Coursework – Alison Price's Critical Research Journal for Falmouth University MA Photography

Thinking about my Social Media Presence (Week 12)

In this post I am going to consider my current use of social media and actions I might take to consider how I might use it more effectively in the future. For our coursework activity we were asked to consider the following:

Think about the different social media channels available and how you are already using (some of) them. Is there anything you can do better? Should you use all of them? Should you use a different one? As discussed in previous weeks, social media is now such a powerful tool in your marketing toolbox and over the next weeks, you will either set up social media channels, if you haven’t already, and start using them in whatever way you feel most appropriate, or if you already are on Instagram or other social media channels, please think about whether you could be using them in a more effective way.

This is an area of running a successful business that I have not fully embraced although I do have a Twitter account (rarely used), a Facebook account (never used), thanks to the MA I now use Vimeo and I also have a Pinterest account which I use more for leisure than for showing my photography work.

In order to make sense and some decisions of what direction to take in terms of my social media presence I have referred again to Lisa Pritchard’s book Running a Successful Photography Business. Whilst acknowledging the importance social media has in running a business I was reassured that maybe my social media presence should be more about staying connected with colleagues working in the same industry – about networking and having a sense of community. Of course, at the moment, the MA Photography is providing much of that for me. But, the point is well made, that when I complete my course, I will then be a lone figure in the Isle of Skye. I will need people to test ideas and concepts, provide review and advice on my work in progress and help me identify markets and contacts in an area I haven’t lived or worked before and social media is, of course, a great way of feeling connected with people across the world, not just locally.

If I choose to set up a business then I will need to consider how I use social media in the future. At the moment I feel that I should take a cautious approach. I am proposed to take the following actions in conjunction with revamping my website and creating a professional portfolio:

Review my use of Twitter and consider incorporating a Twitter feed into my new website and blog
Continue to use Vimeo through the course and consider ways in which I might use videos to trail my new business and work in progress
Review Pinterest in a different light as a business rather than leisure media

I am really clear that I do not want to create new accounts such as Instagram and start to use Facebook at this stage. I do not want to create a presence and then for it to be benign. I need to focus and I believe my website, portfolio and blog are more important at this stage.

References

Pritchard, L, (2017), Running a Successful Photography Business, Bloomsbury Publishing, London

Thinking about a Professional Portfolio (Week 11)

As part of our coursework activity we have been asked to consider creating or improving and enhancing our professional portfolio. To date I have not had the time or the incentive to create a portfolio other than the galleries on my website. As you will have seen in Week 9 I am taking steps to improve my website over the holiday break and moving forward but, this exercise is a helpful prompt for me as I believe I will need to create a high quality print portfolio as an output from my Final Major Project and to support the launch of my business thereafter.

The interview with Francesca Genovese, Director of the Francesca Maffeo Gallery in Leigh-on-Sea was very helpful to me in understanding the context of how a professional portfolio might be used. Although she referred to the production of a pdf document of current work as a useful introduction tool to accompany an e-mail, given the focus of my work as fine art prints and accompanying high-quality books, there will be a need for me to be able to demonstrate the print and overall quality of my work.

As I develop my networks on the Isle of Skye I will need to show examples of my work and be able to demonstrate how my work might fit in with other photographers represented through the galleries and co-operatives. I will also need reasonable stock levels of my prints in my personal gallery in Broadford. To this end, I am pursuing a number of avenues in terms of the surfaces I will use for my work. I need to understand print papers much better and how different textures and tones of paper will affect and enhance my work. I am also keen to research the presentation of my images on Ilford Gallerie Silver Gelatin paper through the conversion of my digital files through laser scanning. I intend to have a test print produced to see the results of such a process and also understand the financial implications of that choice. This will be an important consideration for the production of my images for the Exhibition for my Final Major Project.

