Meeting in the middle

ICELAND COLLABORATION PROJECT

This project was predominately based in Iceland. I was part of a team that included a Textiles student called Rebecca Maconally from my university and a student from Drexel University in Philadelphia, USA called Ana Prodovich. There were two parts to this project.

1 - A VoiceThread presentation on Icelandic Art

2- A short film based on a site we were given. We were given the Harpa Opera house.

This project has proved to be quite difficult due to time constraints and the fact that it was predominately an online project. However, I have enjoyed collaborating and working as a team with students of different disciplines. We still have to edit and finalise our film but hopefully during the editing process we will be able to create an outcome that is interesting, fun and arty. Instead of solely using moving image we will use single shot images taken of the Harpa, from our very different perspectives and using our creative backgrounds!

Guest Lecture: Tom Jackson

Tom Jackson is an editorial portrait photographer. After studying Editorial Photography in Brighton, Jackson moved to London and assisted photographers such as Rankin, David Sims and Jane Hilton. During his time assisting, he realised that what he was interested in photographing were people’s faces and characterful people.

His first solo commission was the WWF wrestlers for Times Magazine. This led to him being a regular photographer for the magazine. He says that the supplements are a great way to get into the industry. You get your work published, gain access to high-profile people and it gives you links to advertising agencies.

Jackson does a lot of personal projects that are then used in newspapers and magazines and leads to further work. Jackson says that agencies love to see personal work. They want to see your published work but what they will book you on is usually based on your personal work.

Key pieces of advice:

• Assist -> supplements -> more published work
• You don't need a studio
• Published work leads to more work
• They like to see your PERSONAL work
• two studio lights, the background can be a reflector!
• Plan ahead- do reccy's
• Join a photography agency!

Guest Lecture: Carol Sachs

Carol Sachs is a Brazilian photographer best known for her editorial photography.

Whilst studying Graphic Design in Brazil she started photographing, mainly documentary. One of her first major series’ was on the Circus. She found these images reflected her emotional state at that point in time.

Sachs left education wanting to pursue a career in documentary photography. She moved to London and it was here that she read the book The Photograph as Contemporary Art by Charlotte Cotton, which opened her mind to the different styles of photography.

During this time she photographed portraits of her friends, which she continued when she moved to New York for six months. It was here that she started shooting in colour and didn’t look back.

She did an internship at a photographer’s agency.

• Emotional State reflects the work you produce
• "Dont think about 'career-ism' for a while"
• Develop your own style first then sell it
• "If something is really 'in' and you follow it, then you're easily 'out'"
• It take time- dont copy others- be unique
• DON'T compare yourself to others
• Lived as an immigrant; lots of hello's & goodbye's
• She pinpoints what is that works in her images; the SILENCE.
• The image and the concept need to work together
• Try to show something more than just the person
• You have to ALWAYS be doing personal work
• Bring the 'experience' to travel magazines
• She uses Canon 5D mark III and a 1.8 70mm-205mm lens
• No flashguns
• She doesn't keep in mind room for text

On Visual portfolios she had some great advice;

• Simple, clean website is essential
• All images to be the same size
• Don't show everything
• First page has to be a clear definition of what you do
• Only include stuff you're really proud of

Collaboration with Rebecca Marks MUA

Exploring ethnicity and make up styles with Sinead modelling. 

Headshots with Sophie & Kane

Guest Lecture: Simon Buckley

Simon Buckley is a photographer working in many fields including studio portraiture, reportage and travel. He is currently running the website Road, Rail & Sea - a website aimed at selling holidays and experiences to people that do not want to fly. 

He gave lots of good tips during his lecture such as:

• Be self confident with your ideas and what you are asking for
• Observe EVERYTHING

• We all have a little bit of arrogance

• For editorial portraits you get limited time so keep lighting and ideas simple
• ASSIST
• "They don't know what they want until you don't give it to them"

• In regards to interviews, never interrupt the interview, always listen to the questions and answers, ask to take the portrait after the interview and photograph in a way that will be relevant to the interview
• Silence is usually a good sign
• Give yourself 5 minutes after the shoot to calm down
• Keep lighting simple (but experiment with different techniques)

• Always try and get your foot in the door through networking

• Build up personal project portfolios as this could get you jobs in other fields of photography that you are not currently working in

• Think about the type of job - if it is editorial, where are the words going to go? Where will the headline sit on the image?

Advice on portfolios:

• Good to have digital and print
• Keep it simple, fresh and updated
• Between 15 to 20 images

Headshots with Zoe Patrick

After the success of the quick headshots shoot with Rachel I decided the easiest (and most fun) way for me to raise money would be to do a special offer so I put out an advert with the following written on it: 

"For a small fee of £5 you can have up to a maximum of 10 high quality photos taken professionally in a studio environment with a FULL lighting kit. Contact me via e-mail at: sarah.ashworth11@bathspa.ac.uk or via facebook.

All funds raised will go towards the Photography and Digital media Graduation show in London this summer."

Zoe was the first person to get in touch, she needed professional photos for her acting portfolio. A simple grey backdrop and 2 soft box layout was best for this type of shoot! Her eyes were beautiful.. would be great to do a macro of in the future?

Industry Insights

The Description:

Mystified about licensing design and copyright? Attracted to a career in brand management? Want to know more about photo libraries / agencies? Hoping to get a job in a design agency and use your digital media and film expertise? Our speakers will give you insights into these issues and much more

My reflection:

This event was brilliant, it gave three very different insights into the creative industry, covering 3 very different employment routes. It was helpful in defining copyright infringement and I have also gained one on one time with the three speakers, resulting in an internship with Future Publishing after a conversation with Katherine Bebbington-Taylor one of the speakers.

Diptych of The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

Whilst walking around the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, i noticed that different areas of the mosque, which were at opposite ends of the building, were related. The whole building was designed to flow and match throughout, whether it was through a colour scheme or through the architectural design. These examples of diptych make obvious the connections that I found whilst wondering.

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi

Once again I am over in Dubai for my annual christmas holidays to see my family and for the past 2 years i've been meaning to go and see the magnificent Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. Its the only main mosque in the UAE where women and non muslims are allowed to roam freely around the grounds! 

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque was a dream in the heart of the Late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan "May God rest his Soul", where he established its general vision, set its foundation stone, and crowned thereby a journey full of fulfilled dreams and great achievements. The Mosque is an expression of a visionary leader who believed that nothing is impossible and conceived that the most gracious achievements start from the heart.

There are 82 domes of various sizes and the largest is located in the centre of the main prayer hall.  The design elements include pure white marble cladding; onion shaped ‘crowns’ and crescent shaped finials decorated with gold-glass mosaic.  The elongated windows allow the natural light to enter the prayer halls.

There are about 1200 pillars surrounding the mosque, each made with white marble and decorates with semi precious stones to symbolize the muslim ideology of heaven. Each column lines up perfectly and you can see from end to end through the gap and is adorned with gold palm tree leaves at the top.

There are seven crystal chandeliers made by Faustig (Munich, Germany) situated inside the halls and foyers. The largest (located in the main prayer hall and considered one of the world’s largest in a mosque and is weighing approximately 12 tons.

The main prayer hall houses the world’s largest hand-knotted carpet. The intricate Islamic medallion design was made by third generation carpet maker and artist, Dr. Ali Khaliqi.  The predominantly wool carpet was hand-crafted by approximately 1,200 artisans.

Its creation was a two year project, the design took approximately 8 months, the knotting 12 months and the remaining time to transport, trim and weave the pieces together. The final single piece carpet is 5,700 square meters, about 70% being wool and the rest of 30% is cotton.