Tag: MA photography

Journal Reflection -Sustainable Prospects Week 4

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Reflecting on the topic for this week, I looked at where I am currently and where I imagine I would like to be in five years time. I am not yet a commercial photographer, so I do not have a current market, however, I do have a small and growing audience which has largely been gathered via social media, in particular, Instagram. My audience has good engagement with my content and there is a core group of loyal followers who consistently interact with my feed. 

I started out sharing my photography on Instagram with no intention other than challenging myself to share my images and to make the commitment of sharing one image a day.  I was stunned by the response and positive feedback I received as I had never considered the prospect of an audience, and was merely posting images for myself.  This online platform has proven to be an incredible networking tool, helping me to connect to others and to form genuine relationships. Breaking Glass Magazine, who have recently shared some of my photography, are an example of the real networking, connection and community that I have discovered through Instagram. Below is one of my featured images from their October 2019 Anniversary Edition article which can be viewed here.

Candleriggs Square, Glasgow, July 2019 © Juanita McKenzie

I do now look at things like engagement statistics because they are a good measure of whether I am consistently creating quality content for my audience, but also it is a great marketing research tool as it can give good indications of trends, preferences and audience loyalty. However, I do not measure myself by my number of followers and likes, but rather on the quality of real engagement and authentic connection that I can form with others, and by staying true to my own artistic vision.

I imagine that in five years time, my audience would have grown considerably and I would have expanded my presence across other online channels.  I would also have begun to market my work and my personal brand through these channels and other areas that are industry relevant and which would place me in the correct market share for my work.  Networking is as important online as in person, so this will be central to connecting me to my particular market and over time, my audience and market would begin to see some overlap.

This would be achieved by a strong business plan which incorporates a marketing, communications and social media strategy, alongside creating the quality content and photographic products that my market and audience would engage with.  I am very interested in creating photographic books, selling prints and potentially doing freelance work for relevant publications, so my target market is easily defined.   I would also consider teaching, running workshops and curating content as supplements to my income in order to be able to freelance and commit to my photography as a full time and commercially viable practice.

The Current Commercial Environment

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This week we explored commercial environments in photography and looked at whether there is a difference between commercial photography and art.  Although there is a clear difference in their intended audiences and market, the end result is the same, the aim is to gain income from the work.  This means that ultimately all photography could be considered as commercial, and it is not just confined to editorial or advertising markets.  What is also important to remember is that it is always the client who sets the rules for photography because they want content that matches their brand and their budget.  With the rise of digital technology and social media this has created an increased demand for images and quality content but it has also made the market far more competitive. 

In the publishing sector, many publications no longer have printed editions and have instead created online publications.  Their revenue has decreased and therefore so have their budgets, meaning that editorial work is now sparse and often poorly paid.  The rise of mobile phone technology and citizen journalism has also meant that many publications no longer need to pay for images and instead publish submissions from their viewers at no cost to themselves, further impacting on this market.  In an interview for the British Journal of Photography, Emma Bowkett, director of photography at the FT Weekend Magazine describes how online publication has changed the type of content needed and says:

“There has been a shift of focus from print to digital in newspapers and for our magazine, the challenge is to bring long-form journalism and visually rich content to this platform. We are working more with data and video to create a reader experience that is way beyond what we could achieve in print. It’s an interesting time for experimentation.” (Bowkett, Emma. 2017)

Advertising work has also had to change and adapt to the demand for online content and a changing audience.  The style of advertising has changed to reflect global brand identities and the aim of creating brand loyal communities.  There has also been a shift to using stock images for advertising campaigns rather than commissioning work, however, there is still a good market for photographers.  Stock photography is a potential commercial market for photographers to consider, however, it is important to consider the type of licensing and payment that will be received through this type of commercial market, and also what type of photographs are sold as all control over the use of these images is lost once sold as stock photography.  It is, however, a good market to consider as a supplement to earnings. 

One area of commercial photography that is still a good market and which is showing interesting and dynamic trends, is that of fashion photography.  There has been an increasing trend towards a merging of fine art and fashion photography which has resulted in some incredible editorial work.  A fine art fashion photographer whose work I admire is Lindsay Adler, an artist who has established herself firmly within the industry as both a photographer (doing commissioned fashion and editorial photography, as well as selling fine art prints) and an educator (selling books, tutorials and workshops).  She is an example of a photographer who has fully understood the modern commercial market and has created multiple income streams and a successful personal brand. 

Queen of the Desert © Lindsay Adler

References: Creative Brief Emma Bowkett. 2017. The British Journal of Photography, 164(7858), pp. 84-85.

Live Brief – Group Meetings

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Live brief – Week 3

As part of our work on the live briefs, we had a scheduled meeting with our tutors, Jesse and Anna, and were tasked to be ready with a short presentation to put forward our initial ideas for the campaign.  We met earlier in the week to prepare for this and one of the members of our group, Oliver, created a mood board as a visual stimulus to help focus how we would like our campaign to look and to help us agree on a coherent style across the group.  We all have very different styles of photography and work in different genres, so it is going to be a challenge to bring this together into a consistent visual narrative. 

Oliver’s Mood Board

The mood board was a great idea and triggered a lot of discussion on the main visual themes we wanted to incorporate into the campaign.  This was incorporated into our presentation to the tutors, as well as main points from the research we had done so far.  Our research had led us to identifying Instagram as the focus for our campaign pitch as it is the online channel that we felt would most fit with our concepts and could incorporate clever use of video within the Instagram Stories function, as well as IGTV.  The tutors seemed to agree with us and liked the concept of video, but suggested that instead of long videos we look at creating short clips. They both seemed to like the editorial look and feel to our mood board and felt that this was a different approach to apply to this type of campaign. 