As well as understanding and researching paper surfaces, I also need to seek tutors and fellow students’ advice on the quality and level of service of printing houses. To date I have printed my own work on my Epson 2880 on Fotospeed paper but I do not believe this is a viable way to move forward. I will also need to consider what size images I wish to present in my portfolio.

I will also need to find out from tutors how I go about getting a portfolio produced – whether this is something I put together or whether there are companies who specialise in producing high-quality professional portfolios.

We were asked to consider carefully what images our customers might wish to see and thus what work might be included in our professional portfolio. Francesca Genovese was clear that galleries would wish to see current work in progress – first and foremost – but I think I would also like to show a small amount of previous work – and be able to discuss with examples future project ideas. However, rather than necessarily being the best of all my work, for me, it should provide a series of work with a unifying theme and style. I will need to seek advice and guidance and choose the images I include carefully – it is better to have a smaller number of perfectly-executed shots than more lesser quality images. The ordering of shots within my portfolio will also be important. I will need to revisit my Artists Statement and include it at the start of my portfolio.

I am not sure this is something I want to rush in order to produce something by the end of Sustainable Prospects but rather something for further consideration as part of my preparations for my Final Major Project and the launch of my business.

The Reeds of Loch Cill Chriosd – My Personal Journey – Oral Presentation Complete (Week 10)

Very pleased to have completed my Oral Presentation for Sustainable Prospects available to view here. The password is prospects.

Thinking again about my Website . . . (Week 9)

For the final few weeks of Sustainable Prospects we have been asked to create, consider, improve or enhance our professional portfolio, website and social media presence.

I have decided to concentrate this week on my website and how I might develop it in order for it to work effectively in support of my professional work. This is a timely reminder as a number of things are concerning me about my current website presence:

We have been asked to consider in particular whether the work on our website is up-to-date, whether it is technically up-to-date in being responsive to being viewed on different devices and whether we are demonstrating a “strong edit” in the work we present.

I am pleased to say that the work on my website is up-to-date and I have been systematically loading work that I am completing on my MA Photography. I am using my website to share work in progress. I have also been ruthless in only displaying my best images – so quality rather than quantity. I have very recently upgraded the software on my site to ensure it is compatible and works effectively with mobile devices.

I have learnt a lot about presentation during this module and have received a lot of help and support from my tutor Sophie Gerrard in finalising the presentation of my Work in Progress Portfolio (WIPP). This has led me to question the current layout of my website such that I have decided to submit my WIPP in pdf format in order to give more flexibility in the presentation of my work. Sophie has suggested I keep my presentation simple in order that my images can take centre stage rather than being dominated by a dark and complex web page structure. Adding words to my images has introduced a further complication and complexity in delivering it effectively through my website. My decision to present my images one by one (in order that the viewer can take in the images and words) rather than as a portfolio or grid of images also led me to prefer the pdf format.

Moving forward I am considering transferring my website to WordPress and moving away from Clikpic. Whilst I am aware that all generic website solutions are likely to have strengths and limitations I would prefer to be using one provider for my website and blog. I am also intending to move from WordPress.com to WordPress.org to enable me to take advantage of plugins and other functionality that is currently not available.

In preparation for these changes, and in the context of finding a new presentation format I am happy with and consistent with my commercial brand, I have been looking at some fine art photographers’ websites.

The first screen shot is of Paul Nicklen’s website. This was my favourite layout and presentation of photographic work when I last reviewed websites during the Surfaces and Strategies module. I find the simple panel layout of the home page clear and crisp while providing a professional impression.

Roman Loranc is a photographer that I have researched during Surfaces and Strategies and Sustainable Prospects. Like me, he focuses on monochrome landscape work. It is interesting that a number of the photographers working in monochrome have chosen a white background whereas my current website is black. I do think I need to give this some further consideration.

Like Loranc, Martin Henson has also chosen a white backdrop but in his case he has a changing gallery of one large image. Although this is an option for me I think, at this stage, I prefer the tiled presentation of Paul Nicklen’s work.

