The End.....16 Months on and I now have my diploma. (actually finished in May, just late writing this post)
It's been a worthwhile journey as I have learned so much about photography and about what I want to do as a photographer. The Diploma itself wasn't what I was after it was more about the knowledge and experience I would gain from this process.
When I first started looking at courses there were so many to choose from and some carried academic qualifications officially recognised etc and others didn't. I looked beyond that and went for a course that had the content that appealed to me. The Diploma was an added benefit I guess, however, in the real world I'm not sure flashing my Diploma is going to get me any further than were I am today. The knowledge and experience I have gained not just from the Institute and the course but from my own journey is much more valuable to me.
The final Assignment is an ongoing process with no end date. I have started on the next part of my photographic journey and even though I have learned many things there is one important lesson that stands out above all of them.
No matter what happens in the future I will never improve as a photographer unless I keep taking photographs. Not just any old photographs, I need to focus on my chosen genre and then push myself as hard as I can. Being in my comfort zone isn't going to get me anywhere nor dropping out of my comfort zone now and then either. Each challenge I set myself from this point forward has to be out of my comfort zone and to a further extent than the previous one.
I am working on a set of goals for the next 12-24 months. Once finalised I will post then here and then provide updates. By doing this in public there is more chance I will actually do it :-)
Monday, 1 August 2011
Saturday, 7 May 2011
TPI - Assignment 11
This is where I had to put everything I had learned into practice and produce a set of images. The whole process from start to finish. Everything from the initial concept, visualisation, taking the images, processing and then selecting the best ones for a "no holds barred" review.
Ideally I would have liked to have completed a portfolio of Portraits but I knew it would be time consuming getting subjects lined up. (I will do this in the near future). My second choice was Seascapes which was made a lot simpler as I live on the coast. Also, unlike portraits I could go and get the images whenever I wanted. The only factors I had to consider where sunrise/sunset times and the tidal charts.
On reflection, I probably spent more time working on the presentation of the images rather than the actual process of taking the images. I wanted to display my set of images in a consistent way, after all, the images where to be a set and I wanted them to look like that in every possible way. Having said that I actually ended up with five long exposures and one normal exposure. I guess that's down to artistic license !
Having spent so much time learning all of the science and technology of photography it was a welcome break to simply go out and take pictures. I'm not saying that I ignored the "maths" but I think a lot of it is now almost second nature and so not getting in the way. I tried to focus more on aspects such as composition, leading lines, contrast etc. I'm also less trigger happy now, I used to snap away all over the place and come home with hundreds of images to process. Now, with the aid of pre-visualisation, scouting for locations (and knowing where the sun is going to be) I pretty much know exactly what I am going to shoot, therefore, far fewer images to process.
When you are sat in front of your PC post processing hundreds of images it is important to have a good efficient workflow. My process has developed quite a lot while following this course but I'm still hindered by the 80-20 rule, i.e. rejecting the poor images (80%) can be relatively quick but then deciding which of the 20% you are going to keep can take forever. Then there is the dilemma of keeping or deleting the rejects. I have (on several occasions) reviewed previous work and picked out images that were overlooked first time around. (Tip - regularly look through your previous work, it's great to see how much you have improved).
So, you've completed post processing and gone from 100 images to 10 but you only want to showcase 6 of them. "You'll be remembered by your weakest image so it is important that they are all top drawer", this is what I have been telling my self constantly as it is the first thing you will hear when researching "how to create a portfolio". It's great to get into this way of working and I'm quite comfortable now with my workflow and find it easy to discard unwanted images. However, there is a down side. When you spend so much time looking at your images you can start to get bored of them. Sounds strange but its true. By the time I had selected my final 6 images I was starting to doubt myself and the images and even thought about starting over.
This is where your confidence needs a little boost and the quickest way to do this is to have someone else look your images. So, I uploaded a few of them onto flickr and I didn't have to wait long before some positive comments appeared. Simple, problem solved. But as with all photographers you'll never capture the perfect image because once you do you want to get straight back out there and get a better one.
I was (without sounding modest) expecting a decent score as I put a lot of effort into the images and also the write up completed for each one. The 10/10 was very pleasing but again the detailed feedback was much more valuable to me.
The final assignment doesn't require submission but I will be completing it anyway and reporting back on here.
So that's it, I've completed the Photography Institutes' "Professional Photography Course".
Thank you for reading and I hope that you have found this useful.
Keith
Ideally I would have liked to have completed a portfolio of Portraits but I knew it would be time consuming getting subjects lined up. (I will do this in the near future). My second choice was Seascapes which was made a lot simpler as I live on the coast. Also, unlike portraits I could go and get the images whenever I wanted. The only factors I had to consider where sunrise/sunset times and the tidal charts.
On reflection, I probably spent more time working on the presentation of the images rather than the actual process of taking the images. I wanted to display my set of images in a consistent way, after all, the images where to be a set and I wanted them to look like that in every possible way. Having said that I actually ended up with five long exposures and one normal exposure. I guess that's down to artistic license !
Having spent so much time learning all of the science and technology of photography it was a welcome break to simply go out and take pictures. I'm not saying that I ignored the "maths" but I think a lot of it is now almost second nature and so not getting in the way. I tried to focus more on aspects such as composition, leading lines, contrast etc. I'm also less trigger happy now, I used to snap away all over the place and come home with hundreds of images to process. Now, with the aid of pre-visualisation, scouting for locations (and knowing where the sun is going to be) I pretty much know exactly what I am going to shoot, therefore, far fewer images to process.
