Leica Workshop

Leica Workshop

Mr Porter. Cat Garcia

On the Friday before last, I went on a Leica workshop. This one wasn’t like the other ones from this year. This one was about portraiture. So I was really being taken out of my comfort zone. This was led by portrait, editorial & advertising photography Cat Garcia.

 

 

Luke Ward-Wilkinson in Wild At Heart

On this workshop, we had a 25 minute shoot with an actor called Luke Ward-Wilkinson who has appeared in Wild At Heart. This instantly gave me a device to build up a rapport with him. I could also further build the rapport by mentioning about my cousin who’s trying to make it as an actor in New York.

 

 

Shrewsbury fan celebrates the clubs goal. Ben Peters

Before the shoot however, we we’re asked to show ten images of our work. I said in my opinion it was tough to pick because sports photography can be very repetitive. When looking at both my sports and my events work, Cat felt that with my portraits I should try to evoke emotion from Luke. To which Julian said he’s good at if you let him know what you want yo create.

Mr Porter. Cat Garcia

Next Cat spoke to us about her style of work. She feels that all of her work, whether it’s commissioned or personal is a collaboration. A portrait is a joint effort. Cat is a massive fan of natural light. The image on the left is one of my favourite. Her work also requires loads of preparation. Cat said she’d been waiting for the light and shadow to be in the perfect location to match the position of the face. This image wouldn’t of been the same if it was shot with flash.

So now onto the shoot itself. I decided to shoot with the Leica SL system with the 24-90 f2.8/4. I was the first up and if I had more time to practice. I probably would’ve taken a chance with the Leica M rangefinder. However I only had 20 minutes to practice. I’m really happy with the shots that I came out with.

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I decided to go with a mixture of natural and staged images. Feedback of the set was good as well. My peers really liked the colours and poses that I created with Luke. My only regret from the shoot is that all the shots we’re taken in shade so there isn’t as much light in the eyes of Luke that I expected.

The Leica workshop was a great way to end a fun 1st Year at Ravensbourne.

Seven Key Steps to Becoming a Professional Photographer

Seven Key Steps to Becoming a Professional Photographer

A week days ago I came across a video on Youtube which I thought I should do a blog post about. I’ve been a follower of COOPH for the last few years. They recently uploaded a video about their key steps to becoming a professional photographer.

 

 

Step 1: Find Your Specialty

When starting out, the most important thing to consider is not what equipment you have or want. But instead what type of photographer you want to be. When your starting out a good way to find your chosen path is try everything. One day try street photography, next day still life. This is will help you discover what is best for you.

When you know your specialism you can learn detailed expertise within that particular field. So if you have a passion for studio, you can learn lighting techniques. Deeper skill sets can often be more beneficial than a wide skill set. Work as an assistant will accelerate our learning and build up contacts.

Step 2: Get The Right Tools

Now that you know what area of photography you want to do, you can stock up on the equipment. Theres no point buying a 400mm lens and then deciding to be a portrait photographer. We must meet the basic requirements for our field. So a tele lens for sports, a prime for portraits, a tilt-shift for Architecture. But the most expensive equipment doesn’t guarantee great images.

For all areas, you need to have a reliable storage solution, failure to back-up your work could hurt both your finances and your reputation.

Step 3: Build A Portfolio

You have the area, you have the equipment. Now go out and start shooting. A portfolio is the first thing that a potential client will see. Social medias like Instagram are a good way to get a brief insight, but a website looks more professional. Also try to have separate portfolios. Keep your commercial work away from your wedding work. Don’t neglect personal projects.

Step 4: Find The Right Clients

When your confident about your work, it’s time to search for some clients. We shouldn’t be afraid to aim big. Me emailing Charlton was a big aim for me and now I have unlimited access to my boy-hood team.

We should aim to identify businesses that we feel would benefit from us as photographers. A good way to start with companies is offer one day of free work. It’s better to show that your willing by doing a free-shoot, than jumping in and appearing cheap to hire. If they like your work, they’ll want you again and you can offer a price. It’s key to know your price in advance.