I had a look at Sally Mann’s website to give me some perspective as to how photographers from other genres present their work. Again, a tiled approach but a rather more contemporary feel.

And finally, Hiroshi Sugimoto has chosen a grey background and one large image on his home page.

I think the coursework this week has provided me with a useful prompt to develop and enhance my website in the near future and this research has given me some ideas to consider moving forward. I am currently favouring a clean, simple and crisp layout similar to that of Paul Nicklen.

Telling a Story through Images (Week 8)

This week we were asked to take some images for a newspaper that tells a story as follows:

“Imagine you are being commissioned by a newspaper to tell a story in five to seven images. It can be about anything – ideally something local – but it must have a beginning, middle and end. It can be about a person, a place or a thing. Keep your focus narrow. What matters in this exercise is to make sure each photograph gets to the essence of what the narrative wants to express.

Share the five to seven images of your story, and comment on the stories of your peers – tell them what you see. Did they understand what your story is about?”

My work is entitled Lest We Forget – The Aftermath.

This story is intended to show how quickly we forget and move on with our lives even though we pledge to remember. While the remains and traces of a sunny and commemorative day on Sunday soon turns to cleaning up and removing our memories our thoughts turn to the working week and Christmas around the corner. As I took my photographs the rain started to fall making the poppies and other commemorations look sad and forlorn. The shops started to replace their carefully arranged tributes with their Christmas decorations. Lest We Forget seems a short-lived pledge.

Lest We Forget – The Aftermath – Alison Price

Feedback on my story:

A fellow student posted the following feedback:

There is very much a sense of aftermath for the viewer to appreciate. Very imaginative making of images too. The sequence of beginning to middle is there, yes it’s there. The end is also there. Would a clearer transition be possible, I wonder? Clever linkage is made to commemorative events.

My tutor posted this comment:

I think some of the strength in this series comes from the fact that each image is quite different from the previous – there is little repetition. They are all quite still though and avoid people – intentionally I think, might be interesting to see how/if you could include present day individuals in a series like this too.

General feedback on the task:

A fellow student offered the following advice on building a story:

Introductory or overall or establishing shot – a wide angle or aerial shot that establishes a place or the story at a glance
Medium shots – to reflect one or more activities of a person or a group of people
Close-up shots – detail of something
Portraiture – environmental shot or head shot of a person or main character of the story or others who are important part of the story
Interaction – conversation of the people in a scene for a reason or interaction with the main character
Signature shot – it tells the whole story in a single frame
Sequence building – a group shots that bridges and ties the frames sequentially to flow the story
Conclusion – an ending shot that tells either a solution or left us with a question

And my tutor said:

“This is an interesting exercise and so many of you have approached it differently – coming from a photojournalistic and documentary background I’ve always learned this 5 picture story technique from David Hurn and Bill Jay’s conversation “On Being A Photographer” where they discus the component parts of a “Photo essay” and using The Country Doctor by Eugene Smith as an example you can follow it’s 5 component parts…

An establishing or intro shot
a person at work or doing shot (face and hands clearly visible)
a relationship or interaction shot (both faces and expressions visible)
a detail shot and
an environmental portrait

There is no such thing as a set of rules obviously – but it’s an interesting discipline to learn from and experiment with. In my experience – it’s the relationship shot which people try to avoid and often have the most difficulty with.”

I found the challenge very interesting and harder than I expected. I do feel that I generally think about and try to ensure individual images contain a clear narrative. However, making sure each image in a series has consistent and appropriate narrative is more difficult. It is important to make sure the running order of the images moves the story to its closing shot. To me the learning points have been that the images need to work as a group and individually in unambiguously telling your story.

I will certainly try this challenge again over the next few weeks. . .

