FinalProject.

I just finished shooting for my personal project today and still have one more print to make. I am happy with my ideas for this work, but might be a little worried about how they work as a group. I would like to continue shooting this work for years and years as a personal body of work. There will always be another mask, with another body behind it.

Faculty Art Show

I finally got to go over to the Faculty Art Show and I had only like five minutes to view everything because the women had to lock up, but I took the time to walk through. I started with Rob Goldman's work and ended at Allen Keener's. I liked the small polaroid shots of Rob's work, but I didn't really read anything from the work in particular. I loved the linoleum etches done, I forget who did them but they were very unique. Other than that my eye really didn't catch anything until I got to Allen Keener's work. I loved the presentation of his images, with the text and placement of the images on the big paper size. His pictures had a very personal feel, and the text really touched me. Especially the last print.

Owen

Our visitor Owen was nice, but kind of discouraging. While Janelle was talking about raising her prices the week before, Owen was talking about lowering his. He did more of a mainstream basic wedding photography work, while Janelle was more into the creative side and pushing things to the limit, which I feel works great for her. I hope to someday be successful in a photography field that I love doing, and not that I have to settle for.

new work

This is a new piece of work. I'm not done with the editing process yet, but this is what I am leaning toward. I wanted to capture religious views and how some people see things different. I started to shoot his head to stomach but then thought I wanted this to be less personal, but more in a way, by cropping out the face. Does anyone have a strong pull to this?

Janelle Brooke

I thought Janelle's visit was very worthwhile and informative. Being one of her students, I already knew what she was about and have seen some of her work before, but I had never seen the work she had showed us. It was pretty interesting to see how creative she makes wedding photography, almost made me want to do something similar. I think photographers look at wedding photography as a mundane field, when really, it is what you make it. I love Janelle's energy and vibrance, and you can see it come through in her work.

Paper.

Photography is the art of drawing with light. It’s the process of producing images of objects on photosensitive surfaces. To me photography means a whole lot more than just the basic, raw definition. Photography is a way that I express myself, which I’m sure many other photographers would agree with me. Francois Dischinger is one of these other photographers. I received a great gift, and that was to interview him, Mr. Dischinger. Photography is a booming industry today, and there are many different careers that fall into the photography world. Such as different types of photography, and careers that are photography involved.

One career in photography, that stands out and catches my eye, is portrait photography. Portrait photography is the capture by means of photography of the likeness of a person or a small group of people, in which the face and expression is predominant. To create a feeling and show who someone is by a still of just their face or body language is great portraiture in my eyes. “Portrait photography has become a wide-ranging commercialized area because so many people enjoy having portraits made to commemorate special events like family reunions, weddings, and graduations.” (Davis, 11)

There are employment opportunities everywhere, such as local, national, international or self-employment, according to Francois. The main thing for you to do as the photographer is to develop your eye, your vision. It’s what makes you different from all the other photographers, it’s your own special taste of work. Then people will recognize your style and want to hire you for the style you created and are passionate for. “There are two main paths, either a Freelance Photographer business or a Signature Brand Photographer business, but in both cases, your value comes from you, your strengths, your loves, your tastes, your circumstances, your weaknesses, and your skills. Both paths involve selling yourself as a photographer.” (Sanders, 25)

There are plenty of consumers in the career of Portrait Photography. There are consumers paying for personal work, such as family portraits and things of that nature. There are also consumers that are middle men, and are getting paid to hire a photographer for their business or company they work for. “Portraits are commissioned for special occasions such as weddings or school events. Portraits can serve many purposes, from usage on a personal Web site to display in the lobby of a business.” (Francis, 341-344)

There are many ways to get into the photography world and learn the trade successfully. Some people attend school for one, two, three, four, or maybe even more, and take photography based classes. Some photographers may have dropped out of school but started interning and assisting for local photographers. Also, people take seminars and go to meetings to learn the trade, but the main thing in all of these ways to educate yourself on the technical and business aspects of becoming a photographer, you need to have an imagination and let it run wild. This is how Francois Dischinger started off, he dropped out of college and started assisting and interned for different photographers to learn the career in which he saw in his future.

Francois let me know how difficult but fulfilling his career as a photographer is. His day/week schedule isn’t always the same, but they always consist of long hours, waking up and starting early, and coming home late. A normal day of work in the life of Francois is working with a big team of people and coming together to make beautiful work and pleasing the client at the same time. Being creative doesn’t always have to be just for yourself.