Step 5: Understand the Business

47% of UK creatives are self-employed. We need to keep track of our income and expenses. So get use to sending invoices and quotes. You need to keep receipts and records. Also get camera insurance. It’s a bit more money spent, but it’s much better than forking out for a new camera.

Step 6: Refine Your Workflow

Reputation is very important in the creative industry. You can take magnificent images but if you have a bad personality, your probably not gonna get employed. The little things like turning up spare batteries and memory cards can go a long way. it definitely saves valuable time and makes you look more organised. Get familiar with post-production and file management.

Establish an easy to understand folder system. It is very important to back-up, once again like insurance, it’s a bit more money spent, but it’s better than the alternative.

Step 7: Promote Your Work

There really is no excuse for not promoting your work. We’re in the age of social media. It is a great recourse, but my all means create something physical. Print out a small A4/A5 poster of 4/5 images and your name and put it up and send it to old and potential clients.

Bonus Step: Never Lose Sight Of Why You Started Shooting

Photography and the creative industry in general isn’t exactly a job that people enter to make a quick dollar. Most people enter the industry because it’s there hobby. It’s why I want to be a photographer. Most importantly have fun.

PPR #2

PPR #2

Today I had my 2nd PPR, this time it was with Julian Hawkins. This was a very quick chat because Julian was running behind. Below is a summary of points from the talk.

• Other Sports

Image: Mark Pain

I said to Julian the only thing I’m struggling with is finding work experience. I said I was pleased with the experience I’d gained standing in for Tony Mitchell, but I need something to fill the void when the football season isn’t on. To which Julian agreed and suggested that I find other sports to cover. Summer sports like cricket, tennis, rounders, athletics, bowls, horse racing etc. Not only will this fill my time but this will let me develop new skills that other sports throw up.

• Counterculture Sports

Image: Tom Miles

Julian also felt that I should spend time documenting sports that aren’t mainstream, sports which you don’t expect much or at all on TV, so BMX or Parkour. Parkour can be both candid and staged. Another sport I thought of is obstacle course/fun runs.

• Work Experience

One thing I was nervous about but willing to chat about was a work experience placement over the summer. Julian felt that a placement on a picture desk or picture editor would be beneficial so he recommended newspapers like the Guardian, the Telegraph, the Times. I also mentioned to Julian that my mum is friends with the photographer at Sotherbys so I said even though this is a different industry to mine, should I enquire about a week or two week placement, to which Julian said I should.

It was also recommended that I look into photo-agencies or maybe even photo agents and that leads onto the next aspect:

• Advertsing

Image: Ope O

Julian mentioning to me about the chances of me considering advertising photography. I said it isn’t an area I gave much thought for but I do know it is where the money is in photography. Julian said the best way to break into advertising/commercial photography is by contacting agents of photographers. Agents only seem to be involved in advertising.

• Looking Professional

In the 2nd year, I’m going to be shoot a lot on Phase One and theres gonna be loads of location and studio shoots where models will be needed. So I’m gonna need my website and good social media feeds to show agencies that I’m kosher and help me with getting reliable models for my shoots. We were also recommended to avoid finding models through social media because we don’t want to be let down.

• Phase One

As mentioned we have loads of medium format shooting coming up in 2nd Year and because we have the POCP as well it’s been recommended that we prepare for it, there are refreshers in June that Ravensbourne are running with Flash Centre. I’m also attending a work shop next week with ex Flash Centre employee Al Simmons. This should put me in a good place for the POCP come January 2019.

Feedback for Mono & Fanzine

Feedback for Mono & Fanzine

A few weeks ago, I received a B+ for my Mono and Fanzine submission [subject to moderation] Below is a summary of the audio feedback.

Video One: Julian Hawkins & Terry Hawes

I must admit listening from Terry’s feedback of my Fanzine. He liked the end product, but it wasn’t exactly what he expected. Which is a shame because he felt really confident in the idea. I believe this because there were many pauses in the feedback and sometimes it felt that Terry had to think really hard for some positives.

