Business Seminars for New/Young Creatives

Following quite a few conversations with ex-students and prospective young photographers, I have agreed to run a 'one-off' day of business seminars at cost price (hire of facilities, coffee, cake etc. - no profit for me!)

The seminars are:
So How Do I Make a Profit From This?
A 3 hour seminar starting at 10am. This will cover:
- how to calculate your dayrate/profit margin
- basic business types and their advantages/disadvantages
- And 7 key stages of business workflow

Who's Going to Hire Me?
A 3 hour seminar starting at 2pm. This will cover:
- Discovering your USP (unique selling point)
- Identifying your market segment
- Marketing Strategies and techniques

Date for both seminars: Wednesday 13th April
Location: Calumet Photographic
Hagley Road, Birmingham

Each individual seminar will cost £35.00, however on this occasion (FRAME members offer), you will receive the 2nd seminar free once you have booked the 1st. The first 5 qty members to reserve a place will receive both seminars for £25.00. Please book directly with myself.

These seminars are not just aimed at photographers but are also relevant to anyone who is considering working in the creative arts.

As you can appreciate, this is a bit of bargain so I won't be able to repeat this again in the near future.

Payment can be made by cheque, cash or credit/debit card (Paypal)

Places will go quickly, some please book early to avoid disappointment.

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me.


Yours,



Richard Southall

www.emphasis.biz
www.richardsouthall.co.uk

No. 2 Snow Hill, Birmingham

A couple images from a stock library shoot last week.



Richard
www.emphasis.biz
www.richardsouthall.co.uk

What is the right photography course for me?

So you have decided to take the plunge and develop (pardon the crude pun) your career in photography. So what's the next step? Where do you go next and what qualifications are relevant? In the olden days (the 80's), our career choices were much simpler and straight forward. You were presented with 2 options - one to go straight in the industry as an assistant for a GP photographer where you would spend 2-4 years gaining a range of skills that would enable you to progress to  either the role as a second photographer or self employment or you could consider a college/university course which then lead to 2nd or 3rd assistants position in an advertising or commercial photographers studio before progressing up the career ladder.

In those days there was only a handful of photography courses nationwide offering a combination of HND or degree qualifications. If you were intending to enter the industry as an assistant, the then obvious choice was newly devised HND qualification which offered a combination of practical skills tuition combined contextual studies and theory.

Today, at the last count, there were 285 HE photography courses on offer nationwide to prospective students. This can seem quite a daunting array to the perspective student and can lead to obvious confusion as to which might be the most suitable for them. I am often asked by students how to approach this choice and which university/college is the best. To this, I can only respond that the selection of a course is very personal choice and you must be sure what you are try to achieve through the course, matches your long term aims. By this, I mean, there is little point joining a fine art course if your intent in 3 years time is to become an advertising photographer.

With this in mind and given the rising cost of education, it is key that you make the right selection for you. Research towards your future course is vital so as avoid future disappoint and  frustration and I would advise you consider the following while making the selection:

- where do you see yourself in 5 years (working as a photographer, assistant, re-toucher, lab technician etc) or stacking shelves at Tescos :)

- do you see your self in a far more specialised role (fashion, advertising or documentary photographer) and does the course you wish to select offer this specialism.

- what are the courses facilities and resources like (studio space, darkrooms, computers, cameras, lighting, software). If resources are limited, are you prepared to wait 4 weeks to use the studio space or darkroom?

- Who is teaching the course and what is their experience of working in industry? Have they ever worked as a commercial photographer? or if not, does the course have visiting lecturers who still practice in industry?

- What is the course content? Are the tutors prepared to show you current briefs and projects and do they have any relevance to real life commissions?

- Speak to the current students! Don't just go to the Open Day. All will seem rosy and perfect then but on a normal working day, you will see the facilities in use and be able to speak students who experiencing the course at first hand. If the course 'ain't any good', they will soon tell you!

- I would encourage you to visit the 'end of year' shows. This is a good way to monitor the quality of the output of the current students and whether good trade craft is being taught.

- Ask about the successes of 'past alumni'. Any good course will be able to real off a list of successful practicing practitioners who have passed through their doors.

- Ask how many hours of contact time you will have a week. I am hearing of horror stories of 2nd and 3rd  year degree students only having 30 minutes contact time a week and one optional 1 hour workshop a week (more to follow in a forthcoming blog).

