How to sell your soul 101

AKA: Wedding photography.

A couple of weeks ago a friend I haven't seen in ages asked me if I wanted to photograph a friend of a friend's wedding. To which I replied as long as they're aware I am not a professional and will not be able to produce images equal to a Vogue Bride cover, then sure!

I have always said I would never ever sell my soul to wedding or school photography. It's the black hole where creative souls get sucked into and dried out, never to be seen again. And sure, I know I'd be able to make a lot of money and all that, but I'm just not interested. Having said that, money is money - and I'm broke, so I'll sell a little bit of my soul if I need to to survive. Not to mention, at this stage in my 'career' any and every experience is good experience.

Having never shot a wedding before, I sought advice from the Andrew the Amazing (who's blog is not back up yet, so no link here yet). His one main tip was to scope out the location before the big day, at the same time of day the wedding would be, so I could see what the light would be like and also find some good locations for the shots. Which I did and found absolutely invaluable, thanks Andrew!

The client wanted: "lots of shots of ceremony, guests and bride and groom, with car afterwards as well".

So for two hours I took photos of complete strangers (death-looks included), as well as a bride that refused to smile and some very cute, but ratbag children.

I took over 250 photos, which, for the most part - to my very self-critical eye, were rather bland. However I did get a few gems. This is my favourite:


Anyway, the photos have been passed on, the money is in my pocket and I've got another notch of experience in my belt.

PIC Day Out 2009

Every year the alma mata organise the inaugural PIC Day Out - an excursion to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne (the same place as last year) where they give us a brief (the same one as last year) where we pretend we're working to a brief the Gardens have set for us for some marketing and advertising brochures, etc. The premise behind the day is fine, I just think that maybe they could take us to a different spot - you know, alternate every other year so we can get some variety... Anyway. My favourite shot of the day:

To do list 2009

So how exactly does one get from working (in a non-photography job) and studying part-time out into the big bad world of professional photography?

Well for a start I've worked out a basic list of things I want to do this year and the skills I want to improve and work on.

It goes a little something like this:

• Create a blog for my photography [tick]
• Upload some current photos to and link my Flickr site to this blog (and no, I haven't figured out how to do that yet)
  
• Finish my website and upload it
  
• Get a detailed business plan together for my studio
• Run a mobile phone photography workshop at PIC (if I end up being allowed to)
• Research my Exhibition/Book Idea and try to get at least some of the wheels in motion
• Research and plan my Presentation Idea and see if I can actually present it
• Take photos and create a website for my current work
• Take more photos (of friends and family) in the studio at school
• Improve my Photoshop, InDesign and Dreamweaver skills and perhaps see if I can get my head around what else the Adobe Creative Suite has to offer
  

I intend to use this blog for keeping a track of what I'm doing, how I'm going and so I can show off to various impressionable family members and friends - as well as my not quite so impressionable teachers and peers. I'm hoping it will also keep me going and inspired as well as make me more accountable.

I have a Flickr site/page/whatever you call it, however the photos on there are a bit of a mishmash of the good, the bad and the ugly. I'm planning on getting to that over the weekend.

I started making a website, a photographer's essential, last year as part of my studies, however my end of year folio got in the way and took everything over. As a photographer, a website is not only a place where I can display my photography, it also has the potential to display any other skills I have (enter the Adobe Creative Suite).

One of the classes I will be taking this year at PIC is business studies, where we get to see, through a little window, what it's like out there in the big bad world of photography. I already have a plan sketched out, but it needs a bit or work. It will also help make the whole thing a bit more real.

Last year at PIC I thoroughly enjoyed the Mobile Phone Workshop taken by the inestimable Stuart. And as my end of year folio consisted entirely of photographs taken with my mobile phone, as well as the fact that I have some previous teaching experience under my belt, I thought I might be perfect for the job. Teaching photography is also something I have considered as a possible career. There is, however, some red tape to get through and I may not be legally allowed to do so.

