Magnum Photos

http://www.magnumphotos.com/

I was told by my tutor about this website, it showcases some of the worlds finest photographers and some of their work, a very very useful tool for my university work. I will use this website as a reference to find photographers etc...

Magnum Photos is a photographic co-operative of great diversity and distinction owned by its photographer-members. With powerful individual vision, Magnum photographers chronicle the world and interpret its peoples, events, issues and personalities. Through its four editorial offices in New York, London, Paris and Tokyo, and a network of fifteen sub-agents, Magnum Photos provides photographs to the press, publishers, advertising, television, galleries and museums across the world.

Interview: Chris Nash

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et0B6t1dMXI&list=UUk-27VbXPGS8SgMbzZd0g-A&index=23

The above link is a video of an interview between the people of IdeasTap and dance photographer Chris Nash.

As with all interviews from Ideas Tap, this interview gives a short but sweet look into the work and life of Chris Nash the professional dance photographer. 

Chris Nash is a London based photographer specialising in Dance with a worldwide reputation built from over 60 one man exhibitions across the globe. His highly theatrical style and ability to capture key choreographic moments have been in demand for over 2 decades, not only by Contemporary Dance companies needing eye-catching promotional images, but also within the fashion, advertising and editorial worlds. 

The thing that I really like about this interview is the way that he focusses on the techniques how he photographs, his style and im glad he didn't go into too much detail about technical camera information. 

This interview along with a few other ideas tap interviews, have given me a greater understanding of how to conduct my own interviews.

Interview: Rankin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbPucYrCSwE&list=UUk-27VbXPGS8SgMbzZd0g-A&index=18

The above link is a video of an interview between the people of IdeasTap and the great portrait photographer Rankin (John Rankin Waddell). It is a very interesting watch and it gave me some really useful information as to how I can generate questions for my own interviews with practitioners. 

Rankin sounds really down to earth, interviews can really change your opinion of someone. A lot of the truth comes through good interviews.

In a way Rankin is similar to me, he is able to connect with the subject well before he photographs them. A great trate! 

Interview: Olivia Arthur

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cJ3wlKV2Mlc

The above link is a video of an interview between the people of IdeasTap and international photographer Olivia Arthur. It is a very interesting watch and it gave me some really useful information as to how I can generate questions for my own interviews with practitioners. 

One of my favourite interviews from ideas tap, it really shows that although there might not be that much well paid work available in London or England, there are many more opportunities in different countries. This is one of the things that I asked the people that I interviewed. 

Personal Identity

Self Promotional Merchandise

I produced around 300 business cards, about 3 years ago for my very first exhibition at college. The business card design that I produced was a very basic one to say the least, saying that, that is what I wanted at the time. 

I think that as my career progresses, I will have to have an identity rebrand. I can see this rebrand to include styles from my website, same logo etc. I am currently in talks with a friend who is a designer, from this he will design and get printed more of my new business cards, flyers and other promotional material.

After talks with the people that I interviewed for this module, I have been told that it is always worth while for you to keep a number of business cards on yourself incase any opportunity arises. Not doing this could cause myself to loose business or opportunities. 

Personal Website

http://ben-stokes.co.uk/

In this post I will talk about my newly developed website.

I decided that if I was to become more of a professional in the photographic industry, I would have to have a fully functional professional looking website. Around the end of 2012, I decided to ask a designer about a design that I had done myself. The designer told me that it looked really nice and we then began discussions to build the website. A few weeks later and the website was up and running. I am very pleased with the design and i believe it creates a whole new social platform for me to promote myself over the internet.

I attached a link to my website in every email that I have sent to practitioners, this has come in useful because one practitioner told me that he had clicked on that link inorder to have a look at my work! This is interesting and has made me think about making a letter head/ footer/ draft for my future emails.

Contact

After I had waited for the photographer to email me back for several weeks about the placement I decided to contact him via his private Facebook page that I was friends with him on. 

I messaged him asking if her had received the emails and he replied telling me that he had but he had been busy. He apologised for this and then went on to tell me that due to certain issues, he would not be able to accomodate me for the work experience. He then said that he would put my name forward to a lady photographer based in manchester. This seemed ideal but after a few days of waiting, she didnt get in touch with me. 

I decided to then contact my tutor to see what other options were open to me. I was then told that I would have to do the inerview route of the module, this involves doing informal interviews with a number of different practitioners/ photographers. I am extremely keep to pursue this and gain as much information as I can from the interviews. It will allow me to understand the industry better as well as asking any questions that I want to know.

Initial Emails

Below is a copy of a semi-specific generic email that I sent out to a number of photographers. I subconsciously thought that it would be much more efficient for me to taylor each of the photographers emails to their specific field of work. I changed the name and did a basic amount of research inorder to gather a good understanding of what they were about. 

• I decided to add a link to my newly developed website, with my latest up to date images as well as previous bodys of work. I tried to include a wide range of my different styles of photography.
• I chose language that was quiet formal.
• I wanted to get straight to the point, I thought this because I am sure that photographers receive numerous amounts of emails/ letters from students searching for work placements. 
• I started by giving a brief introduction to myself, explaining that I am a student. Mentioning that I am a student to current practitioners was tactical because some photographers are weary of the up and coming student photographers due to the lack of work in certain areas of photography. Once the individual sees that I am a student, they might be more inclined to engage in an email conversation. 
• I then went straight into the dates that I would be available and decided to mention that I was willing to travel inorder to assist them, this would make me seem more desirable to a wider range of photographs.
• I decided not to add images/ jpeg attachments to the email because I thought that the link to my website would be easier and more effective.

Although this initial email was relatively quick to produce, I think that it is effective and straight to the point. I do however after thinking about it more think that I should have added more personal information about myself and that I should have tailored each email more specifically for each practitioner.

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Hi Jayesh,



I am currently in my second year of studying photography at Salford University  (Manchester) and our next module is work experience.

The module will start in around 4 weeks and will last for 6 weeks. The days I would be available will be Tuesday and Thursday and I am willing to travel.

I am a willing and capable student with a passion for fashion photography.

I have attached a link to my website below if you would like to have a look at that. 

http://www.ben-stokes.co.uk

Please get in touch if you require any assistance. 



Regards, Ben Stokes.

Initial Thoughts

When I was given the work placement brief I initially remembered a photographer who had already made contact with about work experience in the past. This photographer is called Michael Mayren, a Mancunion fashion photographer with a documentary twist.
I had been interested in Mayrens work for a number of years and around a year ago (In 2012) I had contacted him to ask for work experience/ a part time job. Due to the certain things, there was no need for him to have an assistant, as a lot of his work can be done by himself, there was also the fact of it is easier to connect with the person that you are shooting intimately when you are one-to-one.

Mayren popped into my head straight away at the assignment briefing because I have wanted to work with him for so long. This seemed the perfect opportunity.

I then emailed Michael straight away and had a reply within a few days. 

I also sent out a rather generic email to other photographers, fashion and beauty photographers mainly. 

I knew that i didn't want to do my work placement in a standard studio doing portraits of families etc... I wanted to get stuck into some location shooting with interesting and passionate photographers.