When it comes to pricing a job, the work involved and unique vision of the client can vary the price you may ask the consumer for. A local job may fall in the hundreds of dollars, when the national jobs can bump you into the thousands, possibly even more. According to Francois, being more determined will snatch you greater pay. “Digital media are making it harder to charge for prints in the traditional way. So rather than a “nickel and dime” strategy, she suggests photographers should charge for what clients really value-the ability to capture moments.” (Davis, 98) A good pricing strategy is to use the price point appeal psychology, for instance, people think a $49.99 portrait sitting fee sounds a lot more pleasing than a $50.00 fee. People always like to think they are getting a deal or a good price.

As far as a salary goes, portrait photographers make an average of $36,370 per year, according to a May 2009 survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to a PayScale survey of 701 photographers that was updated in October 2010, photographers’ salaries range from $20,843 to $41,637 per year. The five highest-paying cities for photographers, are San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta and Las Vegas. (Graham)

One important way to get your foot in the door in the photography world is networking. Networking is developing and using contacts made in business for purposes beyond the reason for the initial contact. Basically the best way to network yourself is to go to meeting and seminars. Join websites and groups that have benefits in the photography business. “Word-of-mouth will ultimately be your best and most reliable source for promoting your photography business.” (Davis, 78) “Join local associations, organizations, and civic clubs, especially those affiliated with photography. The American Society of Media Photographers(ASMP) offers educational programs and networking opportunities in more than 39 chapters across the United States.” (Davis, 78)

Francois Dischinger gave me some great advice and talking to him was an inspirational 45 minutes for me. The whole talk was very involved and I felt that he really put himself into the conversation, which I was very happy about. He told me I have to be myself and shoot what moves me, no matter what. Although when times are rough and you need to pay the bills, you may have to open yourself to other ideas and do what the client wants. But this doesn’t mean you can’t suggest your style anyway, by giving them a print of what they wanted and a print of something maybe a little more in your own vision. He told me I have to pushy, but not rude or ignorant, and to just stay positive and let my imagination flow. I learned that I can easily try and make my way into a photographers life and interview them, without any pain. Before I interviewed Francois, I felt very intimidated by the whole situation but I am grateful for his kindness and his outgoing personality.

JIM LENNON visit!

Hey all, I know this is a little delayed. But last week we got to visit Jim Lennon's studio and see what the business world of photography inquires. To say the least, it was a little intimidating for me, which I would imagine it would be to the rest of the class. But I thought it was a great visit and thought that Jim was a very intelligent and informative speaker. I would like to thank him for letting us visit as well. But also, I would love to visit other studios and see how other people work, and try and gain as much knowledge as I can in the field. I want to try and be able to work with all kinds of photography and in all aspects. I think as humans, we are too involved to settle for one subject, in particular, I think there are greater ways to earn a living. I would love to succeed in at least one of the fields in photography. That would give me the most gratification.

Exhibition at HSEC

My overall impression of the exhibit outside of the HSEC building was a rather unsure feeling on what was trying to be said. Although I felt this way I was very impressed by how much time and effort was put into the exhibit. Diversity is very important to me personally and as a photographer. I want to be more diverse with my work than other photographers, so I stand out to viewers. The banner that was titled "Struggles of Rejection" stood out most to me. The banners were somewhat confusing to me but I felt like this one communicated something to me and I could understand it further. I feel we've all felt rejection and the uncomfortableness that comes with it. Whether it be personal or as an artist.

purity.

For my second assignment in Digital 3. I was having a tuff time finding models. We needed to shoot 2 people and I was stressing. So i decided to ask my Mom and Dad, which my mom was busy. So i came to my sister, and I came up with this concept of "purity" or how the purity inside someone can be robbed from them or lost at any age. Purity is a beautiful thing to me, more in the sense of being innocent.

a little personal project.

I was bored the other day and decided to go through some older photos. I came across this shot of my cousins daughter, Jordyn, and thought I should play around with it. I decided to make a print and give it to her birthday next week, so she can always remember herself at 7, almost 8 years of age.

A Little Project

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGdE15Qj3iA

I thought this was pretty cool.

Today was my first shoot using strobes and I enjoyed it. It was a lot more simple than i've been anticipating.