Another low-key and relatively boring week in the life of me. For the most part I was planted in this here chair organizing files, sending emails, having email problems, and realizing that I need more hard drive space. Still no shooting work for 2010 yet, though I did get asked to retouch some stuff for the NFB so at least it’s something.
Since I’ve had my ass in front of a computer for most of the week I’ve had a chance to check out a lot of stuff. When I wasn’t watching every single episode of ‘Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job!’ I was reading up on the photo world. I just wanted to chime in with my two cents on a couple of posts that Heather made here this week.
First off, her post about shooting everything and anything was spot on. I’m sure most photographers (including myself) could shoot more than they do, and I find from my own experience that a good chunk of the work I like is stuff that I’ve shot randomly. Especially with the amount of down days that you have at this beginning stage of your career it’s really important to keep moving forward. As a photographer I don’t think you’re ever really wasting time if you’re using your camera for something. I didn’t shoot anything exciting this week, but I did mess around with my lights and took a photo of some milk. I suppose one could say that it’s a visual representation of the banality of my last two weeks, but really I just had a milk craving and it looked good.
© Jaime Hogge
The other post I wanted to mention was the ‘To Gear or Not To Gear’ article where there was a discussion about exactly that. I think this was actually the first compliment I think I’ve received from someone in the industry in regards to my natural light stuff. I guess I’m curious to know why it’s seen as such a bad thing. I completely understand that in the advertising world it’s all about control and customization as well as being a little over the top in many cases. What I don’t understand is why working with natural light seems to be frowned upon and/or viewed as being amateur and simplistic, or something that wasn’t thought out. Seriously, I don’t think either Grant or I or any other shooter that uses a lot of available light (Chris Wahl anybody?) are just taking our cameras outside and hoping for the best when we shoot. I found it interesting that Heathers’ recommendation to young shooters like James was to leave the gear at home and go shoot, as that’s pretty much what I’ve been doing for a couple years now and I’ve learned a ton from it. I actually find it much more difficult to get a really awesome natural light shot than to set up 3 or 4 lights and make someone look shiny. I don’t know if it’s because you start to rely more on getting something from your subject rather than how awesome your camera/lights are or what, but it’s definitely a very different experience. In the end I think finding a balance between everything is really the key and is exactly what I’m trying to work on myself right now as I try to move forwards commercially.
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Grant Harder:
It’s funny that Heather mentioned photographers and their choice of using natural or natural looking light in a post earlier this week as I spent an afternoon experimenting with actually using lights and making the subject obviously lit. We’ll see if it’s something I incorporate into my portfolio. It’s nice to switch things up a bit especially considering we don’t see the sun at this time of year in Vancouver. I can’t imagine how nice it must be for those of you living in California. I suppose the grass is always greener….well, actually our grass is always green because it gets watered so damn much.
Unfortunately Tuesday was a write off as the Ms. and I came down with what was either food poisoning or some kind of 24-48 hour flu (I can assure you it wasn’t a hangover). I haven’t been that sick in a long time. One of the good things about being self-employed is not having to call in sick to anyone, although, I could use a couple paid sick days. I woke up Wednesday feeling less like death and more like 65%.
A handful of friends/photogs/graphic designers have put together a little creative group. Our first meeting is tonight. The parameters haven’t exactly been set yet but I believe the idea is to have people to regularly bounce ideas off of and to be accountable too. This job can feel solitary at times, especially between jobs and meetings so having a solid group of motivated and positive people to check in with can help out in many ways. Tonight I’m hoping to get some feedback on my current portfolio edit.
On the subject of my portfolio edit…..it’s tough. Is it actually possible to distance yourself enough from your own work to edit properly? At the moment I’m thinking that it’s not possible. There is too much emotion invested in images that may not work with my message. Also, as I look at my body of work I’ve noticed (and others have mentioned) that I do not have much of a female presence- as in I don’t take many photos of girls. How crazy does that sound? How can I (unintentionally!) neglect 51% of the population? Maybe it’s because I grew up with two brothers and no sisters? I’m working on it. Slowly.
This is Brent, my youngest brother.
© Grant Harder
The Year in the Life Project follows two junior shooters through their weekly adventures, trying to make a go of it, in the world of commercial photography.
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Of course shortly after writing this posting (and before it went up) I get 2 really neat assignments that specifically call for available light shooting.
I remembered, after reading the Gear or not to Gear post , a quote from the Dave Gillespie post :
“It remains to be seen whether this kind of (mostly) natural light work will find an audience and any major success in commercial applications.”
Is the deck stacked against available light photogs?
