The Photographic Landscape (lecture 1)
I am aware of how crucial the time straight out of university will be, but alongside this, I may also feel lost and overwhelmed, for the first time in a while not having a schedule and routine.
Networks are important to have, so that you have people you can trust and turn to for advise and opportunities of course come from who you know and who they know. Me and some others from the course have spoken about making a small group chat to talk about our work whilst at university, with the aim of continuing this support beyond graduation.
Key qualities that employers and clients want are:
Teamwork
Communication skills
Ability to problem solve
Commercial awareness
Organisation
Leadership skills
Positive attitude.
I feel a lot more comfortable with some of these qualities than others which I lack in. Being quite a shy person, I’m not the best at putting myself out there and even if I have the confidence in my work if I have really put a lot of thought and energies into it, I often don’t have the confidence in myself to present the work as well as I feel it should be presented. I will explore these qualities further in a SWOT analysis.
A brief list of things to think about as a photographer:
A business plan
How you will find your clients?
What kind of a photographer are you?
How you will market yourself?
How you will support yourself?
Do you need extra equipment? where will you hire this from?
Insurance and other incidentals
At the moment, I am unsure of what I want to do after university, so some areas I plan to look into further are working as an assistant photographer or freelance photographer, but also have been considering work within digital marketing which could also bring in similar skills. I am hopeful that by the end of the module, I will have a much clearer understanding of what I want to do.
Before the lecture, I had never really considered how many options that there were after university that are achievable with this degree. They include being an assistant photographer/ studio assistant, a curator, an editorial art director, a picture researcher, doing post-graduate education, teaching, a photo editor/ retoucher. There are many more options beyond being a photographer.