Professional Practise Workbook 2

Professional practice work books 2

Research Book 2 will orientate you toward potential future photographic careers and develop a
greater understanding of the skills, qualifications and employment routes available.


It is expected that your work will generally be portfolio based as you build up evidence and material
to support your development. However, the key is the critical reflection and thinking about your
personal aims not the “Quantity” of material in your portfolio.

The three areas of specialist photography I choose are:

-       Portrait

-       Street Photography

-       Documentary

Portrait

1.1 A portrait represents the immediate look of a person’s face. The image is a high quality image which goes deeper than appearance because the aim is to capture not just the physical likeness of a person but also the person’s character and sometimes feelings. A good portrait will contain at least one element that reveals the subject’s personality, attitude, unique mannerisms or any of the other features or traits that form the individual nature of the person. And it tells a story of the person as well.

To shoot great portrait what you need is a macro lenses, like a 50mm, with a good aperture to show all the details of the face and to have a good deep on field of the character. So you can see the face on focus and the background blurred.

Another thing that is suggested is to use a flash can even if not in every situation you can use it because it is not convenient to use except for in situations of darkness.

It is more common to take portrait in a studio, with a proper set of lights and right equipment so you can capture the features and details of the character’s face. The light is very important because it can give to the picture a different meaning and feeling.

An example of portrait photographer is Steve McCurry.

Very famous and winner of many prizes, McCurry’s work have always been controversial and with impact.

One of his most famous photographs is the Afghan Girl.

The success of this picture is given from the fact that he captured this girl’s amazing eye, like she was telling her story with just the use of them.

The green eyes are made more visible from the green background and from the strong contrast between them and the red clothing she is wearing. He also uses depth on field to make the picture more dramatic and to empathise her.

1.2

Portrait photography is most used with clients that wants to advertise their image, or for a family album, or when a photographer who wants to tell the story of the character though the portrait itself.

It is strongly related to the person in the picture.

Some example, a politician will hire a photographer for his campaign, and the first thing is a portrait so he can be recognisable to the audience.

Other examples can be with book’s authors, public figures in the society or also for personal documents or in fashion. So a photographer can work under commission because a portrait is commonly used for business. It can be on a magazine, papers, billboards, but it is mostly used to represent the character/client.

Most of the time the portrait is shot in a studio so lighting, background, umbrellas, studio flash, soft box and also a tripod are highly recommended.

But the essential things you will need will be the lights and the lenses, like a 50mm macro lenses, with a 1.4 or 2.8 aperture, 80mm 55mm or 200mm.

The cost of it can be high or low depending on how essential you want the portrait to look, with just lighting and lenses.

Street Photography

The main characteristic of this kind of photography is the skill of the photographer to capture life and events of people while they are doing normal things that everybody does during a normal day or night.

I think you do not need a macro lenses but a long lenses because you will need to capture moments that sometimes are far as well as details of situations in a public environment such as square, markets, streets etc.

The main purpose of street photography is to represent society through the photographer’s eyes and personal experience. It can show locations, buildings but most of it people, who do not know they are being photographed.

It is like you are “stealing” a picture of a person during its personal daily life.

I like to capture in black an white because I think it is more dramatic, meaningful and with impact and it tells more a story.

That is why I will pick a very famous photographer who made street photography a very personal style: Henri Cartier-Bresson.

The thing that I love about his work is the natural composition of the pictures. One of his strength is shown by the use of black and white.

Every picture he shoot tells a story, and not just of the character but also of the present time the picture was taken. The composition is so well done, that you may think it was all prepared and set and people are posing but if you look carefully and know his purpose you know it is not.

It is like his eyes sees the whole picture before it is actually being shot, he does a pre composition of it in his head and then he shoots in the very right moment.

           

1.2

The main purpose is to capture the daily life of people. Most of the times the pictures represents random moments of the day of random people’s life who have no idea they are being captured.

The photographer will be a freelance who is just doing what he loves.

The equipment used is more essential as the photographer will need to use natural lights and lenses with no manual focus.

Lenses recommended are the long distance ones , so the photographer can capture something far from him without getting the character know so he can capture people being as spontaneous as possible.

It is also commons the 35mm and the 50mm to have a bigger picture of the world running around.

