Gained Skills

With my experience with photography so far, Level 0 I felt I gained a lot in so many areas, but mostly in photography area because that was the area I was mostly interested in, Before this I use to take photos on a digital camera and took that photo because I liked it and that was it, I never did anything with it after that, actually still in folders on the computer!

Learning about photography has made me learn how to actually take a picture and knowing what you are creating with that scene your interested in, I have gained that a lot of lenses give different effects to the image, such as a wide angle lense, and learning shutter and aperture speeds which give different types of image with the sort of light to you let into the camera and how fast the shutter speed is.
This all depends on what sort of image you are trying to achieve, either with sport, portraits and landscapes.

Gaining all this in my degree has helped me hugely and now it makes me take a photo and actually do something with it knowing how to edit in lightroom or adobe bridge. I sometimes take random photos of my dog which with one photo that I took I was really pleased with.

My dog posing for the camera! ( un edited)

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

Strengths - My strengths would probably have to be, I try my hardest to not give up on a project that I am not fully enjoying or an image I find that can be better, with a lot of my images I do have to look at different editing types on what looks right, I want the image the way I see it in my mind!, If i see a scenery that intersts me and I want that image I will go out and shoot it with my camera.

Weaknesses - I feel I could possibly learn and understand more of the technical side of photography, and gain skills better in that area, with lighting and different lenses, I tend to stick to my standard lens and work with that instead of experimenting with different lense types, also with software such as photoshop, I feel I still need to learn a lot more about that and knowing to edit correctly.

Opportunities - I havent really come across many opportunies yet, but I do look about on the internet and see what is around, the sort opportunities I would love to do is go away and explore and experience different countried taking photos of landscapes, wildlife, just something you would never be able to photograph in Plymouth.

Threats - I havent had any threats in photography yet or trying to get an image in an area which is off bounds, I dont really go that far for an image...

My 5 year plan

For my final year in my degree I want to achieve better marks and show progress in my next modules, I am yet still undecided if I am going to do the BA year. I would like to achieve a better portfolio and vary my work areas, also to work a lot more out of my college time so I build up a great portfolio.
After i finish college firstly, I may carry on with the job I am in at the moment to save and earn money for equipment and lenses and hopefully work my way up and get myself out there with my portfolio to photographers and career areas!. To get myself known better I will advertise myself with business cards,flyers and great offers.

Where I really want to end up after my degree is working my way up to be a great business woman in advertising, I will try my hardest to get this and I will achieve this one day, a lot of saving and commitment will be involved, my aim is to save up a lot of money for my own property, putting myself on the first step of independance. I also want to go to Africa and photography the wildlife how it is really meant to be, this has always been my dream goal, it is a lot of money, but a lot of hard work will pay off!.

My Interview

For my interview for my work placement I decided to interview, one of the people that work on the buildings that I am photographing.

Interviewer - Hayley Dingle interviewee - Paul Norman

Why did you go into the area of work you are in?
I done an apprenticeship as a carpenter.

did you study at a college?
I served my apprenticeship in the dockyard.

how long have you been in the building work for?
36 years

describe your job role?
I am at present, works manager of 7 other employees, running and supervising variest jobs. as well as specialising in wet rooms.

what is the most enjoyable part of your job?
seeing the job through the beginning to a successful ending.

what do you least like in your job?
awkward customers.

what have you gained in skills?
Not just physical, but also mental skills, dealing with people.

what have you mostly achieved in the years you have worked?
A good reputation turning out good work.

My work placement

For my work placement, I got a placement with the council, with plymouth community homes, through the boss of my step dad, taking photos for their portfolio which will be put up in their office, but the council arent aware of this as they want to keep it a surprise. This is paid work.

Other building companies are also working on this, E.G Bruce Harrison Builders (who got me the job)

http://www.bh-builders.co.uk/ 

My aim was to work in southway and take photos of work that are being done on 9 buildings which are flats, and showing the builders work process and what they do, so every few weeks I would go to the place and take photos of anything new or anyone working on the buildings.

