Evaluations

Reflections of delivery from my Proposal

&

Critical Evaluation of my Professional Practice

At the beginning of my project I actually had the complete wrong aspect and idea of what I was going to do.  I was so hung up on the idea of producing a set of 4 images in a live brief for an 'Elements' themed shoot, but this was wrong because I had set up a self directed brief which is not what we were asked.  I proposed in my first copy proposal to enter a number of competitions.  One of the competitions being the 'Sony world Photography competition a wide ranged competition I figured I could submit works to that, I also felt like entering the nikon Photo Contest, and Prix de la Photographie.  I proposed to enter all of these just because it is better to do so than not have entered even one for this module, but I can say now that I have only entered into one photographic competitions which was 'theprintspace's' self portrait competition, it was so simple and its a small competition that i can trust.  I would like to enter more photo contests and more often, but for this module I was going to focus on my Live brief more.  

I began, like mentioned above, searching into all these different ideas towards a brief that I did not even realise was a self directed brief, to only get to our photographic life presentations to be told it was wrong.  Looking back now I am actually so pleased that I was told early on that the road I was going down was wrong, otherwise i probably would have worked on it even more than I already had.  But after fully re-reading and understanding the three options for the live brief section, a commissioned brief, development of a business or charitable work, I then knew what routes I should be looking at.  Because I did not have that many options to go down for the other two, I decided to stick with the idea of finally creating and developing on my business idea. I had always wanted to set up my personal photography business for the people around my area in which I live.  I knew that for this it would involve, creating and designing more photographic materials, coming up with a final pricing list for each different shoot and proving how I will show myself as a brand and the values and behaviours I use to do this, and that sounds really exciting as it is something I want to do, but the problem I faced was that I had no images or shoots from the business that I wanted to create.  I have shot weddings before quite a lot and have some examples of wedding photographic images but the business i want to create is not just that genre, it involves more types of photography like couples, engagements, maternity, newborns and children photography, so my problem was that I had only shot wedding before and did not know where to go with this further. 

I then debated trying to find some charitable work to do, because i couldn't see my business development working out just yet If I could not contribute my own photography so I looked into work around the area I live but nothing caught my eye and interested me.  My friend at College is studying a hair and beauty course and had her end of year charity show, she messages me asking If I could be the photographer for the show because their photographer had let them down, but it was at quite short notice and I couldn't make it.  This would have been good to have as some professional and community practice for my brand and business but I still did not think its big enough for a live brief. Then out the blue, I had a call from a potential client. She was calling regarding a photo shoot of her pregnancy. 

This was perfect and exactly what I needed.  The client was called Christine Bright and was pregnant and wanted to fins a photographer who was doing shoots for cheaper than the established maternity photographer, I was well up for the shoot as it would be my first maternity shoot.  As i have written in my previous evaluation for my live brief, this was perfect to solve the problem i had about the business. Doing this maternity shoot is helping me get one step closer to, being able to create the whole business. This maternity shoot was now my live brief, and very live indeed ad she wanted to have the shoots produced when she was nine months pregnant so the baby bump was at its biggest.  I had a briefing session with my client and had talks about ideas and plans for shoot days, I have submitted all of this as posts and in my journal.  The shoots went amazingly well and I am so pleased with the results, its left me wanting to do more, as far as my professional practice shows in this live brief, I was very professional towards my client in every way possible, form handing pricing to constructing the brief well and producing the final edits which my client asked for. The delivery was spot on, as mentioned above, my first proposal was wrong, but I corrected it and have looked back now and my outcomes fir my proposal and the final images are exactly what my client asked in the brief. 

I am so happy that the opportunity arose and planned out so well.  My client christine commented on how relaxed and comfortable she was with me and then proposed that I take the first shoot of her Newborn baby boy when he arrives.  This has also made me extremely happy as I would then have two more shoots that can work greatly in my favour for my business after education. I look forward to planning out and completing more and more live brief's exactly like this one in my future as a Business Photographer. 

My Design Work - Business Cards

My Photographic Business Cards

For the design work, it obviously had my logo on the business card and has it on both sides of these ones.  I thought for the first 200 business cards I would just display the logo because I am currently to get it well known and noticed in the public.  Then once I am a little more popular and people have seen the logo for a while, I will put one of my own images on to my business cards to see if that would gain any more clients.  I would probably have postcards done with the same images on them so that they match.  I think these business cards look simple, professional and eye-catching.  At this moment in time they could sway more to the graphic designer look rather that photography hence why I may change later and place a photo on them, but it does quite clearly say photography so they are perfect for my first ones. They look well represented and I have included my phone number, e-mail, website, facebook and twitter on them so it makes it easy to show my brand and exactly who I am, also easy to contact me so that clients that pick up my business card can get in contact easily.  

After Tutorial with Minna - FOLIO REVIEW

So I had a portfolio review with my tutor earlier in the year, and she made some changes to my portfolio order of prints but also to my Business cards.  I have stuck in copies of the back and front of my business cards and next to them are the same again but with changes made by my tutor.  I agree with everything said about the changes. 