The cost is very limited as you will only need the lenses and not the lighting and of course you do not pay for the set and backgrounds.

Documentary Photography

Documentary photography’s purpose is to represent a specific event in a specific historical and cultural time.

I believe that in this kind of genre you do not need many lenses because the aim is to shoot and sometimes you do not have the time to get ready and prepare but you will want to capture as quick as possible but the photographer needs to have also a critical and have in mind what he wants to capture.

The importance in here is to capture the moment so the quality and the technique are second to the story the picture is telling.

Be a documentary photographer is hard as you will need both time and money to spend in traveling and you have to be open minded so you can have relationships with new cultures and situations you will discover and analyse, so you should be a but of a anthropologist.

The photographer I choose is Dorothea Lange.

Her most popular and incredible shot is the Migrant Mother.

Shot in the great depression in the US, this picture represent the concert and worry of a mother about her and her family’s future and you can see all that trough her eyes.

Also in this case, black and white helps to empathise the drama of that particular moment in the life of this woman and the society.

What will she do next? Where is the father? What is she looking at? What is she thinking? Those are questions the viewer asks himself looking at this picture.

Very strong and very meaningful picture, it was the mirror of the current society, and it is still very up to the modern history nowadays.

1.2

As I said before, it is used to tell stories about different cultures, different situations around the world and the history in that very moment. One of the most popular documentary photography who was very useful to all of use while studying at school was the photography during the world wars. So its purpose is to show people, to make the people who are not living that moment, live it and acknowledge its existence.

The only thing you will need is a very good lenses as the lighting will be the one you will find in the environment.

It will be a quick one as well, as sometimes being quick is essential but also the lenses has to be for example a 50mm so you can have the best definition when shooting a portrait.

1.3 – 1.4 – 1.5

Analysing the qualifications you will need to be a photographer of the types I chose, I believe you will need a strong knowledge of how the camera works, how the lighting works and technical matters. A degree is good to have but there are many famous photographer who became who they are just for passion and personal interest.

Talking about the portrait photography, you will work with the client directly and the earnings depends on what the client needs to do with his portrait and which quality and specific requirement was agreed.

For example, I can shoot a portrait for someone’s driving license or I can shoot a picture to the former president Obama for his campaign. It is still portrait but the earnings will be very different.

About the documentary, if I work with a popular magazine, like the National Geographic, I would earn money for publishing my picture and also when this picture is going to be share elsewhere, I will have its rights, just like songs.

Street photography can be sold to newspapers, or websites, or for research.

So it depends on who you are working to and which kind of level you are and which kind of moment you are lucky to capture.

There are a few professional/awarding bodies in the field of photography.

If you want to become master photographer, it is recommend to join one of the associations of professionals that can help you entering in the world of photography business, connecting with other professionals, getting inspired to become a better professional.

One of the most famous in the UK is the MPA who offers many services, like entering the Master Photography Award, utilities discounts, training, promotions of your work, a qualification system etc..

The prices are 13.75£ standard and 25£ for students.

For each genre I chose, to improve the quality of my image is definitely practise and the purchase of new equipment. The practice is meant not just by shooting but also by spending time in the post-production using Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom.

When I will decide to be a professional and make myself hireable, I will have to be prepared with a strong portfolio and a website. I will have to decide which genre I want to be specialised in because I believe that having a big portfolio with numerous genres is more confusing than have just a couple so you can show you can focus on that and it is your speciality.

To start off, is good to find yourself small jobs, so you can start building a better portfolio, such as local stores, family or friend’s businesses etc.

For a student or someone is facing the world of photography, there are so many easy websites to use that help you building a professional website (Wordpress, Wix, 1&1 etc).

A professional photographer should be read with the most advanced technologies to make himself more visible.

Nowadays the social media plays a big part into the communication system, at first it was only for social purposes but now it is also essentials for business of any kind and also, especially for photographer.

It is also easy as the work and the portfolio you will be showing will be photographic, images, pictures, so most of the people who own devices such as laptops, pads or smartphone can reach to you, have a look to your work and the possibility of employability get higher and higher.

The photographer will link his website to all the social media he can reach, like Facebook (the most popular), Instagram, which is specialised in photography, Pinterest, Tumblr and Linkedin.