Personal Development

Personal Development

I have chosen this because I want to gain a greater understanding of the photography industry in terms of going out and photographing events such as wedding, parties, christening, bands etc. 

I intend to achieve this by advertising and see if people are interested in hiring me as a photographer on location photo shoots or at a venue.

After photographing the christening I have gained essential skills to photograph on my own without anyone assisting me. I feel as this is a vital progression in the steps of developing as a photographer as I have gained the confidence within myself as a photographer .

One of the last points that I wanted to excel at was lighting and editing I decided to do some research into product photography and look into the lighting setups in order to achieve a great advertisement image.I set up my lighting using one main and two fill lights,two placed either side of the watch and one directly in front of the watch,I gained great experience from this photo shoot as I had to adjust the lighting every time I moved the subject.I shot the watch against both black and white background however I choose my final edit to be on black as I thought it added more depth into the strap .This shot was really thought out as I didn't want the hands to be blocking the logo or a main feature on the face such as the magnifying panel, so I purposely stopped the watch at 5 past 9 this is why I think this shot works really well with the advert .

Below are a selection of my original images from my research I learned that my shots had to be framed with a lot of room around them,as you can see from my setup i had the lights close to the subject but on the lowest setting I placed the lighting at the side of the subject to avoid any glare on the watch face .I kept the background plane black and alternated this with white card,knowing I could edit this my main focus was on the light balance on the product .In these images below you can see steps of my editing and how I am changing the background and composition of the product.after looking around on many sites and actual photographers galleys with them selling there collections i came across this article which explain the usage of stock imagery  . i also like this article as it tells you the prons and cons of advertising online .
Some evidence into showing that really basic websites are beneficial because they are user friendly which makes it easy to navigate around the site without getting lost . 
I have also added some of my latest work to my albums and have also started the foundations of a business plan .

My second photo shoot was a church wedding shortly after my first photo shoot as I was invited to shadow her again on this wedding.This time I only covered the vows and the arrivals of the guests. This photo shoot proved to be more difficult as it was very dark in the church and I had limitations of where I could stand. However I took my tripod and got some excellent images from the back of the church again after the ceremony I had the opportunity to stage a few of the moments such as the kissing as you can see in one of my final images, this was to compensate for the distance I had to stand when they where getting married.The couple was more than happy to do this as it was dark in the church 

I started looking at the set up photographers tend to use when photographing a product in a studio,depending on the size,texture and material you have to adjust some settings.

for my last piece of development I started looking at selling art work ,developing my website and CV what the most practical way of selling images as a photographer . I  started to update my website i have been looking at various styles and how photographers present their work I have edited my website recently so that my images show up one at a time, as they were i galley form before my reason for this was because of clutter. 

Artist statement

 Connor Mitchell is a professional freelance photographer who specialises in Fashion and Landscape Photography with the UK, whom has studied photography for the last 12 years experimenting with a range of photography approaches and styles. His occurring passion to street photography and capturing everyday life runs throughout his work as he exposes and explores the beauty within our abandoned world with his latest body of work.

One subject in particular that he brings attention to is the fact of utilising the abandoned space's he photographs involving Asylums, theme parks, Fire stations and the Duke of Lancaster.

As demonstrated in his recent work the asylums where in fact rather large in same some of them being the size of a small town, I think this is amazing how no one has seen this opportunity to make this a tourist attraction. From Mitchell's report of the abandoned asylums we uses words such as 'waste' and 'sympethic' as he feels the building are not being used to there full potential, However at least one of these buildings had been set to be renovated as he states some of these buildings are in marvellous condition rather than being left behind.

From the images of the 'Duke of Lancaster' Connor has created a really unique piece of work by exploring a different range of abandoned buildings/places, the purpose of this was to extend the awareness of these places and raise alarm of what actually exist around us. 

This brings me onto the next occurring theme within Connor’s work which is the isolating impact of his editing, Connor final images have a very atmospheric feeling to them all most as if the ambiance draws you into to the location, from the heavy editing of the shadows / highlight he creates a dramatic effect on these images which capture the eye and work really nice with the textures involved.

Recent Work

Updating CV/Advertising

33 High Street

Newton-le-Willows

Merseyside

WA12 9SP

Dear Sir/Madam

I am currently a second year undergraduate studying for a BA in Photography at The University of Salford.

I am extremely motivated as an undergraduate photographer and fully acknowledge the importance of real work practice and I would like to gain such experience while still under taking my degree. I have been assigned a work placement module by my university from the 1st April, concluding on the 26th April and any kind of placement within your practice, for any amount of time would be extremely beneficial and appreciated.

I feel that your work in particular could help me experience a greater understanding of the execution of a successful photo shoot, as your portfolio is very extensive and impressive.