I am now going to take away the big logo on the back where all my details are and leave is plain white or have a small image maybe in a creative circle.  And take away the quite obvious titles for things like 'e-mail' before the e-mail address, because its fairly obvious so isn't needed.  I am also going to get a new batch of business cards from moo.com, with images of my own on them.  As I mentioned about, these cards do sway towards a digital media audience, so therefore my cards would look more professional and better with images on the front. This is something I shall do, as soon as the degree had finished as I aim to spend all my time focusing on getting my design work looking perfect. 

My Design Work - Website

Here are some print screens from my current photographic website.  A website plays a very huge part in a photography business.  My website is my hardest working tool and it needs to be constantly updated with every bit of new work that I do.  Most viewers will want to look at a website as well as social networking because you can really tell a type of person from the way that their website is laid out.  I think that my website shows who I am and the same kind of calm response the same as my main logo, business cards and letterheads.  A website is probably what most customers will see first. 

I have used the same design and the enter page for my website looks exactly the same as the front of my business card which is good because then it is very obvious that they are both linked together.  I am only trying so hard to publicize the logo so much so that viewers will get it stuck into them that it is I as my photography business.

Here I have displayed the enter page, home page, about page, portfolio page, projects page and my contact page which are basically nearly all of the pages but simple is good for photography.  I like how the white and purple looks and think it looks professional and is represented well.  Hopefully my website can carry on being a success in helping me to get more clients.  

My Design Work - Letterheads

Here above are two letterhead / headed paper layouts that I had designed using the same layout, theme, fonts, logo and colours for.  They fit very well into my business package and also look very professional.  The thing I like most about keeping the similar theme throughout all of my design work and look very creative, not boring and actually eye-catching with the splash of purple.

Headed paper works perfect for statements, cover letters, any letters that I would be writing and sending to clients and customers and compliment slips.  The have been designed almost exactly the same way my business cards have been designed.  With the faded purple along the left hand side or the purple line then with the written text logo at the top next to the main logo.  The is a water mark of the logo on the bottom left which makes it look that little bit more professional and gives it a very nice touch. 

In the bottom right corner it has all of my details, phone number, e-mail, website, facebook and twitter so that anyone that receives any letter from me or looks at just my statement or cover letter within my practioners package will see my details and take a look if they haven’t done already. 

Letterheads are also a good way to get a professional reputation seen by others and could potentially give me better reputation and status.  People that see that someone has create a nice fancy letterhead might then notice that I have though about everything in terms of my design work and want it to be noticed.  I will use this letterhead for any paper that I will be using to do with my business and most certainly for my clients and customers and also any letters that I may send out to photography jobs. 

My Design Work - Logo

My Photography Business Logo

I have designed my whole business theme, personal, practioners package and social networking around this logo.  This is actually the fourth logo that I have had designed for me by my sister who is a graphic designer.  All other logos were trials and this one has worked out the best.  The ‘S’ is the main part of the logo because it is the part that resembles the ‘Suzi-Rae’ for my name; a letter that will never change therefore can always be the logo.  The ‘S’ fits well around the face of the logo and makes it almost seem as if it’s a headpiece.  I wouldn’t have had the face of the logo in any other colour but black but I would change the ‘S’ to purple which I have done for it to go onto my business cards and website.

I am really happy with this choice of logo and think that is the best one that I have had so far.  I will be keeping this logo for a while now and will make sure that I spread it round so that everyone I meet will see the logo and know that it is for my business in photography.  As for now it fits into the design and look of my website, books, and overall theme to my business work.  I can change this to many different sizes without it looking too big or too small.

The face suggests portraiture and slightly towards fashion which is what I will be aiming for a lot more of.  I think that this logo still fits in well with all ages of audience and will look good on everything that I will require a logo for.  I have already tested this logo on social networks on facebook and twitter and it has been a great success and I am a lot happier with this logo than the very first logo I had.

I think that this logo is great for my business because it looks young, modern, and trendy.  It is also eye-catching and is on a white background so works well for all different purposes.  As for my career in the future I may end up just using my name for a more professional approach to photography as after some research, most photographers just choose a certain font for their logo’s but for now, my whole business will be started up using this logo. 

Editing, Colouring & Finalising

In my briefing with my client we discussed the editing process of what she wanted after the shoot.  

The agreed pricing is at £30 per shoot with all photographs taken for both on a CD, to be delivered to her address.  We agreed at our meeting that I would edit the images that were here favourites, So after both shoots I had called my client back to sit and go through all images with me and decide what ones she would like to have edited and once I had a select few, told her that it would be a a couple of days for editing and finalising and I would send the CD to her address. 