@Grant : sometimes it can be extremely difficult to distance yourself from your own work. so sometimes the best thing to do is to invite people who you don’t feel anywhere near the same as you do about your work and ask for their input. get people from all over the spectrum to get a little bit of outside feedback.
and take it all with a grain of salt.
because then you have to ultimately be the one to narrow it down.
much luck to you :)
rocksteady,
danno~
Hey Guys,
just wanted to say I’m a young Irish photographer who just finished college and is starting out in London and I really enjoy reading your posts. When things are tough it really helps to hear about other peoples experiences. In fact your experiences have really helped me put a few things in perspective. I was wondering if you could give me your opinion. I moved over to London for better work prospects but I find myself working all the time in a restaurant just to keep afloat especially with the economy. I pick up a few shoots here and there but its becoming clear to me that I need to work on my book and get a bit more ‘free’ experience (shoots, assistant work etc…) which I can’t really afford to do in London. Do you think it might be worth it to swallow my pride and move home for a while so I have a bit more freedom to shoot, work on my book and my contacts so I could make a better go of it in 6 months or a year or stick it out over here? Sorry I know that’s a lot to dump in my first post! I would love to know what you or anyone else thinks. Either way I will continue to look forward to your new posts and work which I will continue to find inspiring!
all the best
Steve.
Hi Steve, thanks for checking us out, I’m glad to hear that our posts are helping someone out!
I’ve never been to London but I hear it’s quite expensive so moving home for a few months could be a good thing – but it also could be a bad thing. I think that really depends on what kind of person you are, and what motivates you. One problem with going home would it’d be very easy for you to relax too much and lose focus of your end goal.
Building your book is certainly something that could probably be done either in London or back home. The key to that again will be what motivates you. If you stay in London and are working constantly you won’t have a lot of free time to shoot yourself but you’ll just have to make the most of what you have. I remember seeing it a lot here when I was an assistant; so many assistants were just so burnt out by the time they got home that they didn’t want to have anything to do with photography in their time off. Being back home and away from the craziness of the photo industry could really help you if you’re smart about it. If it affords you time and peace of mind to step back, look at things and really buckle down on some projects then that could be worth it right there. At the same time, again, if it makes you too comfortable and lazy you could really fall behind.
I think the main thing you should focus on right now is getting assisting work, as you mentioned you’re fresh out of college. I’m assuming that London has the highest concentration of photographers in the UK so maybe that is the place to be for the future. How much have you been trying to get assisting work? You’ll definitely make more money assisting at this point in your career and you’ll learn a lot, probably way more than you did in school. Assisting rates are obviously way lower than what you can get shooting, but with assisting you can be working 3-5 days each week if you apply yourself which would probably pay you more than a restaurant, and at least you’d be on your way to shooting full time. Also a lot of photographers really push their assistants to shoot their own stuff so that could be a great motivator right there. Assisting work can be had anywhere you find photographers so that’s your call. If you have no experience assisting and thus are having problems getting some with the London guys, maybe try some other markets to get your feet wet.
I guess what I’m trying to say is I don’t think that moving back home for a few months (!) at this stage in your career is going to hurt you that much. As long as you can keep yourself motivated and moving forward it could be the best thing for you. I really can’t stress enough how important it is to stay excited and hungry for everything photo related. I can’t count how many people from my class in college “took a break” that they still haven’t come back from :).
Best of luck!
Thanks for reading Stephen. It’s great to hear you have been following our posts.
If you need to work on your book and right now you have no time to do so, the choice seems clear to me- you need to make some changes. I would say the resources available in London are too good to pass up. I would be willing to guess that if you just finished school there is still a tonne of stuff you need to learn. Get on the phone and start finding some people to assist with. I can’t imagine Dublin having nearly as many top-notch photographers as London. Don’t worry about swallowing your pride and just take pride in every job you work on and think about how much it is going to benefit your own work in the long run….and it probably will be a long run.
I’m not sure going to your parent’s place would serve you well. It could be too comfortable. Of course there is the chance that’s exactly what you need to create a fantastic body of work. I really don’t know. You may be better off figuring out when assisting work is traditionally slow in London (maybe over Xmas or mid summer) and timing your visits home during those periods.
When I initially started assisting my gigs were few and far between. Vancouver is relatively small and I didn’t have much experience. The only way I was able to survive was by dipping into some savings I had from my previous job and living a very lean lifestyle. I worked hard to make and save that money and I’m really glad I did. I also have never stopped shooting(http://www.heathermorton.ca/blog/?p=4662), which I highly recommend. Immerse yourself in photography. If you can do that back home in Ireland maybe it could work. Either way I suggest finding a solid photo community to be part of. We all need a little encouragement and help with motivation from time to time.
Good luck and check back in with us when you make your decision.
Hey guys,
thanks so much for getting back to me so quickly. I agree that getting some regular assisting work is key but from what I can see of London these days is there isn’t much paid work about. That’s why I think going home for a while, saving some money and trying to get more experience as you say, even if its free, will help me to come back with a lot more to offer. I totally take your point on the risk of complacency though. Although I think being back home will be too terrifying for that! Either way I have a lot of thinking and shooting to do. Thanks again guys for taking the time to get back to me it really mean a lot. Ill let you know how it goes. Looking forward to the future blogs.
Steve
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