- What links does the course have to industry. Is it affiliated to the AOP or the BIPP? Does it offer an additional optional PQE (Professional Qualifying Exam) qualification at the end of the 3rd year?

- Is 'Beyond the Lens' (professional business skills) being taught throughout the duration of the course and is it linked to individual practical modules?

- Are you encouraged to assist and develop further links with industry practitioners during the period of the course?

- Do they ask to view your portfolio prior to making you an offer of a place?

Please remember, having a degree in photography is not going to get you any work, you will be judged on your folio of 12/15 images. Use your time at college/university to learn the essential trade skills you will need and use the facilities to craft the set of images you will need to further your career. The only time anyone will ever ask to see your certificate is if you intend to go back into education to teach.

I am not trying to be disparaging about any course or the value of education but as a potential customer of these services, I would urge you to choose correctly when making your decision. Remember the typical photography student today leaves university/college with a debt of £24,000 and this is soon to rise again significantly. Around 5000 photography students 'qualify' every year, but only a handful have the requisite skills to survive and prosper.  Please use this opportunity to make the right choice for you.

Richard Southall
www.emphasis.biz
www.richardsouthall.co.uk

Commercial Photography - The Perfect Storm?

Last week, I had the joys of my annual trip to Focus on Imaging at the NEC , Birmingham. Over the last few years, I have found myself becoming increasingly more and more frustrated with the event and what it has to offer a commercial photographer such as myself.

I know many of ex-students affectionately refer to me as a 'dinosaur' but I do realise that the industry I first entered nearly 30 years ago has changed markedly and this is now reflected in the exhibitors at the show. I struggled to find many of my old favorites such as Broncolor, Hasselblad and Sinar and Arri who did not appear to be any where in easy sight. This is so different to the days when the show used to be called 'Photography at Work' and was held at London and Harrogate.

Then there was a profusion of studio based photographic lighting and camera solutions with major stands by Hensel, Strobe, Balcar, Goddard and Broncolor. Now, I found myself surrounded by wedding albums, ink cartridge companies and sad middle aged men festooned with cameras snapping frantically at any semi-clad woman they could find (and they even brought there own sarnies!). Is this what the industry has become?

I realise that the exhibitors are in many ways responding to the change in purchasing patterns with in the industry and the rise of the weekend warrior snapper as the major purchaser of equipment. This new breed of photographer no longer needs photography as their main source of income as they rely on their week day job as an accountant or bus driver to fund them. To them, photography is almost a status symbol to a more glamorous life with almost Walter Mitty pretensions.

I am forever being being introduced to these types at parties and social gatherings where they spend hours debating the virtues of Nikon and Canon lenses and how their next shoot free shoot will be the 'last one' and they will then charge a massive £75 a day. Don't get me wrong, I am not bitter - just perplexed how we got to this state in the first place.

In some ways, I feel professionals and the organisations who represent them, have no one to blame for but themselves. We have encouraged through our openness new people to enter the profession but with little of the safe guards that other professional institutions have insisted upon. Given that for many of us over the age of 40, it took at least 4 years at college and a couple years as an assistant to become competent to start shooting commercially, wouldn't some form of chartered institute have been a good progression for our industry so as to protect it members, standardise rates, promote career development and present legislation  to protect it's customers from cowboy operators.

I can already hear the cries now from quite a few of esteemed colleagues, that this form of protectionism is unworkable and unrealistic (it worked for accountants, solicitors, doctors, engineers etc). I would now have to agree with them. We missed our opportunity in the 90s when the first signs decline become apparent but we chose to ignore it. We now sit on the edge of the perfect storm, day-rates are substantial reduced due to flux incomers, high retooling and running costs,  the volume of work has decreased due to the recession and new technologies and the quality of trade craft being taught is significantly poorer due to the dilution of teaching practices and lack of assisting places in industry.

So where do we go now? A hard question but one that needs to be confronted by all. Do we continue to defend our small patch of territory and hope that we are 'the last man standing' or do we finally as industry, decide to unite and forget our petty squabbles and confront the difficult decisions ahead.

Richard

www.emphasis.biz
www.richardsouthall.co.uk

New Interiors - London

Images from a shoot this week in London of a newly completed office refurbishment.
All images copyrighted - R Southall


Richard

www.emphasis.biz
www.richardsouthall.co.uk