Throughout the course we’ve been encouraged to

Develop your photographic practice through the synthesis of practical work, contextual research and professional activities, and with the integration of other disciplines.

With that in mind I have

• Joined the Royal Photographic society

• Constantly check in to Ffotogallery in Penarth.

• Joined several online forums with the main one that I’ve interacted with being ‘Photographers United’ a closed group for professionals to discuss and provide support to each other.

• Signed up to gallery news letters including the Martin Parr foundation in the South West.

• Reached out for peer reviews from industry professionals.

I’ve found the RBS largely unhelpful it seems like a great organisation for hobbyists or people getting into photography but I don’t feel like it had anything relevant to me. It seems to be heavily focused on wildlife photography as well as very straight laced portraits.

The online forums seem to be a very diverse place. There are a few I’ve been a part of but the one I have got the most out of has been ‘Photographers United’ . People have queried situations were they have bene unsure of a way forward like dealing with late payments image usage, looking for an agent, and other professional situations. This has been great because I can see how people react and deal with things and hopefully that will give me the knowledge to negotiate out of similar situations myself id they arise.

I’ve asked for some advice on a few issues and it’s been helpful. I’ve definitely noticed that most of the photographers are working in London and rates and amounts of work are both a l lot better. It’s something to factor in when comparing situations with me working in Wales. It’s made me really look at trying to get to London more.

One post almost broke the internet and I was shocked. I shared a post explaining that i’m finishing my Ma and through out the course i’ve looked at x , y, z artists and asked for other peoples influences that might be similar. I had one person comment ‘ Do your own work we’re all busy trying to find paying work’ . Then a few others rallied to her with agreeing statements. I was shocked. I explained that it was not for my academic work but more for myself to look. The whole thing exploded and a lot of people rallied to support me and questioned the point of the group. Funnily enough it made a lot of people open up about their thoughts on the industry and the way people interact. I made a lot if new friends and made a point to respond to the comments. Since then I’ve expanded my list of peers that I can call on for advice or support. I even had some feed back on the work from it.

To summarise I’ve learned

• The photographic industry is dying photographers are getting paid less and there is less commissioned work being made.

• It seems professional photographers of an older generation are relying on there networks and contacts to secure work. Networks and contacts are vital, I need to make more in London.

• Diversity is very helpful to succeeding. A lot of clients are wanting both stills and video and with reduced budgets hiring one person for both is a very attractive option. I feel very lucky that I work with both sills and motion this is defiantly something I want to leverage.

• Online communities are very volatile and peoples insecurities come out. I think it shows how much the photographic industry is changing and how important it is to continually adapt with the ever changing social media world.

Photographers United submitted an open call and I submitted 6 images. One of them has been selected for the exhibition. Which is opening on Jan 10th at the Print space in London. I ‘m really excited, I have noticed that it was the live action stuff that Spencer Murphy would describe as my ‘looser’ style of images. Which is making me really consider my edit for FMP.

Accepted image for the Photographers United open call

The curators of it are:

Tim Paton

Emma Syrett

Mimi Mollica

Tracy Marshall

Below is some of the copy about them from the group.

Tim Paton Joined magnum in 2012 and is currently employed as Global Head of commercial assignments at Magnum photos in London.
His task it to generate Commercial opportunities for the Magnum photography Roster.

Tim has spent his whole career in the photography business. he started out as a photographer himself working for the legendary music Magazine the NME.
He then went on to set up his own commercial photo agency called Balcony Jump, which quickly became established as one of the best Agencies in London.
With Balcony jump and Magnum tim has worked with many of the worldwide leading brands including Nike, Gucci, Guess, Ford, Volvo, IBM, HSBC, Belstaff, Burberry and Canon 
He has helped nutured the careers of many well established photographers and produced both large and small shoots all over the world.

Emma Syrett will also be curating this Open Call!

Emma is an Art Buyer with over 20 years Advertising & Design industry experience. Having worked in a leading advertising agency, Emma set–up her own business in Dubai and then in London, Creative Management.

Creative Management provide an out-sourced Art Buying service and have produced campaigns with Terry Richardson - Nike, Norbert Schoerner - Coast, Greg Williams - Maurice Lacroix, Simon Norfolk – GE, Stephen Shore and many other global brands.

Along with Art Buying, Emma has also been one of the judges on the bi-annual Food Photo Festival https://www.foodphotofestival.com/

Welcome on board Emma!

 Mimi Mollica...

"Mimi Mollica FRPS from Palermo, Italy is an award winning documentary photographer and multimedia artist whose work examines themes relating to identity, culture, environment, migration, and the impacts of social and political change upon communities.

Mollica’s multi-awarded work has been widely featured in various prestigious publications ranging from The Guardian Weekend Magazine, Financial Times Weekend Magazine, The New York Times Lens, Newsweek Japan, Sunday Times Magazine, Internazionale, C Photo, Granta Magazine, among many others.

Exhibition highlights include Somerset House, London 2013, The Rencontres D’Arles 2011, London Street Photography 2011, Contributed Gallery, Berlin 2010, Jerwood Space, London 2010, Milk Gallery, New York City and Third Floor Gallery, Cardiff 2010 and European Parliament, Strasbourg 2009 plus more."

A real pleasure to have you on board Mimi Mollica!

After a slight delay, we will now be introducing the guests working alongside Photographers United. to put on this group exhibition early 2019. First up, Tracy Marshall...

"Tracy Marshall is an Arts Director specialising in the development of photography exhibitions, projects and workshops. She is currently director of LOOK: Liverpool International Photography Festival and Director of Development at Open Eye Gallery.

Tracy is also the founding Director of Northern Narratives, a non-venue based arts initiative which seeks to provide opportunities to experience photography and photographic projects in unusual and temporary spaces.

An intrinsic part of her curatorial work is the development of projects which seek to harness retrospective series of work from international photographers and set them alongside the work of emerging photographers."

Great to have you on board Tracy Marshall!