When you are sat in front of your PC post processing hundreds of images it is important to have a good efficient workflow. My process has developed quite a lot while following this course but I'm still hindered by the 80-20 rule, i.e. rejecting the poor images (80%) can be relatively quick but then deciding which of the 20% you are going to keep can take forever. Then there is the dilemma of keeping or deleting the rejects. I have (on several occasions) reviewed previous work and picked out images that were overlooked first time around. (Tip - regularly look through your previous work, it's great to see how much you have improved).
So, you've completed post processing and gone from 100 images to 10 but you only want to showcase 6 of them. "You'll be remembered by your weakest image so it is important that they are all top drawer", this is what I have been telling my self constantly as it is the first thing you will hear when researching "how to create a portfolio". It's great to get into this way of working and I'm quite comfortable now with my workflow and find it easy to discard unwanted images. However, there is a down side. When you spend so much time looking at your images you can start to get bored of them. Sounds strange but its true. By the time I had selected my final 6 images I was starting to doubt myself and the images and even thought about starting over.
This is where your confidence needs a little boost and the quickest way to do this is to have someone else look your images. So, I uploaded a few of them onto flickr and I didn't have to wait long before some positive comments appeared. Simple, problem solved. But as with all photographers you'll never capture the perfect image because once you do you want to get straight back out there and get a better one.
I was (without sounding modest) expecting a decent score as I put a lot of effort into the images and also the write up completed for each one. The 10/10 was very pleasing but again the detailed feedback was much more valuable to me.
The final assignment doesn't require submission but I will be completing it anyway and reporting back on here.
So that's it, I've completed the Photography Institutes' "Professional Photography Course".
Thank you for reading and I hope that you have found this useful.
Keith
Monday, 21 March 2011
Welshot Imaging - Photographic Academy
I recently became a member of the Welshot Photographic Academy based in the UK. I was introduced by a work colleague and after attending a couple of evening workshops I decided to join.
They have an expanding number of locations in the UK, the majority of which are in and around Wales. I am local to the Chester one so have attended a couple of workshops there. I'm also not far from the Llandudno one so I may try one of those evenings next. As well as evening workshops they also run activities covering anything from a 1/2 day street photography session to a 10 day trip to Hong Kong !
Anyone can attend the workshops (small fee) but there are plenty of benefits to joining up. It's also a great way to meet other people who share the same interest so you can swap experiences, hints & tips etc. What I do like is the fact that there is nothing competitive at all about this Academy. It doesn't matter what type of camera you have or how good you are, everyone pitches in and helps each other out.
If you've tried the old style camera clubs and they didn't meet your expectations/requirements then I suggest you give Welshot a try.
Visit their website for full details.... www.welshotimaging.co.uk
They have an expanding number of locations in the UK, the majority of which are in and around Wales. I am local to the Chester one so have attended a couple of workshops there. I'm also not far from the Llandudno one so I may try one of those evenings next. As well as evening workshops they also run activities covering anything from a 1/2 day street photography session to a 10 day trip to Hong Kong !
Anyone can attend the workshops (small fee) but there are plenty of benefits to joining up. It's also a great way to meet other people who share the same interest so you can swap experiences, hints & tips etc. What I do like is the fact that there is nothing competitive at all about this Academy. It doesn't matter what type of camera you have or how good you are, everyone pitches in and helps each other out.
If you've tried the old style camera clubs and they didn't meet your expectations/requirements then I suggest you give Welshot a try.
Visit their website for full details.... www.welshotimaging.co.uk
Thursday, 3 March 2011
TPI - Assignment 10
A lot of research and thinking required for this one. The more information you gather about running a photography business the more you realise that you'll probably only spend about 10% of the time behind the camera.
The marketplace is saturated with photographers all fighting for business. You've always got to stay one step ahead of the competition othewise you'll crash and burn.
So how do you make yourself stand out from the rest ? Just being a better photographer doesnt make you a successfull business. Marketing and product placement are key; if the right potential customers don't see your flyers/adverts etc in the right place at the right time then they are not going to use you.
Now i'd be happy to supplement my income by selling a few pictures here and there, it would certainly help pay for the next lens. So, if that were to happen and then develop into something more substantial it would still take an enormous amount of paid photo jobs to take me away from the 9 ot 5. I would need to be doing a couple of wedding a week and that is certainly not for the faint hearted.
There is also the enjoyment factor to consider. You take certain pictures because you like taking them. If you were doing this for a living then you would be taking certain types of pictures because you had to. Then your hobby is no longer your hobby and your enjoyment is replaced with satisfying the customer and doing what you are told.
Still, if I could take pictures all day and make enough money to survive I wouldn't hesitate to do so. You just never know whats around the corner......
The marketplace is saturated with photographers all fighting for business. You've always got to stay one step ahead of the competition othewise you'll crash and burn.
So how do you make yourself stand out from the rest ? Just being a better photographer doesnt make you a successfull business. Marketing and product placement are key; if the right potential customers don't see your flyers/adverts etc in the right place at the right time then they are not going to use you.
Now i'd be happy to supplement my income by selling a few pictures here and there, it would certainly help pay for the next lens. So, if that were to happen and then develop into something more substantial it would still take an enormous amount of paid photo jobs to take me away from the 9 ot 5. I would need to be doing a couple of wedding a week and that is certainly not for the faint hearted.
There is also the enjoyment factor to consider. You take certain pictures because you like taking them. If you were doing this for a living then you would be taking certain types of pictures because you had to. Then your hobby is no longer your hobby and your enjoyment is replaced with satisfying the customer and doing what you are told.
Still, if I could take pictures all day and make enough money to survive I wouldn't hesitate to do so. You just never know whats around the corner......
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