The Editing

These top two images are the two favourite two images from the first shoot.  My client wanted them to be black and white and quite contrasty.  I managed to do this quite simply and these are the outcomes, two images with minimal light of her in the nude looks very elegant and a nice shine on the baby bump.  I do think that I would have liked to maybe used a coloured drape, that maybe I could have left in colour in editing, but is something I can consider for a next maternity shoot.   I am happy with my final two edits of these images and they are what the client has asked of me.  

The next two image's above and below are of similar positions and only slightly different.  This was the pose in which the Husband was in shot.  He stood behind and held the clients hands around the baby bump.  For editing of these two images, I smooth the skin of the bump out so there was a very smooth colouring to the belly, I also brightened the background and cropped the images down from the originals to a better position.  I changed the images into black and white just in case the client preferred them and included both colour and black and white on the CD.  I am happy with both of these images, the one of the husbands hand open on the baby bump was actually an accidental shot, but from the clients eye, she loved it and thought is was even more personal to them both, so I edited this image too. The small tigger toy looks great in that position and it is what really makes personal and cute.  

The image below this piece of text is the same image as above but is the version that my client wanted the most.  I have included both the black and white copy, and the colour copy on the CD, but this was the edit that she wanted to see. A black and white image but with the cuddly toy in colour.  I think it works perfectly for the shoot and is exactly what my client wanted so that make me very happy.  The tigger shows personality within this image, and looks great and professional. 

This next image below also shows more of the husband Martin that came along to the second shoot too.  My client wanted him to be in a few, holding a pair of the baby shoes in their hands, I had tried this shot with some of the other belongings but this one with these blue shoes seemed to work the best.  Again my client wanted to see black and white with the use of colour, so I have included the edit on the left of just black and white and the image on the right of the small coloured shoes. 

The two images below, are of a different pose and composition to the other images edited so far.  I like this one it shows her sitting down compared to the others laying down and standing up.  I think the thing I like about this images is the fact that I suggested she be topless for a more personal feel to it and I think it works well.  I do think her bottom arm and hand looks a bit to tight and tensioned, but the overall image makes up for it. I asked for both weddings rings to be shown in the image and I positioned their hands during the shoot. The beige coloured little boy's boots look lovely sitting on top on the baby bump and go really well in either black and white or colour.  The only thing I dislike it the two strands of hair that you see, if it is cropped, it crops it too low but they are quite difficult to edit out. But I really like this edit and its on the CD for my client Christine. 

The two images above and below I have also edited and added to the CD for my client Christine, they are two images that she liked and wanted as well as the others.  The tigger is he favourite toy and its brand new, fluffy and cute, so looks great sitting right next to the baby bump. I personally like the image a bit higher of the black and white image with tigger in colour, but I do like the whole image in colour because the bright orange stands out. As for below, Its always nice to use a baby scan images with a pregnancy shoot so I asked her to bring hers along.  The photo Christine is holding is a 3D scan which shows a clear view of the baby's face, so its lovely having the picture next to the bump as you know the little baby is inside. I like this image is black and white and colour, but both are edited for her. 

Christine messaged me after all the other images had been chosen, asking for this image to be edited too.  Christine was a lovely client so of course I said yes to one more image.  It is a funny image of christine's husband being funny on the floor behind the baby bump, I was positioning baby shoes on top of the bump and he bent down and I took this extra image.  I think Christine wants it edited because it is the only image that includes Martin's face. I just put it black and white and colour for her to have.  

This last image was taken on my phone as I uploaded it to Instagram. 

I really like how the bump is directly facing the camera with the writing on the baby bump. As I mentioned earlier, I drew on her belly with eyeliner and it just looked so effective and i love it.  It's probably one of my favourites. The way her arms and hands are holding the whole bump and the black top an bottoms she has on really make the belly pop out forward in the photo.  I think this was the best Idea that I had for the whole shoot, they look great, funny, and have great responses too.

Evaluation of My Commissioned Brief

I am over the moon with my commissioned live brief as it actually went a lot better than I thought it would.  My original idea's were wrong and then I started building up a business in something I had not had any images for, to only go and get a call from someone regarding maternity photography. I had always wanted to to do a Maternity shoot before but never really got round to it or had the facilities.  Now I have a home studio in which i have all lighting equipment and two backdrops.  From the moment that I received the call, I started planning out briefs and possible examples of maternity shoots so that I could prepare myself.  it was my first time shooting maternity but it is not too different to portrait photography, I was relaxed and found it very simple.  The phone calls and meeting were set up before shooting and in them we discussed, bringing props along, discussed pricing and exactly what she wants and it all went so well.  The shoots were lovely and fun, and Im sure she really likes the outcomes.  I think for my first shoot, they look very professional.  From this I can now start developing my business more as I would have more to use for flyers and promotion.  

A Great Future Ahead

My client has spoke to me recently and said that she would love for me to take the first photos of their Newborn baby Boy !!! This also made me very happy as I would love to work with newborns as this will also add and improve into my business into Personal Photography.  I now know that after I have finished all assignment work i can take some beautiful work of this newborn baby.