Terry also said “you’ve got the mechanics but you haven’t put it into practice” this was because I set up a grid and bleed marks but I “haven’t used the full bleed, you haven’t extended the full bleed box out“.

One final thing Terry picked up on is “less is more“. Terry felt that there was slightly too much content, which to be honest I expected to hear. I was worried about the amount of words. “you’ve got all the appropriate, correct information but theres too much of it” Terry did however finish this thought with “Your enthusiasm just bubbles out of the pages which is a joy to see. So I think photographically, it is strong, lots of good elements, so well done. It is a nice piece of competent work.” So in my opinion I received some very constructive feedback from Terry as regards to Fanzine.

Next Terry gave feedback for my Mono submission. “Mono, lots of different variety of shot choices, you’ve got evidence of moving the type around“ I’m also pleased to say that Terry really liked the image on the left, it was my favourite image from the shoot.”I love the close up of the guy taking the glasses off.“ One thing that potentially could’ve been a bit better though was my final placement of the type. “The type is a little bit, the positioning could be a little bit tighter. You’ve used some interesting crop ideas.“ 

The last comment of Mono from Terry was “Yeah, you’ve defiantly had a good go, you’ve seized the project, the ball by the horns had a good wrestle with it. Exactly what I wanted to see.”

After talking about the Fanzine. Julian proceeded to talk about my workbook. Julian started by saying “it’s excellent actually and it’s very very clear, follow, easy to navigate.” However the one problem that I do have to address is the lack of references. These can be “other photographers, people who are inspiring you, people who are maybe working in the same way that you want to work. Peoples who’s ways of working or ethos or style is something that you’d like to carry over into your way of working”

Video One: Julian Hawkins & Chris Frazer-Smith

Julian kicked this video off by talking about my conduct within the studio. It would seem that Julian was very pleased with the conduct of me and my team in the studio. “Very well organised, you were in on time your pre-booked and collected all your CLR equipment on the Friday before and stored it. And as a team, you we’re all very good at helping each other, which is very good to see. Very professional and very mature, I don’t see enough of that.”

Next Julian spoke about me as an individual. He felt that I had a very good comprehension of my camera and the technical side of photography. This is something I strongly agree with. My skills are in the technical side, but there are still new things to learn about my camera. I’m also keen to improve more on the meaning and the theory of photography. Julian followed up with this summary of my Mono shoot “Your imaginative with your poses and lighting, you did two different backdrops. You got the model to do different things. You had a clear idea in your head of what you wanted to achieve and directed your model accordingly”

Next Chris gave me feedback. “It looks very confident. I would say that you’ve tried some different things lighting wise. Which is nice to see. Your missing the full-length shot. Which is a shame. But that doesn’t take anything away from the fact that you look confident.” I must admit I couldn’t get a full body shot of Nathan because he’s 6 ft 2″ and his head was at the top of the colorama. Yes I could’ve done some cutting or manipulation in Photoshop but sadly my shoot was before the specific Digi Darkroom lessons and it wasn’t really something I’d tried before. It however would’ve been good experimentation though if I gave it a try. Chris followed on saying “Not only in your technical ability behind the camera, with lighting and directing your model in the studio. So yeah well done…  You know, keep on using your game all the time and pushing your comfort zone.”

Next Julian spoke about my Fanzine. “And looking at Fanzine. Very much the sort of thing that you may well get at a football game and you’ve probably been looking at Charlton’s own or similar, whether it’s their fanzine or their programme.” This is an avenue of research that I undertook. I looked at Voice Of The Valley which the fans created. I did consider looking at the programme Valley Review but I felt that was too serious. “not a programme as I remember programmes at football matches. It’s more than that, it’s very well done indeed. With lots of photography. And its not all been done on one session or one day.”

