I'd like everyone to meet Crunchie!
Crunchie is the first model in my new project exploring our pampered pooches. For this series I will be exploring why we pamper our much loved pets, and I will be looking at our obsession with 'toy' dog breeds. These portraits were taken in the studio, with one flash beauty dish. I used the Nikon D610, ISO 100, F/8, 1/125. I am looking forward to shooting many more dogs over the next couple of months, and am looking forward to making lots of doggy friends! If you have a 'toy' dog breed, and live in the Portsmouth area, please get in touch! Each doggy owner will get a copy of their final portrait, which will also be exhibited in my final London Graduate Show in June!
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Sorry I haven't posted in a While, I have been super busy with my final year of university! Keep checking out my blog for my next project... I will be exploring why we pamper our dogs!
Recently I was asked to photograph a proposal, on a sandy beach in Folkestone.
Georgie proposed to her boyfriend in a small alcove, lit in the early evening by candle light. The wind did give her team of ladies some trouble with the candles, however, they powered through to make the proposal perfect for the newly engaged couple. I am always grateful to have the opportunity to photograph such beautiful moments, and to give the couple photographs that they can treasure, with their memories forever. Congratulations to the newly engaged couple! Overall I felt my work experience was beneficial to me, as I learnt many things, specifically about running a studio. Working on my own projects and shadowing a photographer from a local business, allowed me to understand different aspects of the photography industry.
I spent some time during my work experience working on my own commissions. The first commission, was to photograph a proposal. This involved a lot of preparation, keeping to time schedules was very important, as to not spoil the surprise. It also taught me to think fast when situations do not go as planned. The proposal was planned to be inside a bar at Hyde Park, however, the soon-to-be-bride wanted to sit outside. As she had no knowledge of what was about to happen, I had to quickly assess the new location and adjust my settings on my camera accordingly. I also spent some time working on my retouching skills, I have learnt there are lots of different techniques that can be used to create an image. It also takes a lot of time and patience to get the techniques perfected to create good quality images. Finally, I have started a project working with the charity BARC. I have had an initial meeting, where I learnt a lot about the charity. I am now in the process of organising more meetings and shoots, with various people involved in the charity. This project will take a lot of time and planning, also it will involve a lot of text, as well as photography. In my second week of work experience, I worked with Sarah James Photography. The studio is based in Fareham and takes a variety of sittings, including newborn and family. In my week with Sarah James Photography, I helped with various aspects of the business. Seeing all the different jobs which comes with running a studio, taught me how important all the elements of the business are, and not just the photography. While shadowing at Sarah James Photography, I got the opportunity to discover the process of making orders. Each order had to be carefully documented and checked several times, to ensure each customer was receiving everything they had ordered. I also had the task of carefully putting copyright stickers on each print before placing a mount on them and putting them in a clear sleeve. this job required a lot of care, as to not mark any of the prints. Each order would be put together in a black gift bag, ready for the client. At the studio, I also learnt about building a client base, and how important marketing is within the business. I learnt how to create a mailing list, and how to design a newsletter for the business. In the future I will be creating this for Sarah to mail out her latest offers. I also made several phone calls to book potential clients into the studio, and to explain to the client what to expect from the day. During the sittings at the studio, I would run for Sarah if she needed anything, and watch and learn from what she did. What I found was most important from watching Sarah, was how she adapted her shooting technique to the client she was photographing. For example, when she had a newborn shoot, everyone would be quiet and hidden from view, as not to distract the baby from her. Whereas, when she had a family shoot, she used lots of silly props and joke books to try and make the children laugh naturally. I picked up on other business techniques from the studio, including her sub-letting. As her studio is in such a big building, Sarah sub-lets various rooms to other business'. Sarah also uses the building as an 'exhibition', displaying her work throughout. In conclusion, I felt my work experience was a positive learning experience. I learnt to work independently, as well as part of a team. I discovered techniques as to how to successfully run a studio, as well as understanding different jobs within the business. Some of my work experience I will be continuing, including my work with BARC. I hope to use some of the skills I have learnt with my work experience, in my future projects. Sat on the train making my way back to London, I have just had a meeting with Rebecca Leather, one of the founders of BARC (Beacon Animal Rescue Centre), in Kent.
