Hi all Some time ago, Monty Rakusen highlighted a situation of a student whose artistic talent was self evident, but the execution of the same fell very short of the quality required in the professional world, because of the low resolution digital equipment being used.
In recent weeks I have had two interesting opportunities of meeting groups of people through the AoP at their HQ in Leonard Street. The first was when I was with four other photographers facing a group of about 40 lecturers and tutors from various photographic colleges around the country. It was a fairly casual and un-structured discussion, about what the profession required of students coming out of colleges into the world of photography and what the colleges felt they were there to provide. I suppose it was rather too much that the two groups should agree to come together on common ground. I believe I am right in thinking that as a group of practitioners, we five photographers felt there appeared to be a lack of students coming out of the colleges equipped with the necessary technical education, ability, drive, ambition and business sense to take their place in the world as photographers. It wasn't that we felt they had to come out fully prepared for every eventuality in either film or digital technology. That would be unrealistic. However, I do believe we were looking for students who had a grounding in the basics and the correct attitude upon which, through further experience in the company of other professionals would provide the profession as a whole with the next generation of image makers. We were faced with a lady from Nottingham Trent College, who appeared to elect herself as the spokeswoman of their group. I felt she gave us a fairly negative view on what could and couldn't be achieved with students. Whether her views were the same as the group was difficult to ascertain, as the rest generally kept quiet. Privately, one or two confided in me that they felt their task was to prepare young hopefuls in such a way that they would be suitable to enter the profession as described above. They came from a very few of what I call traditional and consistently successful colleges with a well known reputation of supplying good quality students into the profession. The rest appeared to endorse the opinion that they were there, not to produce an intake for the practising photographic profession each year, but more to provide further education built around imagery. If that lead to students taking up a camera at the end of three years, then so be it. More often it would lead to young people going into a variety of peripheral activities like libraries, magazine editorial work, sometimes video and its associated spin off's, but not into practising photography. Equally, many students left college and went straight into other jobs not connected to image making at all, simply to pay off their debts. In addition, there seemed to be little guidance from tutors to students as to what direction they should go. More a resignation that they couldn't tell students between ages 18 - 30 what to do. If they didn't want to do something that looked like hard work, then why should they? I must say, I have come across that situation myself, when taking a student on an architectural location last year. When he saw all the lighting kit that had to be lugged around, he decided there and then that architectural or industrial photography wasn't for him. I have always taken a great pride in the way I use lighting in interiors, both architectural and industrial. I believe it plays a major part in operating at the high end of corporate imagery. On the other hand, as a parent who often found a son at university unwilling to accept parental advice, I naturally thought that his tutors might have had more influence. I am not so sure now! There are about three thousand students coming out of photographic colleges each year with varying capabilities of image making. Only about 1.5% actually end up in photography. Which is probably just as well. Considering the state of the industry at the moment, it is as much as it can stand. As for the other 98.5% - well maybe we shouldn't be so concerned. The second opportunity occurred a couple of weeks ago in speaking to a group of young hopefuls having left college and were seeking help in furthering their careers. In this case I shared the stage with Keith ..... having started his career in assisting was making the transition into commissioned photography. Many of you know, that I do not seek work from advertising agencies, preferring instead to deal direct with the final client. As a result, I must confess as to not being 'au fait' with the machinations of the advertising scene. However, it became clear that in order to achieve an opportunity of assisting photographers, it is necessary to consider the following issues in order to impress and achieve that goal: Produce a high quality folio of work. Present it in an attractive and professional manner, including perhaps an artistic approach. Do a lot of research into the type of photography and photographers you would like to be associated with, by consulting the 'Creative Handbook' and 'Contact'. If possible - even angle your portfolio to suit. Create some imaginative stationery to leave at prospective employers or avenues for assistants. Contact the photographer by telephone by using a pleasant and positive voice. Be brief and to the point in your request and description of what your aim is. Give every opportunity to aid the successful outcome of a meeting. Be capable of using the most popular types of equipment. Talk up any special attributes you may have in say; the speaking of different languages or being well versed in various computer software programmes. Turn up on time - reasonably dressed. Be positive. Everything is never to much trouble. Don't baulk at carrying reasonable loads of gear. All for the occasional opportunity of earning �100.00 per day. It did occur to me, that if a young hopeful had to go through all these hoops just to get an opportunity of assisting someone - why not contact some clients direct? It requires the same amount of research, though in different areas, the same tenacity, the same dedication and commitment for probably a starting fee much greater than that for assisting. It is unlikely there would be any conflict of interest. There are thousands of companies out there who just do not know how to contact a professional photographer and in particular - one who is good. It is therefore beholden to the photographer to get their marketing strategy right to attract this huge opportunity. Young photographers have an opportunity of tackling work with smaller companies, whose budgets are very often too modest for established studios to work to. Many already have invested in significant amounts of gear to carryout modest assignments and hiring is straight forward to supplement what they do not have. So what is the problem? Well the main issue is one of business savvy. That also takes time to learn and doesn't necessarily come easily. I am not so sure that the best way to learn best business practice is from another photographer. Photographers are generally not renown for their business skills. So where do these two trains of thought join up? Well, it does seem pointless to me in sending students out into the world of image making without them having a very clear idea of what the industry is like. On the other hand there should be even closer co-operation between the professionals and colleges to achieve this. There are many colleges where numbers are all that matters. I believe this leads to large numbers of students coming out of colleges unprepared for the difficulties that lie ahead. Providing an education in image making is one thing, but providing a diploma as practical proof of competence that means something to the industry is another thing altogether different. Kindest regards Norman Norman Childs Mobile: +44(0)7831 519217 Tel: +44(0)1256 767611 Fax: +44(0)1256 767612 Website: http://www.greenshoots.co.uk =============================================================== GO TO http://www.prodig.org for ~ GUIDELINES ~ un/SUBSCRIBING ~ ITEMS for SALE