After this Julian spoke about me as a sports photographer with Charlton. “you’ve got a strong involvement with the club, you’ve got the access, they give you press access. Developing that sort of relationship with people is so important and I know it’s an area of photography that you want to go to. However I will say this to you and this is just an overall general thing. Make sure that you have all the other skills in your photographic bag… If your good, they like me in this sort of circuit. You will find that you get asked to do other things for them. It might just be people in the directors box shaking hands,” As a matter of fact, I’m currently standing in for the hospitality photographer Tony Mitchell I however fully understand what Julian means, I needed to make myself as well-rounded as possible to stand out. Also I said at the end of my fanzine that to be a club photographer, you really need to be a jack-of-all-trades kind of photographer.

Chris felt that there was potential for this to be a personal project. “I very much like this ongoing project for you Ben… more that can be achieved here, where you get your camera into certain places now you’ve got the agreement and understanding and relationship with Charlton. It’d be nice to see you in the dressing room, before the game, where all the kits are laid out before the team arrive.”

Overall I’m happy with my grade for Mono & Fanzine I do however feel that I made a few significant errors, mainly in the production side which hindered my grade from being better. I’m still very content with a B+ and I definitely know how I would tackle this or a similar project if I had to do it in the future.

 

Mono Reflection

Mono Reflection

Below are the four images that I have submitted for my Mono editorial brief. I’m very happy with how this project has gone and I feel that this is a good time to reflect on what went well in this challenging project and what I’d do next time if I received this brief or something similar in the future.

Close Up: Catch lights life the glasses from Nathan and make them stand out

Full Body: Really like the contrast that makes the glasses stand out

Something Diffrent: Holding the glasses to the viewer. Looks like he is about to put the sunglasses on to shield the sun [softbox]

Waist Upwards: Really like the arrangement of type and imagery

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What Went Well:

• Variety Of Image

I think I got a wide range of images during my shoot with Nathan. I covered all the poses I wanted to and I came out with even more poses. As a result I feel I have met the brief of having four different poses. I have a close up, waist upwards, full body and something different.

• Coherence

When I showed these four images to my friend, the first thing he said was “Did you intend to have the model to hold the glasses in all four images“. I didn’t realise this but I fell it establishes a running theme, it also shows the model interacting and maybe liking the sunglasses.

• Confidence

I feel that I was fairly confident in portraying my ideas to Nathan and he really helped with recreating my ideas. Some pose I didn’t have any examples sketches of old images to show him so he had to rely on my direction of my body and words. Which I felt I delivered clear instructions. I defiantly built up a really good rapport with Nathan which is really important. PA photographer, founder of Stella Pictures Ltd. and acquaintance of mine, Daniel Hambury an editorial photographer said “I learnt very early in my career that portraiture is a combined effort between the subject and myself. If they don’t buy in to my idea it shows.”

• Selection Process

I think my decision to create a questionnaire was a good call. I had personal connection to these images, so I felt it was important that I got an outside perspective of my images. I had to be careful though because this was too a strict brief that is why I stated in the intro the following:

“The Masthead “Mono” & “Art Fashion Architecture And Music Issue_01” can’t be moved. “Shady Deals” & “Glasses Define The Look” can be moved. Imagery and text have to be in Black & White.”

However it would seem that some people didn’t follow that as people said that maybe the type Mono could be moved. However it provided a nice range of feedback which I even got a response from Tom Miles where he said if I wanted to I could get in contact with him for further more detailed feedback.

• Teamwork

I think we worked well as a team. We spoke to each-other on a few occasions beforehand so we knew what ideas we’d all be attempting, so we had a plan of where to put lights, whether we should use a soft-box or a beauty dish etc. Also because we weren’t tethering, there wasn’t a need for a digi-op. So we could focus on one light each.

Also after our talk in December, we set up a group chat so we could discuss ideas and we could also discuss what equipment we could use.

• Initial Ideas

I think that I initially developed some strong ideas. I was really excited by the idea that I went into the talk with Terry and Matt. I felt this was very strong, to which Matt and Terry agreed. However a few days before the shoot, I postponed the idea, I felt that I wouldn’t have enough time to create this shot. However when the actually had the shoot, I felt much more confident about the idea and I believe I have successfully shot it. The main confidence boost, was finally being able to get the flash in sync. I wasn’t sure how to do it, but it was very simple on the day of the shoot and as a result, I was able to shoot it. I only wish I tried this shot on a white backdrop as well.