I can offer unique approaches for a number of situations whilst considering technical solutions, which I believe are becoming increasingly important in our ever changing world. I have extensive experience in programmes such as; Abobe Photoshop, Lightroom, Premier Pro and Illustrator, reflecting my background in both graphics and media.

 My previous freelance photography work has varied from private events such as weddings and  parties to recording rugby matches for a local club. I have also had experience of photographing fashion models for their personal portfolio.

I have attached a link to my portfolio to date for your consideration and I would be highly appreciative of any opportunity to gain a real work experience, shadowing or assisting you.
http://cmitchell-ph.wix.com/photography
Yours faithfully
CONNOR MITCHELL (Mr)

Connor Mitchell

Personal Details

Address:                   33 High Street, Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside, WA12 9SP

Email                          cmitchell-ph@hotmail.co.uk

                                    connor123mitch@hotmail.co.uk

Telephone Number 07803795966

D.O.B                          12/10/91

Nationality                 British

Driving licence           Full UK

About Me

I am a reliable, imaginative and self-motivated person. Furthermore I’ve always been interested in developing my photography skills to the highest standard. I have the ability to work efficiently whilst under pressure, independently or as a member of a team. I am very enthusiastic about photography and would like to continue discovering new techniques and to master the methods of manipulating images whilst at university. By taking photography at degree level I am gaining the confidence and skills to be a successful photographer. I’ve also grown to recognise my unique individual style and I am able to adjust well in different environments whilst shooting. My determination to expand the quality of my working practice is exceptional as I want a career in an art which I am incredibly passionate about.

Skills

Photoshop Light room Illustrator and Adobe Premier Pro

Education

2013 - Present The University of Salford, Salford. Digital Photography BA (Hons)

2010 - 11 Winstanley College, Wigan.

Art Foundation – Level 4 Distinction

2008 - 2010 Winstanley College, Wigan.

Photography - B

Graphics - B

Media - A

Psychology - C

2003 - 2008 Golborne High School of Visual Arts, Golborne, Wigan.

Maths - B

English literature and language - B

Science - B

I.C.T – (Double) – AA

Photography – A*

Art – A*

Art 3D - A*

Exhibitions

201 2- Self Made Exhibtion, Manchester.

"Self Made is a celebration of the people around the world who don't take no for an answer. The people who don't wait for things to be handed to them. The guys and girls who go out there and do it themselves".

2011 - Art Foundation Exhibition - UCL University College London. 

2008 - Drumcroon - GCSE High School exhibition, Wigan.

Website update

Here I have started to update my website i have been looking at various styles and how photographers present their work I have edited my website recently so that my images show up one at a time, as they were i galley form before my reason for this was because of clutter. 

Some evidence into showing that really basic websites are beneficial because they are user friendly which makes it easy to navigate around the site without getting lost . 

I have also added some of my latest work to my albums and have also started the foundations of a business plan .

Selling Art Work

http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/category/photography-tips-2/selling-your-work/

The Most Important Single Tip for Selling Your Photography Over the Internet

Raise your hand if you are a photographer and you would not like to sell your photography over the web.

I’m assuming that not many of you are raising your hands right now.

A lot of photographers try to sell their work through their websites but nothing happens.  Maybe they have one or two purchases every year, but that’s it. People may complement their work, follow their every post, or they may visit the website once, love the work, and then forget to ever come back again.

It’s frustrating, to say the least.

Before you read further, or even think about selling your prints, you need to make sure that they are great prints and that they are printed on high quality, archival paper.  

What’s the point of selling your work if the customer is not going to be impressed and will not want to eventually purchase more?  If you want to sell your work then I suggest either learning to print well yourself (I suggest the Epson Stylus Pro 3880) or using a high quality printing services (Such as Digital Silver Imaging or West Coast Imaging.  It is one thing to sell to somebody once, but repeat clients are what make businesses run – especially in the fine art world.

So let’s get to the tip.

The number one most important thing is your mailing list.  You may have a website and a daily blog, but most likely, most of the people who are going to it every day are probably other photographers looking for inspiration or people who are not actively thinking about purchasing your work.  A majority of your potential customers probably don’t even know that you are actively selling your prints and are probably too busy to constantly check your site anyway to see your new work.

So you need to go out and reach them.

Email is the number one way to engage people on the internet.  It is not even close.  If you want to show off your gorgeous work, then email is the best forum to do this.

I recommend using AWeber.  Plan to send out an email once a month with your best work of the month.  I personally would not send an email daily or weekly because I do not think that I can create good enough work in that short of a time period and I also don’t want people to tune me out.  If you have an informational blog, then you can send out emails much more frequently, but for art-based businesses, it is better to hold back.  You want people to be excited when they receive an email from you and excited that they will be able to see your gorgeous work again.  All you need is one or two minutes of someone’s attention each month for it to make a huge difference.

