Contacting A Professional Photographer and Gaining Experiences From it.
A daunting aspect of being a final year student, apart from the big assessments and portfolios, is the question of what happens next? And the uncertainty of what the future holds. The need to take actions at this point, which will potentially shape your entire future is something that can become overwhelming, causing you to bury your head in the sand, or can be seen as an incredible opportunity. Fortunately, I have seen the opportunities my final year studies are providing, and I have used them as a foundation to develop my career in photography. I started this process by emailing photographers, presenting them with my work, complimenting theirs and asking if they have any assistance work available or any they are aware of. This is an interesting way of getting into the industry, and is known to be a successful path to becoming a photographer. One response I was excited to receive was from photographer Stephen Dodd.
Stephen Dodd, is a commercial photographer, who sometimes participates in other genres of photography like weddings etc, based in The Wirral, Liverpool. He is a one man business and deals with all his clients single-handedly, but sometimes he does need assistance with larger shoots, especially weddings.
Following Stephen’s response to my email. we had an initial phone discussion to enable me to find out more about the assisting jobs and opportunities he had to offer.
During our conversation, he explained to me a little bit about his work, studio and the reasonings behind looking for a new assistant. We discussed my work, which Stephen stated he liked, and asked about my other work, not just my studio work, which he saw on this website. Stephen offered the opportunity for me to be his assistant for two weddings in June and August, which I grateful accepted. We concluded with organising a day to meet at his studio, on The Wirral, to discuss the opportunities and future work further.
Meeting Up With Stephen
Upon meeting Stephen, I had a tour of his cosy studio, and we talked through his work process. With this, we spoke a little bit about ourselves discussing more about how we both got into photography and the types of photography we both enjoy doing. This helped to build a relationship to aid us when we work together.
Stephen gave me more detail about his work process, the sort of equipment he uses and how he runs his business, which was very interesting, giving me a good insight into the self-employment aspect of photography. Additionally, he talked me through his large format camera, with a Hasselblad (first camera on the moon), digital back and spoke to me about how he uses this. This was interesting to listen to, and I was able to learn more about his work process and the technical sides to the camera he used.
At the conclusion of our meeting, he was keen to invite me back to his studio when he next gets some product work. Stephen believes it is important for me to see how he works in preparation for assisting him on the weddings, so we can work efficiently together. He invited me to work with him on an upcoming shoot in order to build up a better working relationship.
“I can teach you and you can teach me”
As we all know, the technical world runs at a fast pace, and Stephen has been in the photography industry for a long time. Stephen was keen to ask about my technical and IT skills, to which I replied ‘I am not tech wizard, but I am good at the software I know’, which he seems excited to hear. At the end of our meeting he commented that he was excited to work with me and share his knowledge, but also to learn from myself. With this he commented ‘you will be amazing’. This gave me a great boost of confidence and made me excited to start learning from Stephen and getting to know more about the industry that I am ambitious to be apart of.
Reviewing My Work
Before Stephen contacted me, as mentioned previously, he had looked at my work on this website and had commented on how good my images seem. When we met in person, he talked about my images, explaining how they could be advanced further with the experimentation of perspective within my images. For example, making the bottom of some of the images larger than the top and vice versa as this could bring out a further creative edge to my imagery. This is something I would like to experiment with in the future.
How this helps my future.
This opportunity has allowed me to make new connections outside of University and get a professional’s opinion on my work. Furthermore, I have secured assisting opportunities which allows me to start planning my future post course and given me an entry path into the industry. I am very excited to see where this opportunity takes me, and I am exited to get some hands-on learning and experience.