Also when I was sketching my ideas, I always had this sketch next to me, just to remind me of where the type is. To counter the type, all of my sketches we’re done on the right side of the frame, or right in the middle. Other sketches for my shots can be found here.

 

 

 

 

 

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Next Time:

• Finding Models

Finding a model for my shoot was particularly tough. I contacted the following agencies, Nii, DAM & Base. I even signed up to Fashion Monitor but I struggled to navigate and make use of the website. I really thought I’d left it too late. I never started contacting until December, the month before my shoot. I never heard back from Base. Nii was inconsistent will replies. They took two weeks one model was no longer on there books and five weeks to say that a model wasn’t available, which when I went back asking for more they never replied. I must admit, I have a feeling that Nii agency is just a man with a laptop because it’s address is a house in Lewisham and theres nothing on Companies House, as a result I had no way of getting in contact over the phone.

Then I spoke to DAM, there were a few off days when it came to emails but I eventually broke through when the said that Nathan would be available. I was looking for models who hadn’t done many shoots because I felt they would be most happy to test shots, however I had to be cautious that they weren’t inexperienced. Which I will be completely honest I was a tiny bit worried because Nathan only had two shoots on his page. However Nathan was very professional during the shoot, he was always helping with the set up and he carried out my poses with confidence.

The day before the shoot, I was nervous that Nathan wouldn’t turn up. It was such a relief when Nathan text me asking if I was the photographer for his shoot. Not only did it secure his presence, it also gave us an opportunity to confirm ideas that I had which had been passed on to him.

• Test Shots

I did QP test shots during my Mono shoot however I only did two, one with a black backdrop and one with a white backdrop. However I really should’ve done QP card shots every-time I changed the lighting set up. This is because when lights were moved around, the intensity on Nathan would be different, so an adjustment for an image where the light is 10 cm’s away, wouldn’t match an image where a light is 50 cm’s away. Luckily it doesn’t seem to of meant that the exposure of images were out, however on the next shoot, I might not be so lucky.

• Dry Run

Following on from test shots, I didn’t do a dry run. In the end I was confident with the poses I had to recreate, but it probably would’ve made me feel even more confident if I did a test run, it would’ve meant I could’ve created more accurate lighting diagrams to use in the shoot. It defiantly would’ve given me even more practice with synced flash and I possibly could’ve planned and done even more complex shots.

• Experimentation

I must admit, I feel that my shots involved some fairly simply lighting set ups. Maybe I should’ve taken time to create some images with some more sophisticated lighting set ups. Maybe I could’ve backlit the subject. Maybe if I did a dry-run I could’ve test it out and then execute it in the shoot.

• Tethered

A few days before the shoot, I planned to shoot tethered. This was because of a tool that Chris taught us about where we can have a png of the Mono layout and they would be overlaid as we shoot. This would’ve helped me with the image I took on the right. The pose and position of the catch lights we’re perfect. However I didn’t leave enough negative space for the masthead. Luckily there was room for the type to be cut in half, which I didn’t know how to do it initially. Yes I did print out the Mono layout beforehand, but it’s seems this still wasn’t enough the remind myself of the composition I had to shoot.

However if I was gonna shoot tethered, I was gonna have to shoot on a tripod. Which isn’t how I like to shoot I prefer to move around and shoot. This is something that I’d have to adapt to.

On another note, maybe I should’ve tried extending the frame and painting it black so I could have the type as one line on the left, above hand.

• Research

If I did this project again I would do more research, I think I narrowed myself by looking at photography that used sunglasses, ideally I would’ve conducted more research into ID magazine and maybe a few more publications. I only looked at a couple of covers for ID and it led to my idea of using split lighting, because ID are famous for only showing one eye on there front covers.

 

 

 

• Selection Process

I was glad that I did a survey about my front covers. But if I had time, I would’ve actually printed out all the covers I’d made and I would’ve just started at them for half and hour. Certain covers would pop out more than others. Giving me a rough idea of what are best. My tutor is foundation always said “The life of an image is in the print“.

