Conscientious | That has got to tell you something

Conscientious | That has got to tell you something

Hallows Eve......

It wasn't the ghosts, or ghouls, witches or fat Frankenstein  monsters that scared me. It was dolls faces, especially in the form of moving puppets. That and my Auntie when she removed her teeth and chased me up the stairs.... 

WHY COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHERS ARE WORTH THE MONEY..

Posted by: Tim Bilsborough

Photographers are artists and will interpret your ideas into reality through imagery. Professional photographers have extensive knowledge in showcasing brands and products, and consistently delivering to the very highest standards.

But before any magic happens, there is a small matter of money and how much you have to spend on photography. It’s a dirty word to some, but money makes the world go round. Like you and your client, photographers are in a business; it just so happens it’s a job they have absolute passion for, living and breathing it every waking minute (sometimes dreaming about it too) but this doesn’t mean they will just do it for the “love” of taking pictures.

As businesses they have their own overheads and their estimates will be broken down into a number of areas, such as:-

• Their time taken
• Post production
• Travel expenses
• Vehicle hire/purchase
• Studio/hire studio overheads
• Photographic consumables
• Equipment hire/ purchase
• Assistant’s fee
• Specialist shoots resource e.g. hair & make-up, fashion stylist or food stylists
• Insurance
• Sustenance

…Just to name a few, so:

Time + expenses + specialist help + overheads = £Estimate

Photographers instinctively know what’s needed to deliver the job you have briefed them. They will go away getting their head around a brief, going through the whole project processes, deliberating on photographic techniques and sourcing appropriate resource. And only then, submitting an estimate to do a job which will do the brief justice. Estimates you will be happy with or not.

When photography is commissioned, it is usually one of a number of other elements that are being commissioned at the same time. Quite often, for some reason, photography budgets are a contentious area, and there is a lot of pressure to make savings in this area. Why is this the case – does the budget setter think that it is just a single individual doing the work and only factors in day rates because they aren’t aware of the real overheads? Does the budget reflect the shot count? Does the budget allow for the fact that commissioned images can have an impact on their customers’ perception of their brand and has a huge bearing on the perceived quality of the product?

Budget isn’t the only thing that affects the quality of an image. In our opinion, the planning and briefing of photography is often woefully neglected. A more collaborative relationship with your photographer – not just a request for a quote, will mean that you have the opportunity to get the planning and briefing right first, and this can lead to a high quality and cost-effective shoot.

From here.

Its been a bit of a turning point for me this week; A Fine looking show in the West End, finishing off my MA project, and turning a mighty 40 years of age. All big things, but by no means a revelation, oh no, that would be discovering that someone has been commissioned to do a shoot using an i-Phone and Instagram.

Tuesday 23rd opened what is probably my most satisfying body of work, and exhibition, so far. Everything was just right from the large aluminum mounted prints, image curation and overall design of the show. This of course is all down to the gallery as I just supplied the prints.
The gallery was packed across both floors all night and I left happy and warm knowing that this one was 'just right'. 
Of course now the real work begins..
Margaret Street Gallery

EXCUSE ME, IS THIS SEAT TAKEN.

 

This haunting image by photographer Marcus Doyle is taken from his "Salton Sea" series, which forms part of his Thursday by the Sea exhibition, opening at London's Margaret Street Gallery this Tuesday.

Click here or 'View Gallery' to launch gallery
Formed accidentally after a flood in 1905, when water from the Colorado River overflowed into the area, Salton Sea – the largest lake in California – is a shallow, saline rift lake, situated directly on the San Andreas Fault. Such was its allure in the 1950s, it was a bigger tourist hotspot than Yosemite National Park. But, as the sea became polluted with sewage, and its water levels began to fluctuate, to the extent that whole towns were flooded with filthy water, tourists, along with the local population, were driven away.
Inspired by Richard Misrach's photographs of the area, Doyle created this series of images between 2004 and 2005, when he would travel to the waters from Los Angeles every Thursday, fondly referring to his trips as "going to the seaside".
In this series, Doyle, who shoots exclusively on film, has captured the ghostly quality of abandonment and decay in this peculiar, forgotten landscape, yet also hints at a sense of rebirth, thanks to the extraordinary quality of light, which lends his creations a serene, if eerie, atmosphere.
The exhibition will be showing until 2nd January 2013.
From The independent.