Professional Practise Workbook 3

Professional practice work book 3

Research Book 3 will develop your understanding of becoming a freelance photographer and looks at
the legal requirements of setting up and running a small business.
It is expected that your work will generally be portfolio based (blog) 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.

Self-Employment

The first thing you need to do when you decide to work freelance/self-employed is to register legally with the government and the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)

You will have to take numerous of responsibility such as paying your own income tax and National Insurance, both of which are calculated by reference to profits as a stand-alone business.

You have to first register online and you will need to provide HMRC with:

§  Name

§  Address

§  National Insurance number

§  Date of birth

§  Contact telephone number

§  Contact email address

§  Date your self-employment commenced

§  Nature of your business

§  Your business address

§  Unique Tax Reference (UTR) if you were previously within Self Assessment

§  The business' UTR if you are joining an existing partnership (see the partnership’s past SA form)

§  The full name(s) and date of birth of your business partner(s)

(as the Government website suggests)

At that point, you start to work straight away, and you are obliged also to contact HMRC to let them know about your additional income. You will have to declare the capital you are starting with and then register the business so everything is legal.

You have to start your own company, set up a brand and a clear business plan. Sometimes the costs are quite high and if you get a mortgage you still have to contact and inform the HMRC. Always tell them about extra funding and expenses.

The key points of being self-employed are:

·       run your business for yourself and take responsibility for its success or failure

·       have several customers at the same time

·       can decide how, where and when you do your work

·       can hire other people at your own expense to help you or to do the work for you

·       provide the main items of equipment to do your work

·       are responsible for finishing any unsatisfactory work in your own time

·       charge an agreed fixed price for your work

·       sell goods or services to make a profit (including through websites or app)

Another thing to consider is to register the own intellectual propriety.

You can find how to on the Government website as well.

Having the right type of intellectual property protection helps you to stop people stealing or copying:

·       the names of your products or brands

·       your inventions

·       the design or look of your products

·       things you write, make or produce

If you’re self-employed, you usually own the intellectual property even if your work was commissioned by someone else - unless your contract with them gives them the rights.

Once everything is registered you will have understand which kind of company your will be. Sole-trader or limited company.

A limited company is its own legal identity, so as a shareholder your liability is limited (hence the name 'limited by shares'). As a sole trader, there is little distinction between you and the business. Any business debts become your debts and your personal assets - including your house - are not protected.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths: I believe my strength is strongly related to my personality. I am very liable, I am never afraid of the environment and I am open minded and open to new cultures. So for what I want to do I think it is essential. I am very passionate and I am sure the clients will have that idea of me as soon as I get to meet them. I feel like I can do better than anyone because I value not just the camera but the person behind and in front.

Weaknesses. I could definitely but new equipment, as I am a worked and a student, living by myself in a country which is not mine. But I work hard and I put dedication in what I do and so I am definitely on the right track to improvement.

Opportunities. I am very passionate and concern about social issues, specifically the homeless community, I could collaborate to try to help awareness and with charity purposes. One of the trends I see in the society is the strong interest in food and drinks. Never before I noticed that especially young people they have interest in discovering new coffee shops or new deli or restaurants, and I can see myself helping to improve those local business in my city.

Threats. The obstacles I am facing right now, is the possibility to buy expensive new equipment. I see some of my colleagues/competitors owning more material and I think is related to having more time to dedicate to it.  I do not think it will threaten that business, I just think the process will be slower than some other privileged ones.

Business Plan

The Business Plan I have in my mind at this moment, is very simple.

My aim at the moment is to collaborate with charities to earn money for homeless people. So, for now, the money I will earn will be entirely given to charity. Meanwhile I do this, I might find some small clients I can work for as a freelance and also I want to keep my daily job.

In the following business plan I present I will talk about working for the charity as well as working for small business.

• My business will provide with photography and prints. Photography will be not just printed but also digital, for the business purpose.

• The produce will be a series of images I can make an exhibitions to raise money for charities. The business one, I was thinking about specialising in social media marketing products.

• All the pictures will be printed and the prints will be available to purchase. Everything will be in my online portfolio. Talking about the other business, at the moment for example I am collaborating with a restaurant, the images will be digital and shared through social media.

• In the first case, my work will not be rewarded with money. In the second case, the price will be related to the product itself. 5 photo, full edited and ready to use, in different formats and everywhere, it is doing to be 80£. At the start I feel like I will have to price the product and not the time I spend working on it.

• In the first case I will use my camera as well as my lenses 50mm. No tripod and no lightings. In the second case, I will need tripod as well, lighting I can bring to all the locations. I aim to something simple and easy but efficient.

• In the first case, it is the charity associations. In the second case, will be restaurants and bar and coffee shops. They will find me by using the internet as well as I will promote myself door to door.

• The first case is not really a market. The second one I think it is exponentially growing as that kid of business are becoming very popular here in Nottingham and everywhere.

• My UPS is that I am passionate of what I am doing and I am a consumer as well. In the first case, my sensibility to human problems and society issues. One thing I have, is that I am quick with my work, I work under pressure and I have a very open mind. My products will be cheaper but not with less quality. They will be clear and simple, straight to the point and effective.

• My competitors are people who just started, and like me can have cheap prizes, and many of them are privileged with equipment I do not have. They might offer the same service, but talking about professionalism, as I am a person who have always worked in my life, I know how to deal with people and understand clients to get them exactly what they desired.

• At this moment of my life I am in Nottingham so for the moment I will be based here. My dream is to go to Brescia (Italy) and work with a communication company.

• Trough Social network and trough the charity exhibitions

• For the moment I am not interest in a big earning from the big project. The second case, I think if I keep doing a job of that kind which will both build me a portfolio and experience, it will bring me money but the breakeven point will be soon as I will use the same equipment for now and also I will keep my daily job as bartender.

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.