Photography Wall: Sony World Photography Award Winners 2013

A good way to find new, successful photographers is to look at the winners of big contests like the Sony World Photography Award. I've researched the 12 winners of 2013 and researched into them and their work individually to widen my photographer name list. I'll be honest and say that not a single one of them images stuck out to me, made me think 'wow' or looked as though they deserved to win yet that's probably just because none of them were my style of photography. I appreciate other styles, of course, but obviously the winning photo in my eyes would be something I can relate, like the look of and understand. Despite my un-attraction to the winner's images I've briefly noted their names and put them onto my photography wall. Some of the winner's images are as follows:

Mitch Dobrowner:
Winning image:

Other work:

-Influences are Minor White and Ansel Adams.

-Creates images that help evoke how he sees our wonderful planet.

Kolyaskin Sergey:

Donald Weber:
Winning image:

Other Work:

- ''He has since devoted himself to the study of how Power deploys an all-encompassing theater for its subjects; what he records is its secret collaboration with both masters and victims.''

Palmer + Pawel:

Winning Image:

Other Work:

Expanding My Photographer Knowledge - Reading Lists

This is the reading list that our tutors have suggested we look into. The ones in bold are what I've already began to read, I chose to read these first because I've worked with them before so I understand them well and have an idea of what I'll get out of reading them.

Liz Wells : Photography : a critical introduction

Liz Wells : The photography reader

John Berger : Ways of seeing

David Bate: Photography

Graham Clarke : The photograph

Ian Jeffrey : Photography : a concise history

Susan Sontag : On Photography

Ashley la Grange : Basic critical theory for photographers

Gerry Badger : The genius of photography : how photography has changed our lives

Steve Edwards : Photography : a very short introduction

John Tagg : The burden of representation : essays on photographies and histories

Susie Linfield : The cruel radiance : photography and political violence

Abigail Solomon-Godeau : Photography at the dock : essays on photographic history, institutions and practices

[no author / Phaidon] : The Photography Book

Martin Parr / Gerry Badger : The photobook : a history

Stephen Bull : Photography

Photographer Wall: Jean-Francois Dupuis

Jean-Francois Dupuis

-Canadian artist
-Experiments with illustration and painting as well as photography
-Creates powerful photo-montages and striking imagery
-Digitally merges the skill of technology with the traditional values of fine art. This process has allowed him to push the boundaries of what photography is perceived to be and has given him a broader spectrum to express his creativity without limits/
-His own experiences of travel are a recurring theme.
-His images depict place and his vivid imagination through vibrant expressiveness. 

Guest Speakers - Layla Sailor + Anna White

Layla Sailor 

-Born in Manchester

-Works in Manchester and London
-Degree in photography
-Inspired by cinematography, literature, Russian traditional crafts, religious iconography and politics.
-She creates hyper-realistic, dreamlike work focusing on colour and styling.
-Her work includes lighting design, art direction and prop making.

Her advice:
-Stand your ground with what you're good at and don't change your style or ideas because someone had a bad opinion on it.
-Talk to the fashion students about getting contacts to the fashion or photography world because they have the contacts given to them by the university.
-Make a Twitter account

My opinion on her work and what she said:
I liked her fairy tale sort of work because it's the sort of thing that I like to do myself, I see it as 'making anything possible' so I can relate to that aspect of her work the most. I like how she often collaborates with a pattern designer, this would give her work elements of originality as well as build up her client and contact range, I always take up the opportunity to collaborate with other students and people working in different fields to me yet could use it more to my advantage by doing it more often so I will do make this one of my objectives on my PDP. Layla's work is contemporary and traditional at the same time, I find this mix very interesting, this gives her work a very unique element!

Artists that inspire her:
Kirsty Mitchell

-Born in 1976
-Raised in Kent which is known to many as 'Garden of England'.
-Her earliest memories are when her mother used to read her stories.
-''She instilled me in the most precious gift a mother could, her imagination and a belief in beauty...it became my root, and the place I constantly try to return to in my work, and my dreams.''
-Studied history of art, photography, fine art and costume for performance and fashion design.
-After the loss of her mother she used photography to escape when she could no longer talk about how she felt. she lost herself in street portraiture, focusing on those who reflected her own sadness and loss.
-Later, she turned the camera onto herself throughout the hardest year of her life , it became a fantasy that blocked out the real world and a place she could return to the memories of her mum.

Toilet Paper Magazine

____________________________________________________

Anna White

-Originally from Suffolk

-Studies photography and graduated with a masters.

-Her work is very personal, it explores the lives of others and documents it in a comforting way.

