CV

Personal CV

Photographer Emails

Tammy Mercure

http://tammymercure.com


"Hey Elle,

Sorry for the delay in reply. Lots of emails last week to catch up on.

I have a fair number of friends in photography and interestingly, we've all kind of figured out different ways to make work and support ourselves. I went the route where I don't put the burden of making money on my photographs directly. I've worked in colleges/universities for money. I was a staff person for 8 years running the digital lab in a photo department and then after grad school I was a professor. I like making money from photography but not from my work directly. Then I have time for my personal work and I can thoroughly enjoy it and have a different set of goals for it than money. Only in the last few years, have I made money directly- getting commissions from CNN and VICE and such. I hope within the next 5 years I will also start to sell prints- I haven't concentrated on exhibitions as much as online recently, so I need to focus on that more.

I do have plenty of friends who thrive on editorial work and get every excited about their own work when people are hiring them to do paid work. I do find that the jobs that really keep this group of friends afloat they don't talk about because it is very boring work- product shots, etc.

As far as getting work out, I've seen many different ways as well. I am probably on one end of the spectrum where I tend to share a good deal of work on tumblr and editors and people have found me this way. On the other end I have friends that won't show anything until they have a whole project complete. 

My main advice is to worry about your personal work first- figure out a way to make money that gives you the most energy and then share in a way that keep you motivated. It is different for everyone. 

Best of luck with everything! Keep in touch.

Best,

Tammy"

Entering a Competition

AOP Student Awards 2015 - Submission

I decided to become a member of the AOP as through my university i was able to have a years member ship as a student, for free. I knew when searching for a competition to enter, i preferably wanted to enter a student competition, as i felt as this stage in my career, i am only really experienced enough in my skills to compete against other students. Most student competitions tend to come at a reduced entry fee, or at least don't cost as much to enter as those that are open to all photographers. As being a member of the AOP i was able to enter this particular competition for just £5. 

Here is the information provided by the site when entering the competition. It was important to read all of the criteria of what the image size and format must be before uploading. I was quite surprised to see the competition required JPEG's as entries, as i personally thought the competition would ask for something of higher quality.

The section i chose to enter my photograph under was that of the section which asked for an image of a sitter, that could go on the front of a sunday magazine or paper. Rather than capturing an image of a portrait of someone particularly for this, i chose to use a street photography image to make my entry be slightly unique. Documentary photography and street photography are this genres which i excel most in, so with my entry to this competition i wanted to stick to that theme.  

The image is unusual in comparison to other entries or in terms of what may be expected to be entered for this particular section, however the image creates an interesting connection between the sitter and the reader due to the eye contact the sitter gives. This is more of an unusual trait in street photography imagers however i feel this is what makes the unusual images suitable to enter for this section. You can image the readers of the magazine or newspaper taking time to look at the engaging image of the front page. Because its captured in a real life situation, of what we in Britain may class as a typical old lady, in the street, it can be seen as relatable to the reader also. 

Arts Council

Documentary photography.


As part of my research for my report which i have based on the industry of documentary photography I have chosen to research into different agencies and organisations which help provide funding for the projects of photographers or other creative people/organisations.

The Arts Council, http://www.artscouncil.org.uk

this is one organisation which i have been looking at. Here is a short definition from their website about what they do;

"Arts Council England champions, develops and invests in artistic and cultural experiences that enrich people's lives. We support a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries - from theatre to digital art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections.

Between 2010 and 2015, we will invest £1.9 billion of public money from government and an estimated £1.1 billion from the National Lottery in arts and culture to help create experiences for as many people as possible across the country." 

http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/what-we-do/

I chose to look on the tab on their website named funding and looked at the application and what was available in funding for an Artist and Creative professional which is what a documentary photographer would come under. 

This looks like a great opportunity in comparison to the idea of agencies such as magnum and the aftermath project, as although those agencies provide help  and support for their photographers and their names are world wide, it really isn't easy to get funding off them. The arts council is a much more sensible and realistic route especially in terms of someone like myself who is just making their way into the industry as a photographer. As can be seen here on their website the priority areas are 'Developing Talent'.

Emailing photographers

Report Research;


As part of gathering research for my report i have decided to email several documentary photographers in the hope i can gain some feed back from them. By doing this i hope to gather first hand information about how these photographers made a career in the documentary industry, such as what route did they take and why ect. During my research i have come across some interviews online in articles and on youtube so these are something i could use as part of my research however being able to report back on information i have gathered first hand from these documentary photographers would be incredibly useful not only for my report but for my own future knowledge and understanding of the industry and the way in which it works. 



Chosen Photographers
Names and websites:

BEN CLEMENT
http://muddypix.tumblr.com/archive

http://carsonsanders.com

Tammy Mecure

Mil Critchlow

Anastasia Taylor-lind

Rob hornstra

Abbey Trayler-Smith

Cosmin Bumbut 

Claire Milbrath

My Email, which i tailored slightly to suit each chosen photographer;

Hello, 

My name is Elle Cain and I am currently a student at the Cleveland College of Art and Design, in Hartlepool, North East England. I am studying a BA honours degree in Photography.

I am an aspiring Documentary photographer, and as part of my second year on this course, I have been set the task of researching an aspect of the photographic industry that is of interest to me and directly relevant to my professional aspirations and proposed career path. I've then been asked to produce a report using the information I have gather. 