My Big Ideas* are going to remain private until such time as I can safely let them out into daylight without fear or plagiarism (even though there's no such thing as a new idea**) or pointing and laughing.

I currently work in administration/reception for a small engineering company. As you can imagine, this gives me about zero creative opportunity. So I'm making my own. I have approached the Boss about this, and he umm-ed and ahh-ed his way through a mediocre, non-committal response. Essentially he won't want to pay for it, however, as I spend a lot of my time sitting around all day, I figure he already is. And above that, I need the experience, so I'll do it anyway. If he doesn't like it, I won't put it up. The Boss has also suggested I go to some of the sites they have been working on and take some photos to put up around the office. This is a service he would also be unwilling to pay for, I will, however, be sure to talk him around before whipping out the expensive equipment and producing world class images for him.

Being one of the few arty-farty types in my circles of friends, I have been asked by a few of them to photograph them with their partners, various family occasions and other random events. My studio skills are what you might politely call lacking. So I am aiming to get a few studio sessions in this year so I can work on my lighting technique and aforementioned studio skills. Not to mention, every little bit counts.

And lastly, Photoshop and all things digital. I'm passably good at Photoshop and InDesign. Everything else needs work and lots of work. Somehow I think I'll be able to get plenty of practice.

*Yes, the capital letters are necessary.
**Thank you Stuart.

In the beginning...

After all the initial childhood 'I wanna be a mechanic/nurse/other generic career of choice' musings, I settled on 'I wanna be a photographer' at a relatively early age and haven't really changed my mind since.

Of course, life, as it does, got carried away in various directions that had nothing to do with that - travel, broken hearts, life lessons (also known as bloody big mistakes), running away, coming back - all happened in between now and then.

So about 18 months ago, after working 'for the man' for way too long, I remembered I used to be passionate about something.

I quit my job and enrolled in the old alma mater that I'd whiled away some time at just out of high school, to get my diploma in photoimaging and brush the dust off my creativity. In the first few months back, the best I came up with was this:

I was pretty impressed too. But other than that I was finding it a bit difficult to get myself back into the photography groove.

I think the main reason for this was my creative juices were finding it hard to flow smoothly, being constricted as they were, coming from the freedom and glory* of a full time wage to surviving on a part time wage. Therefore, figuring out a way that I could make money from my photography without selling my soul (I can hear you laughing from here Stuart) was paramount in my mind. After coming up with not a lot for quite some time, about half way through last year I had a brilliant idea! I would open my own studio for photographers to hire, which would (and yes, I realise this is the theory only) leave me with some free time to photograph what I wanted, without fear of becoming a poor homeless artist. Something like this or this. So you know, nothing simple or easy, or what might be considered normal**.

Now for those of you who know me, I never like doing things like everyone else does, this will come as no surprise. Of course, this means to get where I want to go will take more work, but again with the not wanting to take an easy path. So while I may gripe and grumble, I wouldn't have it any other way***.

Obviously, I am currently not in possession of my own studio, and I certainly don't have the means to even think about getting started, so back to the creativity.

Enter: mobile phone photography. You don't believe me?

All taken with my Nokia... uhh, 6280, I think - I'll have to double check that. Essentially your basic Nokia model. Again, impressive eh?

The accessibility of using my mobile phone camera gave me the freedom and opportunity to take photos wherever I saw something inspiring, without having to think about the technical side too much, so I could focus on making a good image, instead of the instruction manual.

So initially mobile phone photography was me being a bit lazy, then before I knew it, my end of year folio consisted entirely of images from my mobile phone.

So with a little help from my phones I've got my mojo**** back.

Over the Christmas holidays I took 23 rolls of film (I'm attempting to get back to basics), and I am now attempting to get my priorities organised and start my career in photography.

This could be the beginning of a wonderful friendship...

*Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

**Whatever that is.

***Feel free to remind me of this over the next few years. Possibly for the rest of my life.

****This being the technical term of course.