Key Characteristics of my chosen practice area.

• Fashion
• Styling
• Photography
• Studio lighting
• Organisation.
• Retouching

I would say that the above bullet points are the key points that go into my chosen area of practice.

Fashion and styling are key because in order to create the fresh and eye catching editorial style images that I want to create, I have to pay attention to what fashion trends are current and pleasing to the majority of my audiences eyes. Styling is an important role that I participate in as there are limit local stylists to collaborate with. Studio lighting and technical skill is key in my field of work as I shoot mainly in studio's using Bowens lighting equipment as my source of light. I feel as though my skill with lighting has improved greatly and hopefully will continue on improving. Lighting is key because different styles of lighting communicate different types of feelings in images. Organisation is probably the most time consuming element of my entire practice. It is essential to running a smooth photoshoot. I have to manage a team successfully, ensure everybody knows where everything is, everyone is booked in etc etc. The photography element speaks for itself in relation to my chosen practice. I can't create the images I need to without my camera, eye for design and technical skill. Retouching is key in my area of practice as all my images need to be completed to a high professional standard and retouching is the final step in doing this.

Suitable job roles for key aspects - 

Organisation - Production manager, being part of a production team, an agent.

Studio Lighting - Assisting a photographer, becoming a director, being a photographer.

Photography - Being a photographer or Assisting one.

Styling - Becoming a stylist, a hair stylist, a makeup artists, an assistant of any of these or an assistant to a photographer. 

Fashion - Becoming a fashion styling or their assistant, working in an agency.
Retouching - working through an agency, freelance or for a specific photographer.

The only example of a defined progression route into a job role would be working your way to the top through assisting photographers. Starting out with smaller roles and then meeting the right kind of people and making connections that help you to assist the larger known photographers and get extra work for your own portfolio. As for all the other roles, specifically if I were to go into styling of any kind, I would need to take courses in hair styling and makeup in order to know the technical skill that would gain me work in that field. For the organisation job roles, having experience of managing a team would help to secure the job in a production team when applying for work at an agency or at a studio.

Letter heads and Mini cards

In all absolute honestly I do not feel as though I am in need of letterheads and mini-cards and I already have business card designs and post card designs. But as it is likely that I will need to send an invoice or two in my time I have designed some letter heads which would go on the top of my physical invoices.

 

The above designs are a few picks that I think would be suitable for my letterheads. Particularly image 1 with the information down the left hand side. I like this idea as it is not a conventional style of letter and I think it would flow really well with an invoice on the right hand side.

I like style two particularly because of the badge on the right hand side with my initials in. The badge is a bold way of stating my presence and brand as a photographer but does not match my current logo so wouldn't be consistent with the rest of my marketing package. The third option however, matches my business card design so would be extremely consistent. Sadly it is not quite as eye catching and unusual as design 1.

Postcard design 1.

I think if I were to get my postcards made up now, I would choose my seasons images as so far they are the strongest in my portfolio. As I am waiting a few weeks before I print these I will wait to see what other images I create.
I think one side should contain my artist statement as it links the image to my brand and explains what the image and my practice is influenced by. This is different to a business card as as business card simply connects an image with a name and contact info.

Post Cards

Above are a few potential options for postcard designs.  Number one shows a logo on one side and information on the other side. I'm not sure I like this design idea too much as it is basically an enlarged business card. What appeals to me about the other 3 designs is that on the information side there is an artist statement which makes me think that my postcards could be used for the end of year show and provide an insight into my work and who I am as a photographer.

With that in mind, it would be fitting for there to be an image on the other side of the postcard. I particularly like the portrait orientated postcard as it fits in with my personal style and is consistent with my business cards. I think keeping a marketing package consistent is extremely important as everything needs to flow well and accurately convey to its viewer who I am and what my work is about. I do however like the idea of having my logo on the information side of the postcard so my final design would be a mix of all the above designs.

Business cards

After having previous experience with the company, my first thought when debating new business cards was to head to the moo.com website. Their designs are modern and contemporary, reasonably priced and extremely good quality. When I hand over any of my current design business cards people are always so impressed with the quality of them and I feel as though they instantly take me more seriously. Like the first page of a website, a business card is the receiver's first glimpse into who you are as a photographer so my business card must convey what I need it too.

• Fashion and portrait photographer.
• Professional and reliable.

Instantly I have ruled out:

•  anything with impersonal graphics.. For example:

This is because there are no images of my own work on there which is exactly what a prospective client needs to see in order to consider working with me.

Anything retro.. for example: 

This is because my brand is not retro. While I dabble in the 1960's and 1970's my intention is not to photograph kitschy style images. I also do not shoot the majority of my work on film which rules polaroids irrelevant to my style of imagery.

Right now I am highly considering keeping my previous design but printing with new images. This is because my name is branded on both sides, one side has an image and one side has information. The format is very standard and classic but the design has an edge as it is portrait orientated unlike the usual landscape orientated business cards. This is very relevant to my personal practice as I photograph portraits.

Slideshow to Thumbnail

After tweaking my website navigation header I realised that the slideshow style of viewer for my images no longer functioned correctly. The images were now too small to be viewed correctly.

I have rectified this by having them as large thumbnails which can be clicked on and then a slideshow of the full sized images can be seen. This is much more efficient as this way the images are seen on a pure white background with no distractions like my logo or the navigation bar.

So far I think the layout of my website is beginning to mimic that of an up and coming professional photographer. I would like to redesign my logo however as I feel that it no longer fits my website design.