David Chancellor Guest Lecture (Week 7)

I viewed the Guest Lecture with David Chancellor this week and found it extremely insightful, honest and interesting. David had trained as a documentary photography and had a passion for sports and an interest in natural history but it wasn’t until he went to South Africa and started work on long-term projects that he brought his interest and skills together. He has spent the last fifteen years trying to understand the wildlife industry working in “slow documentary photography”. His project entitled Hunters was produced in 2012 and he subsequently won the Taylor Wessing National Portrait Prize that provided the publicity to take his work forward.

His imperative in producing his images is that he does not want his viewers to turn away. His work is a hard watch but he gets to the heart of the issue through candid story telling. The Elephant Story about trophy hunting was his next project with one subject leading to the next. He talked about the need for engagement with the local community in effective conservation and referred to work in Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

With Butterflies and Warriors -David Chancellor

He also works in the north of Scotland documenting deer hunting and managing the land effectively.

He talked about how social media has helped to tell his story with National Geographic having over 90 million followers. But the delivery of stories in this way makes it imperative that the photographer has done their research and evidenced their facts. He spoke about following elephant hunts that may take 2-3 days or 2-3 weeks. Once they find an elephant that meets the criteria for being killed then it is David’s job to document the killing. He spoke candidly about his experience of seeing the fear in the animals’ eyes and taking heart-wrenching images, particularly where the animal is not killed immediately.

He spoke about his Scottish project entitled Beasts that was initially self-financed and then commissioned by National Geographic. He said that in his type of work it was important to work with an agent and he also occasionally benefitted from the re-sale of previously funded work.

Having taken a lot of wildlife images over the years I found David’s insights very helpful. He referred in particularly to the saturated market for photographers taking the beautiful wildlife images. I do agree that the opportunities are in telling stories about the wildlife and bringing those stories to the attention of the wider world. Sadly there are too many stories of the type that David tells.

Thank you David for a very interesting lecture.

Making Progress with my Oral Presentation (Week 6)

Our coursework this week has been to start thinking about our Oral Presentation for Sustainable Prospects and to produce a draft to present to our tutor and peers.

In our first module Positions and Practice I produced a draft presentation in Week 6 and made the mistake of keeping the structure and words largely the same for my submitted work which meant I l failed to capture a lot of the later story of my journey to Week 12. In our last module, Surfaces and Strategies I chose to undertake the Oral Presentation as my last piece of submitted work (to ensure I captured the story and the endpoint of my development on the module) using my Work in Progress Portfolio and Critical Research Journal posts to inform my presentation. Although, this made it rather last minute I do feel on balance that this approach captured my progress more effectively.

As a result of these considerations I have chosen to work on my Work in Progress Portfolio this week and in particular on putting together some words to form part of the presentation of my images. For me, having my final set of images well in advance of the submission date is helpful. However, this does not mean I am not working on my Oral Presentation rather that I do not find putting together a draft helpful at this stage.

Reflecting on my experience of the Surfaces and Strategies Oral Presentation I learned that it would be helpful to add images, videos and links into the Resource Library in iMovie as I go along. Trying to source and then load them is a time-consuming process when you are under time pressures towards the end of the module.

Actions undertaken for my Oral Presentation

Arranged the taking of still shots of me working in the field at Loch Cill Chriosd

Arranged the taking of video sequences of me working in the field at Loch Cill Chriosd
Taken video shots of Loch Cill Chriosd
Viewed a You Tube video of Albert Watson taking landscape shots on the Isle of Skye as part of the What do Artists do all Day? series https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FYJydaClRA
Captured some quotations from Albert Watson on the particular challenges of shooting on the Isle of Skye
Loaded still and video shots into my resource library on i-Movie
Engaged in webinar with tutor and fellow students to hear about progress of other students’ Oral Presentations and noted advice as follows – Assume viewer doesn’t know your work, headings and title slides are helpful, give a critical appraisal of your practice, talking about your audience is very important, refer to 2/3 other practitioners, don’t read quotes and put them on the screen too and use about 25% of time to discuss the end project.
Noted guidance from Module Leader on expectations for the Oral Presentation as follows:
“Critically examine the motivations and objectives behind your Work in Progress Portfolio;
Discuss work you produced in previous module(s) or even prior to your studies if it is relevant to the work you are producing now and
Discuss the contexts and audience you have in mind for your Work in Progress Portfolio. Do you want to show in the form of a book? Or an exhibition? Or collaborate with a charity? Discuss who you want to reach and how you are planning to do this.
Reviewed the Assignment Brief for the Oral Presentation