Her advice:
-Don't take undergraduate for granted because once we're out in the world it'll be so much harder to find the opportunities that we're always getting here.
-Make a Twitter account.
-Get yourself known at this early stage.
-Stick to what you know but always keep your mind open to learn new things.

My opinion on her work and what she said:
I see Anna White's work as relating very much to William Eggleston with slight elements to Martin Parr in the sense that her work is very domestic and personal. I don't particularly like her domestic style of work because I personally do't understand the meaning behind the images, I do however appreciate her work with people, especially when her work becomes a tool to help them out, for example, she did a project called 'Transformation', her description for the series is as follows: I have worked with Age UK group, ‘Out in the City’ to create a photo book about identity and memory in the elderly LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual) community in Manchester. For the project I interviewed seven people and with poet Andrew McMillian and we created a series of images and poems illustrating some of the difficulties that people gone through concealing their true identity, some, for the majority of their lives. There are numerous preconceptions held about being LGBT but attitudes and equality laws are slowly changing. The Equality Act 2007 states that people cannot be discriminated against on the grounds of their sexuality but many are still suffering from outmoded views and prejudices. It is vitally important to remember that freely expressing your sexual identity has only recently been realised, with many who still find the task too monumental to carry out after years of secrecy. I am deeply indebted to Mike, Anna, Alan, Chris, Peter John, Peter, Andy and Ivan who opened their homes and lives to me. They are an extraordinary group of people who have educated and helped me indescribably. Anna said that this project was a comfort to many of the participants as they hadn't previously spoke to anyone about their sexuality due to the laws they grew up with. I love working with people and finding out their backgrounds and stories so I felt a connection with this sort of work that she does.

Artists that inspire her:

Simon Roberts

 

-Born in 1974
-British photographic based in Brighton.
-One commentator has described his photos as ''subtle in their discovery and representation of forms of cultural character, which upon closer inspection, reveal a richness of detail and meaning. they exhibit a disciplined compositional restraint, a richness of palette, and a wealth of narrative incident.''

Jim Goldberg

-Born in 1953.
-American photographer and writer

-His work reflects long term, in-depth collaborations with neglected, ignored, or otherwise outside-the-mainstream populations.
-Best known for his photographic books, multi-media exhibits and video installations.

Boris Mikhailov

-Born in 1938 in Ukraine.

-Lives and works in Ukraine and Berlin.

-He's a fine art photographer.

-He's described as one of the most important artists to have emerged from the former USSR.

Paul Seawright

Humphrey Spender 

-Born in 1910

-British photographer, painter and designer.

John Davies

-Contemporary documentary photographer.

-He sticks to using black and white format.

-Drawn inspiration from issues relating to his surroundings and conditioning.

Networking

In order to spread my name around withing the industry I've created a Twitter account and will also be collaborating with the Graphics course in uni to design and create some business cards. My Twitter account will be used to gain follows and clients as well as find out photography related information, gain tips, find other artists/photographers and gain information on upcoming events such as exhibitions or competitions. I'll be working with the graphics course  up until Christmas to come up with a clever, trendy, creative, memorable and useful business card that will hopefully gain the attention of potential employers.

Creating A Professional Portfolio

We had a session on Portfolio development, I will use this information to help me build and create my own professional portfolio.

-Think about what images would fit along side each other in terms of content and orientation (horizontal/vertical).
-Tailor the portfolio to the person I'm showing it to at that time.
-Think about how I would present it, do I want to show it on a tablet? On a computer? Or printed out?
-If printed do I want my work to be shown in a professional, expensive portfolio folder or a small, alternative wooden box...
- I will have to think about borders, size and finishing gloss.

With these things in mind I'll look through my photography work and pick out the best pieces and update them if necessary then narrow them down to create a final portfolio.

Creating A Professional CV

My creative CV before feedback:

The feedback that I received for this CV is as follows:

You have taken an in interesting and bold approach towards developing your creative CV. However, it is important to understand the assignment brief and ensure that it is meeting the criteria specified. Your CV does this but there are limitations to your approach which lie chiefly in that presentation
and content aren't particularly targeted towards the vacancy chosen/ Development points: Use of images is particularly effective within the creative sector, after all the CV can be a tool for you to demonstrate your technical and creative skills. Consider incorporations a range of images within your CV and expanding you CV to 2 pages will enable you to do this Alternatively, using a smaller font size and different layout would enable you to restrict your CV to 1 page; Font--‐size – this is too big for a CV. Additionally, your CV is quite text heavy and this means that it isn't particularly easy for the reader to focus on the information relevant to them/the vacancy; Details regarding your degree appear to have been omitted from your CV – a significant omission given that the vacancy specifies a related degree; