. Manipulating it to your own desire. It was also really great to see her come back to the studio after the shoots in different locations to see how she edits or uses Black and White to gain a certain effect. And not only do I think I learned valuable shooting and editing skills but the same can be said for learning to create my own brand. Sticking to my guns and not changing for a new photography trend that comes along. She also helped me see that I should not strictly stick to every idea that is in my head, that I should be adaptable when things go wrong and happy when things go right. And e...
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