• More Structure

If I was gonna do a project similar to this, I’m hoping to have more structure to the shoot. Before the shoot I’d planned to spend 20 minutes on each pose. We could spend 22 and 1/2 minutes on each pose but if I spent just 10 minutes per shot that would leave 10 minutes as contingency. However I didn’t experience that at all. My shoot started at 2 and I felt I was finished by 3, to which I had the space booked until 3:30. Maybe I should’ve kept shooting till, it might of given me a tiny bit more variety. Rather than focusing on one pose from a time, it was more a case of jumping from pose to pose.

• Organisation

I turned up to the shoot without my sunglasses. Luckily I only live in Kidbrooke, ten minutes away so my dad was able to run them down. To avoid this in the future, I will have a checklist in my bag. Tom Miles has around 10 bags and cases worth of photography equipment and every bag has a certain piece of equipment which never changes. This way when he knows what equipment he needs he just grab the bag and go.

• Equipment

Next time, I’d make sure the equipment is booked much earlier. I finally completed the risk assessment after 3 attempts on the Monday before the shoot. I was really worried that I wouldn’t get it done in time. Wo which I’d already prepared an expensive shopping cart at The Flash Centre and I was ready to pay for me and my group to use it because of how late I submitted the equipment to the CLR.

Fanzine Reflection

Fanzine Reflection

Below is my final flat-plan for my fanzine brief. I’m really happy with my 24 page ‘zine, it was a project that I was feeling very nervous about because I didn’t know what “interest” would be worth sharing. However a discussion with a fellow student pointed me in the right direction with an idea that stood out. So now is the perfect time to reflect on how this project has gone and what I’d do if I received this or a similar brief in the future.

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What Went Well:

• Initial Ideas

I feel that I came up with some good ideas, this started out by doing a spider-map of my interests so Music, TV, Photography, Locations etc. I initially had a wide range of potential ideas however nothing really stood out. Nothing seemed like it had the potential to be a 20-24 page fanzine. However I had a talk with Molly Percy during a lesson where a technical person was paired with a creative person to compare ideas for Mono and Fanzine. This is where my idea for fanzine was born. We we’re talking about my sports photography and Molly ticked when she heard I was a season ticket holder at the same club for 6 years. She thought I could make a fanzine about my journey from fan to photography, essentially how my responsibilities for the club has changed. I said to Molly that a fanzine about Charlton was a prominent idea in my mind but I just couldn’t think of what to say about Charlton.

• New Skill

I feel I’ve learnt a new skill with InDesign. Which has given the confidence to go on and make my own photo-books or magazines. Which I’ve done a photo-book in the past, but I used Photobox to assemble it. This also meant I was able to help my friends when they had a question about InDesign.

• Development

I feel that my fanzine has developed strongly since my talk with Matt and Terry in Decemeber. At the time of the post linked here I had gone through four flat plans, since that post I’ve had another one which is my final zine’. My articles developed as well. These are the articles I had in mind for it. 1. Interview with fellow photographers, 2. Articles about certain players, 3. Article about certain matches and 4. Article about the current ownership which the fans are protesting against. However in the final zine’ the articles include 1.Back To The Valley [History of Charlton and anniversary match] 2. Behind The Scenes [Access I’ve got as a photographer] 3. Standing In [This article about the chance I had to stand in for the hospitality photographer] and finally 4. The Future [this is about me as a photographer and where I want to be in the future].

The final aspect that had developed strongly is the size. Initially I sized my fanzine to 270mm by 210mm because according to Zineprinter it is eye catching. However I was nervous about that size because not all printers do custom sizes. So I decided to create another ID file with the same images, this time in A4. However after some thought I decided to change again. This was because when I was visioning holding the zine on the Double-Page-Bleed it would nearly be A3. So I decided to switch to A5. Which is the size of the Voice Of The Valley which I used as preliminary research. Also A5 feels like a more normal size of a fanzine. It is something people pick up at events and put in there pocket to read at home. Which you can’t really do with A4 but can easily do with A5.

