(no subject)
So, this is a paper i wrote for my business of photography class. it was a vauge assignment, about what we wanted to do and stuff, so i thought id take the time to think through my ambitions, and translate them into words. this accurately describes where im at right now, from my eyes anyways...yeah its long (longer than he wanted i thnk....oops ^^)
Starting to write papers is the hardest part. I know word for word what id like to say, but the way were taught to write things, you feel the obligation to build up to that point, this is my way of working around that, as I think its ridiculous anyways to type something like I always wanted to be X type of photographer, blah blah blah, Ive always found is so fascinating.
Anyways, I want to be a band photographer. I obviously do not know what this entails completely, but my definition is something along these lines:
-Shooting live shows this is a little hard to compare to other types of photography, mainly because of how much I use existing (stage) lighting. I guess its somewhat similar to shooting a sports event.
-Shooting group shots this is easily comparable to both group portraiture (or just portraiture if its a solo artist) and location photography, and depending upon the band and how creative they want to get, could also dip into more illustrative photography as well. Most commonly these kinds of shots are for smaller bands making promo kits or album liner notes, for record companies for pretty much the same reasons, or for a kind of editorial portrait for a magazine article.
-Traveling with a band documentary work. This I assume would probably only be done by magazines doing an article on a specific tour/band over x period of time. This is definitely the thing I would love to do most, but I dont believe its a common job. Ive been considering just asking bands to come along because I think I would just enjoy myself and be able to build my portfolio.
-Album Covers this isnt something I really considered until recently when a band asked me to shoot theirs. Its not really related to the band usuallythey asked me and I said yes, so I guess its something I would do. This I would relate to illustration, although admittedly Im not that familiar with it. I assume it could be anything from landscape to studio to whatever, it seems wide open.
So while I know what I enjoy doing, and Im hoping my definitions are accurate, Im not sure how to market myself. Im hoping this is what Ill learn in this class. How to get a job with the type of photography I enjoy doing, which Im my opinion is very specialized, (as opposed to saying I want to shoot portraiture or news) what Im going after is a mixture of many things learned at AIP but not a definitive one direction and thats what confuses me, because the classes only showed us that, and often the students define themselves I want to do studio or I want to do fashion and what I want to do to me looks either hard to market, or Ive just not been shown that there is a way to market it. Im hoping on the later.
I decided on band photography after about a year and a half here. In that first eighteen months I really didnt get to do any band photography, mainly because earlier classes are more focused on basics and stuff, which is obviously understandable. When I got to editorial class it seemed to come together, I started shooting bands for my assignments in that class (and then in most classes after that). Bands is what I mainly did with photography before school (other than being a photo tech.), as long as Ive been going to shows Ive been pushing my way to the front to be able to take photos, being able to do it in school and apply what Ive learned just felt right. I have grown much since that point though, since this isnt a definite taught skill, Ive been discovering and teaching myself things while at shows as far as how the light reacts to different shutters, and Ive really learned how to effectively use my flash, which before I was doing shows again I was somewhat uncomfortable with.
I came to this decision because I realized it was what I did before I knew anything about photography, and after learning its what I still enjoyed doing. If I changed my major today and never wanted any job in the photo industry, I would still be doing band photos, while thats a rather impractical example, since I would be in an immense amount of debt for no practical reason, I think it conveys my point clearly.
Im not sure if this letter was really what you were looking for, I dont know if I gave too much or too little information in any aspect of what I want to do, but I looked at this assignment as more of an introduction than anything else, so you could see where our minds are at and then take it from there, because obviously I could write days about the different aspects and techniques and just my general feelings of where Im headed. Thank you for letting me write this in this style, I really think it helped me get my point across easier, and I believe the point of this was clear communication rather than a stuffy and structured essay. Im looking very forward to this class, as I said my main confusion with my direction was how to get work with what I want to do, and hopefully you can help guide me with this.
Thank You,
Chris Schwarzott
Starting to write papers is the hardest part. I know word for word what id like to say, but the way were taught to write things, you feel the obligation to build up to that point, this is my way of working around that, as I think its ridiculous anyways to type something like I always wanted to be X type of photographer, blah blah blah, Ive always found is so fascinating.
Anyways, I want to be a band photographer. I obviously do not know what this entails completely, but my definition is something along these lines:
-Shooting live shows this is a little hard to compare to other types of photography, mainly because of how much I use existing (stage) lighting. I guess its somewhat similar to shooting a sports event.
-Shooting group shots this is easily comparable to both group portraiture (or just portraiture if its a solo artist) and location photography, and depending upon the band and how creative they want to get, could also dip into more illustrative photography as well. Most commonly these kinds of shots are for smaller bands making promo kits or album liner notes, for record companies for pretty much the same reasons, or for a kind of editorial portrait for a magazine article.
-Traveling with a band documentary work. This I assume would probably only be done by magazines doing an article on a specific tour/band over x period of time. This is definitely the thing I would love to do most, but I dont believe its a common job. Ive been considering just asking bands to come along because I think I would just enjoy myself and be able to build my portfolio.
-Album Covers this isnt something I really considered until recently when a band asked me to shoot theirs. Its not really related to the band usuallythey asked me and I said yes, so I guess its something I would do. This I would relate to illustration, although admittedly Im not that familiar with it. I assume it could be anything from landscape to studio to whatever, it seems wide open.
So while I know what I enjoy doing, and Im hoping my definitions are accurate, Im not sure how to market myself. Im hoping this is what Ill learn in this class. How to get a job with the type of photography I enjoy doing, which Im my opinion is very specialized, (as opposed to saying I want to shoot portraiture or news) what Im going after is a mixture of many things learned at AIP but not a definitive one direction and thats what confuses me, because the classes only showed us that, and often the students define themselves I want to do studio or I want to do fashion and what I want to do to me looks either hard to market, or Ive just not been shown that there is a way to market it. Im hoping on the later.
I decided on band photography after about a year and a half here. In that first eighteen months I really didnt get to do any band photography, mainly because earlier classes are more focused on basics and stuff, which is obviously understandable. When I got to editorial class it seemed to come together, I started shooting bands for my assignments in that class (and then in most classes after that). Bands is what I mainly did with photography before school (other than being a photo tech.), as long as Ive been going to shows Ive been pushing my way to the front to be able to take photos, being able to do it in school and apply what Ive learned just felt right. I have grown much since that point though, since this isnt a definite taught skill, Ive been discovering and teaching myself things while at shows as far as how the light reacts to different shutters, and Ive really learned how to effectively use my flash, which before I was doing shows again I was somewhat uncomfortable with.
I came to this decision because I realized it was what I did before I knew anything about photography, and after learning its what I still enjoyed doing. If I changed my major today and never wanted any job in the photo industry, I would still be doing band photos, while thats a rather impractical example, since I would be in an immense amount of debt for no practical reason, I think it conveys my point clearly.
Im not sure if this letter was really what you were looking for, I dont know if I gave too much or too little information in any aspect of what I want to do, but I looked at this assignment as more of an introduction than anything else, so you could see where our minds are at and then take it from there, because obviously I could write days about the different aspects and techniques and just my general feelings of where Im headed. Thank you for letting me write this in this style, I really think it helped me get my point across easier, and I believe the point of this was clear communication rather than a stuffy and structured essay. Im looking very forward to this class, as I said my main confusion with my direction was how to get work with what I want to do, and hopefully you can help guide me with this.
Thank You,
Chris Schwarzott