BA (Hons) Photography Auction Night

As I am hoping to top-up my Degree and go onto the BA (Hons) year I thought it would be good experience to go and see their auction night to get a sense of what is expected next year. I went to the one that was held in the Plymouth College of Art on Monday 4th March. Even though it wasn't a fantastically huge place to hold it, there was room for entertainment, refreshments and a projector to present the work that was for sale.

I spoke to Nick White who is on the BA year and asked him a few questions while he was at the auction. He discussed about the last auction and even though he didn't think they were going to make as much as last time he hopes that it was still going to be a good amount of earnings. Also they had a print from an artist that was donated to them which, rather then put into the auction they were hoping to approach a private collector to get more money. I also asked why he had picked his particular piece to go into auction as it was not from any of his recent work. He chose it because he thought obviously it would be best to sell but also that the image stood well on its on as his recent work is better viewed as a series. He was also curious to see how the image will do in an action on sale. He thought the image was appealing and thought it would attract a more variety of an audience for selling.

I had never been to an auction before and found it a good experience especially to know what's expected next year. The more work that is available to sell the more chance of getting money so it is good to approach people and see if they would make a donation. Its not something I can see myself doing for a living but it was good to and was also quite fun to see what prints would sell good and what wouldn't.

Events with the Tamar Valley Westerners

Here is a collection of imagery from their latest event which I photographed. This event entailed them to show the Native American Culture and their Tombstone shoot out at the O.K Corral.

I find that going to the events with the Tamar Valley Westerners a brilliant experience because it keeps me in practice with my photography while having something interesting to shoot. I developed my action shooting especially during the shoot out between the cowboys. It was brilliant to capture them in the moment of there acting with the shoot out! I feel that I shot the Native American side the best and showed how they represent the culture. I would like to use a different lens next time so there is more concentration on the main subject. A prime lens that will let me have an aperture of F1.4 for shallow depth of field, this also allows for quicker shutter speed while keeping the ISO relatively low.

Business Cards

Any freelance photographer uses business cards as they are easy to hand out to perspective clients, also a great way for them to remember your details. I have had business cards before but they need updating as I have new contact details, work and logo that need to be displayed. I chose these three images to be put onto the cards because they each show an area that I specialise in. Landscape, wedding and portraiture which these show and I can hand out to whoever wants them. They also have updated contact details and my emblem from my logo.

Facebook

I have decided to create a Facebook page so that I am able to keep up to date with people as well as show my latest work. It is a very good way to network with people and keep them informed as the average person goes on Facebook up to 50 times a day. It would be foolish not to as this is another way to advertise your business and its free! It is easy to organise your pictures into albums, easy to keep updated with latest projects and easier for people to share your work for everyone else to see.
My Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/AlexDancePhotography

Logo!

If I am to be recognised in the photography world then I will need a good strong logo that will be linked to my work and what I do. Using Indesign I started to play around with fonts but couldn't find any that I seemed to like let alone see what would use as a logo! So I turned to a friend who is a graphic designer, Tom White. He is the Co-founder of the company Inspiration Hut which showcases a wide range of artists work as well as there own Fonts and Photoshop tutorials.
This is the link to the website: http://inspirationhut.net/

I am very pleased with my logo as the font has been designed uniquely to me and has a professional quality to it. The small emblem makes it easy for me to mark my images as mine without spoiling the imagery and it links with the main logo. Alex is a very masculine name and is often associated as a male name even though it could be either. The style of font, I think, gives it that slight feminine feel to it while maintaining a professional look and feel to the logo. 

Client Brief

So the first project I got given from the College was to take images to a clients need. The client turned out to be the college itself and so I was given the challenge of shooting the night life in Plymouth. I had shots taken from around the centre of Plymouth and the Barbican. To make the City Centre look more exciting I slowed the shutter down as slow as possible to get the longest trail from car lights.

These images are copyrighted to Alex Dance Photography.

Paid for Printing!

I did a shoot for a College project which involved me to photograph a model and make it look as pose them as if they were the author of a real book. We had to shoot on film so I used a Hasselblad (square format camera) and a large format (5x4). As for using him as a model (for free) I agreed that I will give him digital copies. He then went through and a few weeks before Christmas requested these to be printed at A4 size. 

These images are copyrighted to Alex Dance Photography.