In fact, I recently chose to take a break from sending out my emails because I was going through an extremely busy time in my life.

I quickly realized how ridiculous it was “that I didn’t have time” to send out my mailing.  I had the time because that is the number one aspect of my business that I should have spent my time on.  I should have cut something else out instead.

I received so many emails from people thanking me for starting it up again and how much they had missed seeing my work.  These people missed my work enough to reply and tell me to keep it going, yet many of these people did not visit my website regularly, if ever, to see my new work.   It’s funny how that works.

By sending these emails to people on a fairly consistent, but not obtrusive basis, you are becoming a regular part of their month.  It will help them to remember you for when they want to purchase a gift or something for their walls or for when they need a photographer for any reason (this tip can work wonders for studio photographers as well).

Occasionally, you should sell directly to your mailing list, but don’t overdo it.  You don’t want to be nuisance or a hawk.  You want your mailing list to be focused on showing off your work, brightening peoples’ days, and keeping yourself in peoples’ minds for when they do need a print – that’s its purpose.  Then, a couple of times a year, or when you have something interesting to offer, you can offer a discount on some prints directly to your list.

If you don’t overdo it then people will be so excited for your offers.  You will have built up a reputation with them and at the same time you will be offering them great value.  Save your offers for when you have a lull in business and some free time on your hands to offset the discount.

Getting people to sign up

Many of you are probably thinking, how the hell do I get people to sign up for my mailing list?  

If you have a lot of traffic going to your website then that is one thing, but you don’t need a lot of people on your mailing to be able to sell a fair amount of prints.  More than a third of the prints that I sell come from a small amount of interior designers and art buying companies.  Ten local interior designers on your list can be as valuable, if not more, than a thousand other people. Make a connection with the interior designers in your neighborhood and eventually ask them if they would mind if you added them to your list.  Seek out connections in your everyday course of life.  Build a strong and engaged list, slowly.

But that isn’t to say that you shouldn’t try to get traffic from your website to convert to your mailing list.  That is one of the most important things you can do.  Add a prominent area to your website that allows people the option to sign up.  I don’t have a particularly prominent area on my site, but in my opinion (and many of you may disagree) I have something better.

The single best way to get your web traffic to convert to your mailing list is to add a ::gasp:: pop-up to your site.  A pop-up is a little box that will appear on your website asking users to sign up for your mailing list.  

Hear me out.  A pop-up does not have to be intrusive if you do it the right way.  Most importantly, you do not want it to be the first thing that a visitor sees when they go to your site.  If it is, then a lot of people will immediately leave.  You want to give people a chance to see your beautiful work before it shows up.  I set my popup to appear 55 seconds after a person visits my site, and only once every six months for each person.  If they don’t want to join then they can click it off and it will not appear for another six months.  If this happens to annoy the occasional person then I am assuming that this person would most likely not want to be a customer of yours in the first place.  Most people just don’t mind.

Here is what my pop-up says:

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you enjoy my prints and views of the City.

You may be interested in receiving my monthly photo newsletter with my new work, informational photography articles and historical essays on the City, and the occasional print offer.

Thanks again!

James

Websites like AWeber make it extremely easy to add this type of pop up to your site.  All you have to do is add a single line of code to the body of your site and then you can tweak or change the message through the AWeber website.

Finally, when people do sign up, send them a welcome email follow-up with an overview of your work.  You can automate this message to be sent right after a person confirms.  If you are like me and you are trying to make a living through photography during extremely tough economic times, then you may practice a lot of different types of photography to pay the bills. You may sell prints or do studio work or event photography.  Most people probably won’t see all of your best prints or learn everything that you do when they visit your site for the first time.

Your welcome email is your chance to succinctly show them what you do.

Always think of creative ways to get people to sign up.  Any time I do a job for someone or sell a print, I always ask that person if they would mind if I add them to my mailing list.  Or, for example, this post.

It’s pretty obvious that this post is the perfect opportunity for me to ask you to join my mailing list, given that you just read 1500 words on how a mailing list can help you, but with the pop-up it just doesn’t matter as much.  Ultimately, the people that I want to join my list are the people that like my prints, and the pop-up will convert enough of these people once they visit my site. This post could have been about anything, as long as the people who read it enjoy the work enough to visit my site for longer than 55 seconds and then want to see more through their email – that’s what truly matters.

Here I wanted to gain some knowledge about selling art work and what the most practical way of selling images as a photographer . 

after looking around on many sites and actual photographers galleys with them selling there collections i came across this article which explain the usage of stock imagery  . i also like this article as it tells you the prons and cons of advertising online . 

During my research into websites I found these sites alamy and istock which offer really good ratings for students .