As part of the research I want to gather for my report and generally for the knowledge I personallly feel I need to succeed in a career in this genre of photography, I would like to be able to gather information first hand from documentary photographers like yourself.

I understand it is not an easy area of photography to make a living or make yourself well known and successful in. So really I would appreciate the opportunity to gather some feedback from you about your personal journey as a photographer… 

For example, How did you start in photography, When did you start, Why you chose the genre of documentary, How have you made yourself known and managed to make a living from it? Is there any advice you could give me for starting out in this industry?

Regardless of whether you’re able to reply, I would just like to say thank you very much for taking the time to read this. I really admire your work!

Yours faithfully,

Elle Cain

Competitions

Entering a competition


As part of my professional studies assignment brief we are asked to enter a competition and   write 1000 words of our report on our chosen competition and entry. I have chosen the AOP student awards as my competition. I did this because from the very start of my research of different competitions i knew a student competition would be most suitable for my self as i feel it most suits my ability and the stage i am at currently. I wouldn't feel comfortable or like it was worth the entry fee if i were entering a competition open to professional photographers.


AOP student awards 2015

categoriges

Categories & Briefs:

1 - Social Media: Animal Conservation

2 - Product Shots: Sense

3 - Brand Image: Charity

Category 4; My chosen category

4 - Sunday Supplement Cover

Single image

Photograph a sitter of your choice, for the front cover of a Sunday newspaper weekend magazine. To read the Briefs in full, please click here. 

I chose to go with the last of the 4 categories for my compeition entry as finding time to go out and shoot something just for this competition would have been far too time consuming. My passion is street photography and documentary photography so in a lot of my street photography i have unusual portraits of people. I felt submitting one of these images for the last category would be suitable. 

Judges

http://www.the-aop.org/awards/aop-student-awards-2015/judges

"George Logan

George was awarded the prestigious Gold at the Association of Photographers Awards in 2005 and again in 2010. His work regularly features in the IPA/ Lucie Awards, Creative Review, D&AD and Creative Circle. He was also listed as one of Campaign Magazine's Top Ten Photographers. 

Most recently George was awarded three Silver Lions at Cannes, a Best in Category at the AOP Awards and was the winner at PDN New York. 

He is passionate about wildlife conservation and regularly shoots with The Born Free Foundation."

Tim Flach

"Over the past decade, Flach's work has increasingly focused on animals, ranging widely across species but united by a distinctive style that is derived from his concerns with anthropomorphism and anthropocentrism. His interests lie in the way humans shape animals, and shape their meaning. He has three major bodies of work: More Than Human, Dogs Gods, and Equus. Through the related books and exhibitions, Flach has attracted international interest. His images have been acquired by major public and private collections. "

Richard Maxted

"Richard is predominantly known for his still life photography. He graduated from Blackpool college and currently is working out of London and New York.His work has been used by advertising agencies all over the world and his personal work is held in many private collections. His work has been awarded many times. He served as The AOP president and has given many talks to students, he continues to be a great supporter of AOP Education."

Wendy Carrig

"Wendy Carrig is an award winning British photographer, specialising in fashion, beauty, lifestyle & portrait photography;and can include David Beckham, Nigella Lawson and Olga Kurylenko among her many sitters.

She has won the AOP 'Best in Category' award for non-commissioned Portrait; and has exhibited in the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize at The National Portrait Gallery London, where her picture was chosen for the catalogue and poster campaign. "

Prizes

Prizes are something which i always feel is quite important to consider when entering a photography competition as its always useful to know whether its a cash prize or what you may get free or where your name may be published. The main aim for me entering a competition at this stage in my career is really to get my name known, so if i were to win a competition it is important to see where my image may get posted whether that be on the official website of the competition holders or in a magazine ect. Cash prizes are also something i often look for when looking at competitions as being a young photographer and being a student, money is constantly needed to fund my own projects and buy new equipment. 

In this particular competition the overall winner will receive: 

• One days free studio hire,
•  one years free open membership,
•  a day shadowing photographer Philip Haynes, 
• £250 print credit from "the print space". 
• One weeks online exhibition on the AOP website.

Digital Archive

Tumblr Archive


A few weeks ago in lesson we looked at examples of digital archives. We looked at examples of past students and other formats of digitally archiving work. Following this session i chose to make my own digital archive. The format i chose to create this on was Tumblr. I chose to use tumblr as it is a format i am used to using. I have my own tumblr blog which i use to reblog images and find inspiration, however this is not a blog i use to post my own images. I have now created my own tumblr blog for my photos only. 


www.ellecainphotography.tumblr.com

The create aspects about using the tumblr format for a digital archive is that the layout is clean and simple. The blog can be viewed in either a scroll down type of format where all the images can be seen large or you can actually select the archive choice so the images can all be seen together on one page as an archive in order of when being uploaded. 




Website URLS

In a session this week when we recapped the use of digital archives we looked at starting up our own websites. I learnt something really valuable in this lesson which i didn't know before hand. There are many websites such as reg-123 and other similar websites which can be used to buy web tags. When searching for what id want my own weblink to be i found that ellecain.com and ellecain.co.uk were both available. I don't feel ready yet to create my own website however i bought both web adresses to prevent anyone else from getting them as i know i will need them sometime soon.