PhotoLink Studios Manchester (Old Post)

http://www.photolink.co.uk/

When I initially started contacting studios for work placement, I didnt even find the photolink studios on the web. It was only after a few days trawling through the web that I stumbled upon this studio. From my initial research, I understood that this company was one of the biggest and most well established in Manchester. And by the looks of it, there was several hugh well equipped studios. 

I contacted the company via email initially and within a few days I received a reply asking for me to send them a copy of my CV. As it happend, I had just about finished putting together a brand new CV so I changed some of the details and sent the finished CV off with a quick turn around. 

I then received an email telling me that the company would be more than happy to accomodate me for work experience for two weeks. However, due to the time scale of the assignment and due to my other work placement falling through, It worked out that I would have had to have done the time at the studio after the assignment hand in date. I have been conversing with a female member of staff there who sorts out all of the work placement, she has basically siad that it will be a full time two week placement and that maybe it would be better if I was to do the placement in the summer holidays. I took her up on her offer and I will see where the placement takes me. Hopefully I could get a job!

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The following is how photolink describe their selves online. 

Their website showcases some really interesting work that they have done, I will look forward to working with them later in the year. 

Creativity meets commercialism – Our ethos is shaped by a strong creative instinct and straightforward commercial thinking. By bringing these attributes to every professional collaboration, we get straight to the point for our clients; simplifying the creative processes and immediately recognising significant cost efficiencies.

Fully-integrated service – Photolink has evolved from purely photographic roots to become a fully-integrated creative agency with dedicated, integrated departments specialising in all creative disciplines. We now offer clients everything together under one roof, end-to-end solutions, the whole nine yards, the full service. We are a creative machine that turns problems into to creative solutions for multichannel retailers.

Possitives

Overall, this experience has been very positive and I have learnt a lot about the industry that I will be going into after university. There are certain things that I would like to mention in this post, these are as follows.

• The first positive thing that I have got from this assignment is more advanced communication skills, in terms of emailing professionals & studios and also developing my one-to-one people skills during interviews. This is not only a photography skill but in fact a life skill.

• Another positive from this assignment is the fact that I have been able to get all the questions that I have about the photographic industry answered. Through choosing the right questions to ask the photographers, I have been able to get further knowledge about certain aspects that I didn't know about before.

• The third positive skill that I have learnt from this assignment is how to act around professionals, as well as how to promote myself and introduce myself to them. This has been one of the first times I have been networking within the industry and I will continue to do more and more networking throughout my career. 

• I have also found out about several interesting and useful websites and magazines that I have been told about during the interviews, I will regularly check up and read these articles and websites.

It has been a great experience and I have enjoyed it thoroughly, I have taken away many skills and life skills. 

Challenges

Throughout this assignment, I have come across some challenges. I will now bullet point some of the challenges that I have faced. 

• The initial problem was the time limit, we was only told about the work placement very close to the start date of the assignment. This meant that I had to work hard on producing a generic email to send out to possible future employers. I started by creating a suitable email which is shows in one of my previous blog posts. I then searched for photography studios and other freelance photographers around the northwest, the closer to me the better. This issue has showed me that It is good to use your initiative some times and that the photographic world is very stressful.

• The next issue that I was faced with was that the photographers that I was emailing and contacting were either too busy to reply, or not enough work so placement students wouldn't be needed or other reasons that I couldn't do placement with several companies/ practitioners.

• After I changed routes to the interview route, I was very sure what I wanted from the interviews and how to go about it. The only other challenge from here on in was that it was hard to find a suitable time with the practitioners to meet me, it had to be a mutually agreeable time and I had to go out of my way on two occasions. This was very worth the hassle though. 

I have learnt a great deal about how to cope with certain situations from this assignment, how to face certain problems or challenges. 

Note

It seems that throughout the interviews and also through watching/ reading online interviews that the biggest thing that seems to come from professional photographer is that you have to enjoy what you are doing and photographing. That is the best and most useful piece of advice I have been given and I will not forget that. 

Quote

"I am selfish, but that's an attribute that all artists possess."- Robert Mapplethorne.

This quote links in well to what Jason Lock said to me when I was interviewing him, he told me to watch out in the photographic world because there are lots of snakes.

Interview (Online Magazine): Michael Mayren

Where did your interest in photography start?
"My mum gave me an Olympus OM10 when I was about 11 so I'd say from quite a young age I was used to seeing the world through a camera lens."

Tell us a bit about the inspiration behind your work and your artistic style.
"I'm mainly inspired by my own life and where I grew up, as well as people with struggles and passions to get somewhere in life. There are so many photographers who I love. Ed Templeton, Larry Clark, Ari Marcopoulos, Tobias Zielony, Perry Ogden, Jacob Holdt."

Whereabouts are you based and who are your clientele?
"I'm based in Manchester. I do most of my personal work in Manchester and commercial work in London. I've worked on projects for Adidas, Converse, Kickers, G Star, Y'oh Streetwear and had work published in VOGUE L'UOMO , Hero, Dust, Dazed & Confused, i-D."

What sort of projects are you working on at the moment, and what is the most memorable project you have worked on so far?
"I'm currently doing a lot of documentary work with young boxers in the north. It's an ongoing project but I'm hoping to have an exhibition early 2013. I only look forward so I'd have to say my current project with the boxers is my most memorable."

What do you think it is that makes your work stand out from other photography?
"I'd say the crossover of documentary and fashion photography keeps my work interesting. I personally don't like most fashion photography I see. I take inspiration from anything other than fashion when I'm preparing to shoot editorials."

Describe the best part of your job.
"The best part is being able to show people how I see the world. Another is the amount of inspirational people I get to meet on a daily basis." 

What advice would you give to aspiring photographers?
"Do it for love, not money." 

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This online interview is extremely helpful, though good questions the interviewer has found certain aspects that they want to know about the photographer and has been very successful in doing so.

A personal favourite answer was to the last question, I asked a very similar question at the end of my interview and I received a very similar response from all of the practitioners. Doing what one enjoys/ loves seemed to come up throughout all of the interviews, this is probably the best piece of advice that I have been given. 

It is interesting to understand other photographers viewpoints and learn about how they do certain things, even in this interview I have learnt some more about a very inspirational photographer. 


http://www.manchesterfashion.com/c/19/1013/in-focus-michael-mayren

Voice Recorder

I chose to record the two informal interviews that I did inorder to help me remember the practitioners answers when looking back at the interview. I recorded using an application on my Iphone, I emailed myself each of the answers to the questions through the application. This was a very useful and worthwhile thing to do because I am able to listen to the answers that the photographers gave me in-depth whilst writing the script of what the photographers said would have stopped me from being able to listen and ask further questions. I didn't have to worry about writing the answers down, I was able to engage more with the photographer which made for more professional and interesting interviews.