• Finished Product

I’m very impressed with the print quality, I decided to go with Mixam rather than SBS because I just felt a tiny bit more confident using an online service that would take a few days rather than somewhere that is in house and would be done in a few hours. I can’t say if this is worth it without doing the final print at SBS, but I’m very impressed with the result.

• Met The Brief

I’d say I’ve ticked all the boxes of the brief. It’s 24 pages long, I’ve designed the front cover with a Masthead, it’s full colour and I have the full variety of images. I have a two double page bleeds. I have the single page bleed with type on the opposite page for my introduction. I have an image with type over it and I have a collage of images that work well, however I think the collage could’ve been ever better. I also believe it looks professional as it’s been printed. Maybe it would’ve been worth me adding a finish when I printed at Mixam but I’ll be honest I’m not sure which one would’ve worked best.

• Other Magazines

I was very pleased with the research I did into other magazines. Julian recommended that I take apart both the Guardian and FT’s weekend supplements, just to get a sense of the thought process that went into creating the magazine. How many Double trucks are there, whats the ratio of images to type, how many images are there. Most magazines believe in “Less is more“. Unfortunately, I was only able to take part the Guardians Feast, however this showed me there is a clear structure, which would’ve been tough to work out if I just read the book. I guess it’s follows a clear structure because it’s a essentially a cookery book. You have to follow the steps.

• File Management

I feel that some aspect of my file management we’re pretty good. When I started to assembly my Fanzine I got a few broken links because I thought I only had to place an image and that was that. So to counter this. I assembled an image folder where I listed what page the image would be on.

 

 

 

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Next Time:

• QP Test Shots

For this project I didn’t have a chance to do any QP card test shots. I’d imagine for sports images it would be very tough to use white balance cards depending on the location of the player within the frame the intensity of light will be different so the white balance cards would possibly be inaccurate. However there are a few instances where I could’ve and should’ve used QP cards. For example the wide angle shot of the Valley I should’ve and the shots taken inside the tunnel. Once again like Mono my exposure and white balance seems to be fine. Next time I might not be so lucky. It’s something I will make sure to do in the future. Also at my next game, I might get one image of QP cards in sunlight and one in shade, just to see what they look like when they are applied in post.

• Quotes

Like models in Mono, I left my hunt for them to much later in the process than I wanted to. I did eventually get three quotes but one of them took around four follow up emails. Which I would’ve felt much more calm if that’d happened a few months ago, rather than four weeks before the hand-in.

• Grammar

I must admit, there is one grammar mistake towards the end of my fanzine. I accidentally wrote ‘the’ twice. Next time I will check a further once more just to make perfectly sure all the grammar is right.

• Graphic Design

I’m happy with the collage of images that I used for my project, I however do wish that I’d consulted someone on the graphic design course just to help with me combining images to see what works. I have a personal connection to these, so I know what order they we’re taken. This however doesn’t translate into images that work in a sequence. I believe I have got some images that work together but if I had time I would’ve asked for a send opinion, and I probably would’ve asked if they could’ve constructed something graphic.

This wasn’t my original collage either, this is explained further into this reflection.

• More Research

I wish that I’d done more research into fanzine. Terry recommended that I looked at Mundial, however I didn’t have a chance to.

 

 

 

 

 

• Scatter-proof

In total I did three scatter-proofs. Two at SBS and one at Ravensbourne. However I did none at Mixam where I ultimately printed my Fanzine. There a pretty long reason why I printed them twice, which can be found here. In summary, my process of getting the images sent off was wrong because I was worried about the file size. The images were a tiny bit soft so I decided to print on semi-gloss at Ravensbourne. The images looked a bit sharper. So it was either my process of the files, or it was the quick printing. So I decided to take a gamble and print at Mixam. Which initially I thought they didn’t do scatter-proofs. However I then found out they do free proofs, just had to cover delivery. However this would’ve potentially delayed my printing. If I’d found Mixam earlier, I would’ve ordered a scatter-proof just to put my mind at ease.