I am starting a project working with the charity, to help raise awareness of all the hard work they do. I am a huge animal lover and I thought it fitting for my next photography project to help those in need. With this project I want to tell BARC's story thought text and photography. Currently, I am looking to speak to the founders, foster families and forever homes to help tell the story from start to finish. I am looking forward to working with BARC and developing some work that will help them raise awareness of all the work they do. Rebecca spoke to me all about the work they do at the charity BARC, and it was clear as she spoke how truly passionate she was about what she does. Both herself and Chloe Harrold, founded the charity last March, after rescuing their own dogs. Later discovering their dogs were rescued from Romania, intriguing them they began visiting Romania and rescued their first dog in April. Last year they rescued 87 dogs and to date they have rescued 190 dogs! One of their most recent projects they are undertaking, is a spay and neuter programme called Street Paws, to help those in Romania with the number of stray dogs. BARC will be opening a clinic in Romania, starting June, to help family pets as well as strays. Rebecca explained to me how in the 1970's many of the Romanians moved from the countryside into the city, unfortunately not being able to give their dogs a home, many became strays, wondering the city streets. It is also common in Romania for dogs to wonder the streets during the day and later return home. This gives a large increase in breeding and in turn increasing the number of strays. People sometimes ask them why they rescue in Romania and not the UK. They do rescue some dogs in the UK however, their focus is in Romania as there are no rescue centres in Romania. With only a few volunteers in Romania, most of the time dogs are put into public shelters. Dog catchers will place the dogs to public shelters where often, they are crammed into cages around 20 a cage. The dogs are kept in the shelters for around two weeks, before, often inhumanly put down. BARC are working with people and shelters in Romania to stop this, and help these dogs live a better life. The charity are working to create individual shelters for the dogs, to stop dogs fighting with each other. Trying to give each dog a better life, including sending disinfectant, leads, food and toys etc. It is also important to consider that in the UK on average 21 dogs are put to sleep, Rebecca tells me how in Romania it is increasingly more than that, once she visited and heard 200 dogs were put down in just one night. So as BARC rescue often from Romania, they do sometimes rescue from the UK and other countries. There most recent rescue being Thailand, a country Rebecca visited and couldn't help but help a poor dog called Felix, who was hit by a motorcycle. They are now working in partnership with a charity called Soi Dog Rescue in Thailand, who rescue dogs from the street food trade. Looking to the future the charity are looking to get their own van (currently hiring a pet transport van each week), and to continue to rescue as many dogs (and sometimes cats) as they possibly can. The work the charity do is truly inspiring and I am looking forward to learning more. In the coming months I plan to speak to others who help the charity, and to follow different dogs, to learn more about their individual stories. A huge thank you to all those who support the charity and help make their work possible. To see more about BARC, click here. We have been very busy at the studio the last few days. I spent Friday making phone calls to potential clients, making appointments with customers interested in an offer we were advertising. Yesterday, I began my day by making notes on what I had learnt in the week about the new software for creating a mailing list. These notes Sarah can now use as a reference to when creating a new mailing list. The busiest day of the week for Sarah is a saturday, she takes appointments daily at 10am, 12pm, 2pm and 4pm. I got the opportunity to watch how Sarah worked with two different families, the first a 9 week old baby, the second a family of four.
The baby needed a quiet, non-distracting shoot and the family needed jokes and silly wigs to create natural laughs. After each shoot, Sarah will talk the client through her price lists, and show them examples of what they could get printed. Sarah sells everything from package deals to metal prints. www.sarahjames-photography.co.uk Yesterday I spent another day at the studio. I spent most of my day working on excel. As I am learning running a photography business is a lot more than shooting portraits. I spent my day on excel updating client lists and importing these contacts onto some new software to create a mailing list. I sent reminder text messages to today's appointments to confirm they were still coming. I also helped Sarah go through the portraits ready to upload for the baby of the month competition. As with previously I also organised more orders ready for collection. Today was a very exciting day, as I assisted on a photo shoot. The photo shoot was of a 4 month old boy and lasted 60 minutes. Before the family arrived we prepared he studio, by checking everything was clean and tidy. I also had to make a few photocopies, and Sarah made note of the names and ages ready to attach to the memory card once the shoot was finished. During the shoot we discovered the boy wasn't quite able to sit up yet, so Sarah tailored the poses around his needs. Sarah used a number of different poses, using blankets, backdrops and props. Myself and other family members were asked kindly to stay out of eye sight as it would distract the little boy, and the mother was allowed to stand directly behind Sarah to keep him smiling. At the end of the sitting the family was talked through the baby of the month competition and booked in for a viewing. Sarah also discussed her prices for prints and wall art. Finally, I ended my day researching the software ready to use for creating a newsletter. (The picture above is a shelf in the studio where Sarah has switched business cards with other business' to reach more customers)
I have been busy recently organising various things for upcoming projects.
Some new projects on the horizon include a charity project with BARC, I am having a meeting next week to discuss possibilities. I have also been organising some studio shoots, and there is a possibility to gain some work experience with another photographer. Finally, I have been working on my portfolio and have just put in an order for a wedding photo book! I have been busy working hard on my retouching skills these last few days, and thought I would share some with you. I have used "Photoshop School" magazine as a guide for this method, which can be picked up from whsmith. I have used an old portrait from my GCSE portfolio to create this final portrait: For full tutorial I would fully recommend the 'Photoshop School' magazine.
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