The tutor feedback was very positive and definitely helped us to arrive at a focus and direction for the way we want to design the campaign.  We also took the opportunity this week to establish a list of each group member’s key skills so that we could look at allocating roles for the duration of our work on the live brief.   We selected one of our team to be the Project Manager and take responsibility for planning our timeline as there are only 6 more weeks left before we need to be ready to pitch. It will be essential to plan effectively so we can deliver on time.

Journal Reflection -Sustainable Prospects Week 3

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Thinking about the lessons, this week, I have had to consider where I locate my practice between personal projects and commercial photography. I am not yet doing any commercial work and it was only a few years ago that I rediscovered photography after earlier aspirations of being a photojournalist.  Although I no longer necessarily wish to pursue a career in journalism, the documentary impulse still remains but is focused on social issues and causes. I also feel increasingly drawn to fine art photography and wonder if there is a way to combine both aspects into my photographic practice.

The difficulty for me has been in finding my voice as a photographer and I took on the MA Photography because I wanted to develop my personal style and learn more about turning my personal projects and passion for photography into pieces of art or meaningful bodies of work. I think that initially I would lean naturally towards photographic books and related exhibitions around these bodies of work. I am increasingly drawn to the work of social documentary photographers such as Zed Nelson and Alec Soth. Looking to the works of established photographers will be important in providing inspiration and helping me to find my own style within these genres of photography.

Learning from others in the industry, participating in contests and reviews, attending workshops, networking and developing my personal brand are my next steps in this process, and I will explore these avenues concurrent with my MA project and other personal projects as these may be the beginnings of a meaningful body of work.  At the same time, I will look at breaking into the commercial photography market possibly through the sale of prints, stock photography and even some portrait work.  I am currently building up a portfolio of related work.  Due to working a full time job, my efforts to break into any form of commercial photography would need to be on a part-time basis and will take some time to plan. That said, it is a priority for me to put in the time and energy to build something for the future that is both sustainable and meaningful. 

Although I am still establishing and developing my own visual language, I do have a personal style that comes through my work but which I still find difficult to define.  Not everyone relates to or understands some of my projects, wondering why I would consider the subject matter that I do, but as these are personal projects, I make conscious photographic choices and stay true to my creative vision in this way.    Learning from others is very important to my development and growth as a photographer, however, I have also learned it is essential that I don’t make comparisons to the work of others because this can be a downfall not just in photography but in all areas of life. 

I do tend to focus on long term project work, so some of my ideas would take years to reach fruition and show results. This means that they would remain personal projects for now although there is always the possibility that this could change in the future. My current project for the MA is one that I view as a long term project that I foresee developing throughout the two years, however, as the course is structured into modules across terms, my challenge is to create meaningful visual chapters of a much longer process.

Urban wanderings © Juanita McKenzie

Art and Commerce

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The focus for our coursework this week was to explore how photographers mix art and commerce in different ways, as well as discussing the importance of developing a unique vision and distinctive visual language as this is the type of originality and consistency that clients are looking for. It is what makes a photographer stand out from the crowd and, very importantly in my opinion, makes them both recognisable and memorable. These qualities are essential now with the rise in digital technology and social media.

Personal branding is an important part of this too and must be considered when developing and online presence and creating content to be shared through these channels. The personal brand must not only be consistent with the professional image the photographer wants to create, but must also appeal to the appropriate market while remaining authentic and original. These aspects must all combine to compliment and highlight the visual language of the photographer.

Our tutor, Anna, emphasised that is is through the love of photography and the experience of practising it that we develop a personal style and visual language.  Having personal projects to work on not only helps to achieve this, but also keeps a connection to the love of photography. This is very important to allow for artistic expression, rather than having to focus on the commercial aspects of being a photographer and working within the design of the client brief.  It is important to create a balance between the art and the commercial practice

As Anna said, “Successful projects are produced by those who find interesting stories and interesting ways of telling them.” This really made an impact on me and got me thinking about the narrative aspect of photography, the visual story telling, something I would like to develop further in my own practice. It is important to create a balance between the art and the commercial practice of photography, and if done successfully, the two aspects could even merge, and personal projects may attract new clients.

As I am not yet a commercial photographer, I am predominantly working on personal projects and my MA Photography projects, so finding a balance would be about breaking into a commercial market, finding new clients and a market for my photography. I am still developing my style and visual language, which is one of the reasons I have chosen to do the MA Photography, as I believe this will help to challenge, inspire and develop my photographic practice.

 Some of the artists who inspire me and who have successfully combined their personal projects and vision with commercial photography are:

  • Zed Nelson is a highly successful documentary photographer and filmmaker who makes use of long-term personal projects to explore current social issues with a scope and depth that results in his very successful books and exhibitions. His project, The Family, for example, is ongoing since 1991 and will continue indefinitely.
A Portrait of Hackney, 2014 © Zed Nelson
  • Alec Soth, the well known American documentary photographer who developed his unique style and visual language by wandering and exploring to find the subjects of his work. His first book, Sleeping by the Mississippi, was born out of his travels along the Mississippi River and was self-published in 2004. It was this project that drew attention from the art world and firmly established his career.
Harbor Marina (Morning), Memphis, TN, 2000 © Alec Soth

References:

Photoworks. (2019). New Writing: Hackney: A Tale of Two Cities | Photoworks. [online] Available at: https://photoworks.org.uk/hackney-tale-two-cities/

Widewalls. (2019). Alec Soth. [online] Widewalls. Available at: https://www.widewalls.ch/artist/alec-soth/