Networking on the Isle of Skye (Week 5)

This week our coursework was all about networking and we were asked to engage in three activities to enhance our network in a photographic context.

For me, networking is second nature and throughout my professional career it has been central to my work and fundamental to my success. In the final five years of my career I was a Management Consultant working across the higher education sector and providing advice and support to senior managers in support of their vision and objectives. This involved working with colleagues from many different institutions, with different challenges and priorities and networking more widely with institutions and individuals related to the university sector.

From a photographic point of view I have been a member of the Royal Photographic Society (RPS) for many years, achieving my Licentiate (LRPS) and Associate of the Royal Photographic Society in 2012. For a number of years I was a member and active Committee member of the Kingswood Photographic Society. More recently I have been a member of a small, photographic co-operative – the Avon Valley Photographic Society – which meets regularly to review each others work, provide constructive and supportive feedback and talk all things photographic.

Moving forward and in the context of selling my work I have created a marketing strategy and plan to find out more about opportunities on the Isle of Skye where my business will be based. While I was on Skye I was able to do some networking as well as produce images for my Work in Progress Portfolio and also join some virtual networking opportunities. This week I have:

Visited the Skye Skies and Landscapes Exhibition by local Isle of Skye artist Lynne Forrester https://www.lynneforrester.com/
Discussed with Lynne Forrester possible outlet options for my work including Skye Makers Gallery in Dunvegan, Isle of Skye http://www.art-skye.co.uk/skye-makers-gallery.html
Visited Skye Makers Gallery in Dunvegan
Acquired a copy of Art Skye, an annual publication featuring studios, workshops and galleries across the Isle of Skye
Subscribed to On Landscape, an on-line magazine https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/
Viewed and gained information on a possible Exhibition venue for my Final Major Project at The Steadings Gallery, Balmacara Square

As I work through my marketing plan and the actions I have set myself I will add to my network on the Isle of Skye.

“In the Beginning” and a Marketing Plan (Week 4)

“In the Beginning”

As part of the coursework activity this week we were asked to review our earliest photographic work and reflect upon it. Unfortunately, I do not have access to the photographs I took at university nor, for obvious reasons, images from my early police work, however I have picked some images which revived my interest in photography after a twenty year gap – these images set me on a journey specialising in wildlife photography.

“What do you see in it? Can you find a theme that connects it to the work you make today? What do you like and dislike about the early work? What was it about these photographs that made you want to be a photographer?”

Although these images are domestic dogs and the wild animals are photographed in captivity this did spark an interest and then long-standing commitment to photograph animals in their natural environment. In these early days I think the technical skills I learned as a police photographer did shine through and I was able to pick up a camera after a very long break without a significant sense of deskilling.

As far as my likes and dislikes are concerned I think these images show an empathy and connection with the animals with clear focus on their eyes and appropriate use of depth of field to blur the backgrounds. I feel I have also captured a sense of the personality of the animal. I would not choose now to photograph animals in anything other than a wild and natural environment. My later wildlife work focused less on the classic portrait and more in showing animals within their environment and showcasing an aspect of their behaviour.

I did consider leaving my well-paid job to be a professional photographer but never really had the courage to do it. Instead I chose to travel the world as an amateur capturing beautiful creatures across the world.

The MA has seen nothing of my wildlife work as I have instead decided to challenge myself by changing genre and approach.

Work in Progress Portfolio

I have been working on my Work in Progress Portfolio in the Isle of Skye so do not have access to my very old photographs. However, I will undertake this exercise when I return home.