"We give you 100% of the money from the sale of your images, for two years. There is no limit on sales, so whatever you sell, you get."

http://www.alamy.com/students/

PGSE research

PGCE (Post Graduate Certificate in Education) Level 6 approved by The University of Central Lancashire Full-time 

This course will qualify you to teach in Post Compulsory Education and Training and is endorsed by LLUK (Lifelong Learning UK).

What will I study?

The course involves two days of theory study per week in the Teacher Education Unit and two days per week placement. Placement will usually take place in Wigan & Leigh College, this is dependent on the subject area being taught. Modules include preparing to teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector, aligning teaching & learning, teaching & reflecting on own practice, action research, teaching & reflecting on others? practice.

What's the length of the course?

Full-time for one academic year.

How will I be assessed?

You will be assessed through formal written assignments and observed in your teaching practice against LLUK standards.

What qualifications do I need?

You will need a minimum of a Degree in your chosen subject area, plus a GCSE English grade C or above in English and Maths or Level 2 equivalent in Literacy and Numeracy.

What can I progress on to?

Onto a Masters Degree or Continued Professional Development units.

Other important information

Acceptance on the course is subject to a clear DBS report and appropriate references.

Course Fee?

Tuition Fee per year £5885

Manchester Met course 

PGCE Primary

View tabs | View full page

• Overview
• Entry requirements
• Application and selection
• Course details

Fact file

GTTR code

X100

Degree awarded

PGCE

Duration

10 months

Entry requirements

Applicants should hold a minimum of 2:1 honours degree from a UK university, or a qualification recognised as equivalent.

Applicants holding a 2:2 honours degree may be considered, at the discretion of the Admissions Tutor, and must be able to demonstrate evidence of higher academic attainment, for example through further postgraduate study.

All selected candidates must have attained a standard in English, mathematics and science which is equivalent to the standard required to achieve a grade C in GCSE examination. GCSE Science equivalency tests will be considered in cases where an applicant has not previously had the opportunity to sit the Science GCSE.  The Science equivalency test result must be in place prior to the start of the course.  Equivalency tests for English and Mathematics will not be accepted.

All selected candidates will have equivalent to two A levels at grade C or above in preferred subjects.  

For further details about preferred subjects and the course in general, please see the School of Environment, Education and Development website.

Full entry requirements

Number of places/applicants

163 / 1500

How to apply

To apply for a PGCE course at the University of Manchester you must apply through UCAS Teacher Training. Please visit the UCAS website for further details. Applications or CVs sent directly to the University will not be considered.

Course options

	Full-time	Part-time	Full-time distance learning	Part-time distance learning
PGCE	Y	N	N	N

Course description

This course is in partnership with over 100 local primary schools. It is rated highly by local schools, students and Ofsted. It provides training in all National Curriculum subjects with a particular focus on Mathematics, English and Science. High quality support is provided by University based tutors and trained school based tutors. Over 50% of the programme is based in Partnership Schools. It leads directly to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS).  Trainees audit their progress against the QTS Standards. They are assessed continually during professional placements in school and receive high quality feedback. Subject knowledge in English, mathematics and science is audited regularly. In addition assignments are submitted which relate to the teaching of English, Mathematics, Science and ICT. The programme prepares participants to teach children aged 5-11 in the primary phase. The Primary PGCE course is highly regarded by local headteachers and the rate of employment of trainees from the course is consistently high.

For further information please visit the School of Environment, Education and Development website .

Fees

For entry in the academic year beginning September 2014, the tuition fees are as follows:

• PGCE (full-time)
  UK/EU students (per annum): £9,000
  International students (per annum): £14,000

The fees quoted above will be fully inclusive for the course tuition, administration and computational costs during your studies.

All fees for entry will be subject to yearly review and incremental rises per annum are also likely over the duration of courses lasting more than a year for UK/EU students (fees are typically fixed for International students, for the course duration at the year of entry). For general fees information please visit: postgraduate fees. Always contact the department if you are unsure which fee applies to your qualification award and method of attendance.

Self-funded international applicants for this course will be required to pay a deposit of £1000 towards their tuition fees before a confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS) is issued. This deposit will only be refunded if immigration permission is refused. We will notify you about how and when to make this payment.

Funding

The University of Manchester is offering a number of postgraduate scholarships for full-time, self-funding UK/EU students, holding an offer of a place on a master's course beginning in September 2014. You do not need to have studied your undergraduate degree at The University of Manchester, but need to meet a range of specific criteria - to find out if you are eligible, please visit our website.

Scholarships/sponsorships

Please see the Department for Education's Get into Teaching website for further information about bursaries.

Contact details

Academic department

School of Environment, Education and Development

Contact name

Natalie Rawding

Telephone

+44 (0)161 275 3617

Facsimile

+44 (0)161 275 3528

Email

pgce@manchester.ac.uk

Website

www.seed.manchester.ac.uk/subjects/education/pgce/

Academic department overview

See: The School.