• RAW Files

I don’t have every single RAW files to this fanzine. This is because the two images of myself, we’re shot by two fellow photographers and I don’t have the RAW file to the front cover. This is because it was shot before I started at Ravensbourne and I stupidly thought I wouldn’t need the RAW file anymore. I however did want to keep this image because this is my strongest Charlton image.

As a matter of fact, I changed the images of my collage because of missing RAW files. The opening article was going to be about Charlton Atheltic vs Portsmouth. I had the edited jpegs, but I no longer have the original RAW files. This match was shot after I started my course, so there was no excuse for me not backing up the RAW files because I never know when I might need the originals again. But I switched the articles and images to a match which I still have the original RAW files. In my opinion, the replacement article is much stronger and the images are as well.

• Nix Collection

I wish that I’d waited just a few more days to print my Fanzine because this would’ve meant I would’ve been able to edit my images with the Nix collection with Chris.

 

 

 

• Security Reasons

Article about next ‘issue’

Since my talk with Matt and Terry I had an idea for the final page of my Fanzine. I was gonna have my passes scanned in and placed as a border around the page as I write about myself as a photographer.

Terry suggested it and I agreed with him. However a few days before I printed, my Dad asked me “Are you allowed to share the passes“. To be honest with the Charlton and Millwall passes, I might of been alright with them. However I probably wouldn’t have been allowed to share the Premier League or Wembley, which is a shame because there the passes I want to share the most. Maybe I should’ve emailed both Wembley and the Premier League asking if I’m allowed to share them.

To compromise I decided to print them like this, where I’ve cropped the pass so you can see what type of pass it is but people can’t see what the entire pass looks like, so people can’t make counterfeit ones.

Arrival Of My Fanzine

Arrival Of My Fanzine

My Fanzine has arrived from Mixam Printing. I had to go to the DPD depot to collect it because of the snow. As a result it wasn’t expected to arrive until Monday. However I decided to go and collect so I had time to order a re-print if need be.

However I don’t think I have to.

Mixam Order Update

Mixam Order Update

My Fanzine order from Mixam will arrive tomorrow. I can’t wait to see the finished product

Final Four

Final Four

I’m probably going to experiment a bit more with the layout of the type but I have picked the four images that I’m going to submit for Mono.

Close Up: Catch lights life the glasses from Nathan and make them stand out

Something Diffrent: Holding the glasses to the viewer. Looks like he is about to put the sunglasses on to shield the sun [softbox]

Full Body: Really like the contrast that makes the glasses stand out

Waist Upwards: Really like the arrangement of type and imagery

When I shared these four with Ryan he said

“did you intend to have all four of them have the model holding the glasses in some way?”

I didn’t notice this when I picked these four front covers but makes a coherent series that follow a particular idea, which is interacting with the sunglasses to make them fun.

Fanzine Order

Fanzine Order

Yesterday I ordered my Fanzine. I’ve decided to go with Mixam Printing rather than SBS. I’ve wanted to keep my options open so I’ve decided to order from Mixam, to which if I’m not satisfied, I still have some time to print from SBS.

Below is my final flat plan.

I’ve decided to put my zine through some siginificant change to it’s content. Firstly the Charlton 0-1 Portsmouth article and collage [right] has been replaced with the Charlton Athletic Legends United match [below]. I decided to do this because the images are stronger and there is a lot more to say about the event.

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One article that I have decided to tweak for security reasons is the final article where I was going to include all my passes on the page. I’ve given it some thought and I’m not sure if I’m actually allowed to share images of the passes. If the wrong people see it, they could produce counterfeit media passes. Which is a shame because I was hoping to have my Premier League pass on there to show that I’d photographed in the top division of English football. So as a compromise. I’ve decided to crop the passes so they include the club logo and the type of pass that it is. So that way the viewer will know I have Access All Areas, with out showing the image watermark and the layout of the pass itself.

I still need to wait what my zine looks like in print but I’m impressed with what I’ve created. I will do another post when they have arrived, which is predicted to be Wednesday.