ARD6504 – Creative Futures 3 Creative Futures - Working as a Freelance Photographic Artist by Alison McLean

I was really pleased when I read the programme schedule and discovered Alison was coming back to do a second session this year.  At last year’s Creative Futures, she was one of the speakers that I found I left the session with a wealth of knowledge and a drive to establish my business.  Alison had provided a very practical session, sharing with us the pitfalls and successes of establishing herself as a freelance photographer, and you got a real feeling that she was there to help and encourage not to brag about her achievements.

Alison started off this session, by informing us of everything she had been through since we saw her last year.  One of the things that soon became evident as the session progressed was she shared how as a freelance photographer working majority of the time alone, how difficult it is to stay motivated.  Alison had found the real solution was by networking, attending workshops, joining groups/clubs to meet like minded people who can keep you focused and motivated.

Alison started by telling us about a workshop she attended by Simon Roberts and run through Redeye.  Simon Roberts is a leading independent politician photographer, whose work you might have seen in the last general election.  He recently travelled round Russia on the top of a minibus photographing the locals with a large format camera, and this is his latest series. (http://simoncroberts.com)

Alison has also attended a weekend workshop with Roger Ballen, Roger does very bizarre photographs, and they can be very dark as they are more on a mental level then a photograph of a simple thing.  He recently made a music video entitled “I fink you Freaky” (www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Uee_mcxvrw)

Alison then stressed that she doesn’t work for Redeye, but that the support and networking via their various events and workshops has really made such a great difference to what she does as a photographer.  As I discovered at Creative Futures last year, Redeye is a non profit organisation, it’s the broad picture of photography, they are a resource for photographers providing networking and advice, information, portfolio sessions, lectures, workshops, symposia, debates, as well as running bigger projects like – Lightbox, Look festival, National photography symposium, they provide details of ethics & good practice, and how to volunteer and contribute to local events.  Alison confirmed she had attended (and helped) at the Last Lightbox 2 in 2012 and said it was extremely beneficial as it gives a good boost to any photographic career.  It is a week of networking and workshops that brings photographers from all over the country together, where many continue to collaborate after it had finished, and many attendees go on to have exhibitions of their work in some very well known galleries.  Alison recommended that we all bear it in mind and consider attending when Redeye runs the next one in 2014.

www.redeye.org.uk 

Alison then went on to stress that as a freelance photographer working alone, you can easily get bored, go crazy and find yourself constantly on Facebook!!! Meeting like minded people is vital and it was with this in mind that she joined her local camera club in Mold, granted she said they seem to either photograph butterflies or trains, but as well they have a wealth of knowledge and do not get bored taking about ISO’s and exposure rates.   Alison found it gave her the opportunity to try new things or try a different perspective, and they have even managed to get her to be the Press officer so they must enjoy her company too.

www.moldcameraclub.org.uk

Alison has also founded the Glasfryn Artist Group (GAP) which is a group of multidiscipline artists that meet once a month, bringing local artists together to discuss their work, share tips and receive feedback from fellow artists.  Their membership covers Fine Art to Graphic Designers to Photographers, Alison confirmed any form of art was acceptable, and this was a great way to share knowledge and create collaborations.

One of the people who inspired Alison was Dr John Darwell a lecturer at Cumbria University, and an international photographer.  John said to Alison “It is no longer enough for a photograph to be of something it has to be about something”.   Alison then went on to say in the world today everyone is a photographer and can take nice photographs, she wanted her photographs to stand out, to either have a them or convey a strong emotion, to make her photographs different form everyone else’s.  She then went on to say when she left Glyndwr University she took photographs of anything and everything, John caused her to ask herself “What type of photographer am I?”  Alison then went on to explain she printed out her best photographs and looked to see which related to each other (had a theme) and made this her focus.

Alison says her Flickr account has over a thousand photographs on it, but whenever she now produces a portfolio she aims to use approximately 20 photographs, but always includes details of her Flickr account if a potential client wants to view more of her work then they can, by this her portfolio is dramatic and eye catching and leaves the client wanting more not wishing there was less.

Alison then went on to recap over part of last year’s session, by reminding us how important your website is.   She recommended a few website providers www.carbonmade.com, www.cargocollective.com and www.one.com.  Alison reminded us of the importance of checking spelling (www.ghotit.com can check this for you), if possible to get a graphic designer to work with you on your website design.  Alison suggested getting a friend to navigate through your website with no prompting from you, to see how easily they can access the information.  Alison said to try using key phrases in your written work so the website search engines will pick up your website on searches.  Alison again reiterated what she had said last year, ensure you keep your website updated, and consider including a blog, videos, run competitions, recommend other like minded sites.

With the current world of media, keeping on top of your facebook, twitter and blogs can be a time consuming, and prevent you from doing what you enjoy best – taking photographs.  Alison therefore recommended a useful site she had found called Hootsuite (www.hootsuite.com) they enable to connect all your social networks, and you can make one post and they will update all your connections, you can also programme it to update at specific times when you know your potential clients or watchers are most likely to be online.

Alison then went on to discuss business cards, she is still recommending Moo cards (www.moo.com) as the best provider for quality cards that can be tailored to your personal needs at reasonable cost.  Alison said she knows someone who had a business card created that resembled a Polaroid, another that had theirs printed on metal tags for a key ring.  A business card does not have to be credit card size, it can be different, this has its advantages as well as its disadvantages, but Alison felt it makes more impact to stand out.

Networking is of vital importance to a freelance photographer, the need to make contacts, to ensure you sell yourself not just your photography.  As Alison was saying this I was very much aware of the importance of this, the recent job I got for creating two films for Luke & Becky (see blog) came from me being myself, showing an interest rather than selling my photography.  Alison then went on to say how having something that makes you stand out at a networking event can be advantageous as it can be a conversation starter, like wearing a large Homer Simpson badge (or maybe a Top Hat).  Alison had found that in this respect going to events and workshops with Redeye had been extremely beneficial to her.

Alison recommended a couple of other websites she had found useful – Artists Network (www.artistsnetwork.com) they produce a monthly online magazine for artists and are focussed on improving conditions for artists (pay scales etc) also by subscribing to their magazine you qualify for free Public liability insurance with them.  This brought Alison on to the subject of Insurance and one thing she encountered when she first started out was that not all insurance companies cover for 24 hours a day, when she had found that was reasonable and provided comprehensive cover was Policy Bee (www.policybee.co.uk) as most event photography takes place late into the evenings.

Once again this session with Alison had been extremely beneficial and informative, it was great to hear about her last year, her achievements, her exhibitions, the workshops she had attended, but also the hardships of endeavouring to stay motivated when working solo, the importance of networking and socializing with like minded people to help keep the enthusiasm and motivation, the ability to learn and share you own knowledge.  I again appreciated the practical information she provided and the developments on some aspects from last year’s session.  With my time at university coming to a close, I hope that with the extra time I will be able to attend events and workshops, to have the ability to maybe commit to a local camera club and to develop my photographic and filming skills even further.

(Photographs courtesy of www.thephotofoundry.carbonmade.com)