What I wanted to achieve was photos that shown detail in the new work and through the photos you could see process of the company working on the buildings, I am still working for this placement, I have been for a month or so, I have to take photos untill all the work is finished then hand in the most successful images I think will be good for there portfolio and then hand them in for the council to look at.

To show a proffessional side, the most successful images I will place in a wallet and a portfolio folder.

Work Interest

To gain experience and work, I rang up a few estate agents, putting myself out there for any work they need and for me to gain work experience.

I called 5 estate agents for work experience and interest, none of them needed a photographer, but would keep my interest on file for any work that pops up.

I also phoned a man that does a career in advertising, what I want to do. I asked if I could interview him a few questions, but he emailed back that he could not but sent me a video all about his work.

I have emailed a few other people in the area, just for feed back or work experience, but I havent heard anything back as of yet. 

Every few weeks I go onto a sight specific for photographers that are looking for other photographers to work with them, the work involves all areas of photography and some jobs offer a great experience to work over in other countries. The site also gives you links to other photographers websites, and sites for equipment.

 this is the link to the site. http://www.photographers.co.uk/html/photography-jobs.cfm

My career field.

As I am studying photography, at the beginning I didnt really know where I wanted my career path to go whether it was working with people/models, or studio work. I have researched into different areas of what photography can offer as a job and the sort of work you can get into.

I am really interested in the area of " ADVERTISING". I always read the ELLE magazine and would love to work with them sometime!. I have pretty high computer skills when I know how to work the software, I know a lot on photoshop, in design, bridge etc. The background behind advertising is really creative and imaginative. I like a challenge.

To succeed in this area, I want to try and get to work with the herald or some sort of newspaper to have a feel of the work and what goes on. I am ment to be having a work experience with a man my step dad knows daughter.

In time, I hope to achieve what I want to and become successful, a lot of work has to be done to where I want to be within my career area, I will work hard and put myself out there to ther people for the mean time.

Experience with work.

My first experience with work and getting the feeling of how it is to be a photographer, was a nerve racking experience for me, I had never met the family and i didnt know what sort of people they were.

i advertised cheap weddings to get this job, when i heard they were interested it made me really happy, but i had a massive role to take on and because it was my first ever wedding i had done, i knew i had to do my best.

I shot all day for the family from the hairdressers to the reception to the evening. she wanted me to take natural and posed images and also some humour ones too.

The day went really well, there was a lot of waiting and hanging about because of talking and generally socialising it was sometimes hard to get them into the places you wanted them for family photos. overall i really enjoyed the day and it gave me a massive experience and practice on how it really is shooting weddings its a long day but a lot of fun meetin new people.

                                                                                
                                                                             © H.E.D Photography

                                                                               © H.E.D. Photography  

                                                                              © H.E.D. Photography

                                                         
                                                                               © H.E.D. Photography  

                                                                          © H.E.D. Photogaphy

                                                                               © H.E.D. Photography                         

                 
                                                                                © H.E.D. Photography 

                                                                               © H.E.D. Photography  

Why Photography?

At first I didnt really know what i wanted to do with in my career path, I went through phases of changing my mind. I have always enjoyed art because my dad always use to create, draw and make things all the time, I found it really interesting so I looked into starting at course at Plymouth college of art and design (PCAD). i chose to do a national diploma in art and design, which is where you have ago at everything from fashion,textiles,jewellery,glass,photography etc. I enjoyed it but not as much as I thought and i was still left thinking what do I really want to do. when we did some work in the darkroom i really enjoyed that expierence, I think I enjoyed it the most.

After my 2 year course finished i looked into applying for another course at the same college doing a degree in PHOTOGRAPHY!. I chose to do this because this is what I enjoyed most in my last course with what I had expierence of, I like how you can make an image become "photography" and there isnt really any limit to what you can take a picture of, anyone can take a picture of something, but it takes someone to understand that image and what its about that makes that image successful. the area I mostly have an interest for is probably advertising, I like all that creating and thinking stuff, which I do find a struggle but also a challenge.