We were also asked to produce a marketing plan which should be divided into objectives and strategy. I wrote in this journal a couple of weeks ago about how I intended to get myself noticed in the market place so I will refer back to this and also pick up some of my intentions in a weekly list of actions we have been asked to produce.

My objective

My objective is to raise my profile as a photographer on the Isle of Skye and gain recognition for my work through the sale of fine art images.

My strategy

We were asked to produce a “strategy” which should be an action plan to achieve the objective set out above. Although I do not consider that to be a strategy I have followed the brief as given.

My strategy and tactics therefore to achieve my objectives are below:

Create logo and consider name for my business
Consider more professional and creative on-line portfolio and slideshow options
Undertake market research activities on the Isle of Skye to familiarise myself with competitors, galleries, other outlets, locations for exhibitions etc
Continue to produce new work
Share new work on website and seek feedback
Undertake micro projects alongside my Research Project The Road to Elgol
Respond to comments on my CRJ daily
Enter photography competitions – at least two by the end of 2018
Improve my website and blogging skills
Add 5 new followers to my blog each week

References

Pritchard, L (2017), Running a Successful Photography Business, Bloomsbury, London

Instagram Account and Image Viruses – are the activities consistent with my personal brand? (Week 3)

We had two pieces of coursework this week and regular followers will know I always engage with the activities. This week is different and I have decided not to do them however feel the need to explain why.

The first piece of work was to create an Instagram account, think about an Instagram strategy and gain thirty followers. At first I felt it might be important to set up an account as so many of my fellow students do regularly upload their images. I mentioned in a Week 2 Critical Research Journal post that I was considering doing this as part of my marketing strategy for my business. I read through the forum posts to see what others were doing. Although there were many regularly engaging and using Instagram there were others who were more cautious.

It seems to me that Instagram provides a means to gain feedback on work, engage with an on-line, like-minded community, offers an on-line presence and opportunities for work to be noticed and in rare instances for commissions to follow from it. Although having said that there does not appear to be any evidence available to suggest conversion from followers/likes to investment or work opportunities. It seems that Instagram is probably more appropriate to those seeking commercial work at an earlier stage in their career.

From my perspective, and following on from my Week 2 Getting my Business Noticed post https://photographytoinspireblogspot.wordpress.com, choosing how to show work and determining tactics to use to engage with potential markets is all about personal brand. I referred to a number of ways in which I might enhance and develop my brand and Instagram was something I noted as worthy of consideration. After much consideration, for me, my website and blog are more important ways of sharing work with my audience than risking my images on Instagram. Were I to upload images in this way I would feel only able to post my second-best images, in which case it would defeat the object of doing it. A number of my images are sold as limited prints and posting these on Instagram would devalue them. My work is normally presented as fine art prints, often as large scale prints or projections and therefore are less appropriate to an on-line format.

Our second task was to create an image virus. The brief was as follows:

“Make an image that you feel is intriguing and appealing, and spread it around as many places as possible. Keep the credit anonymous. Photocopy the image and paste the copies on walls throughout your city (within reason – I don’t want you to get into trouble for fly posting), mail copies to everyone you know, post copies through letter boxes in your neighbourhood. On the back of the photocopy leave only an e-mail address and a hasthag. If anyone e-mails you, reply with only the image as an attachment. E-mail this image to everyone you know. Make a website for it, make it your status on social media – tweet it, post it, blog it. And get others to spread it around the internet; ask you friends to help. If the virus becomes widespread enough, you might find it returned to you, or used by others.”

Again, I do not feel that producing an image and posting it around a small Cotswold village would enhance my brand. I have already built up a local following for my work through my recent local exhibition and have a number who follow my blog. For the image to be traced back to me, or for me to post a copy through letterboxes feels most uncomfortable and would do nothing to enhance my personal brand – indeed quite the opposite.

I would be interested in comments from my followers . . .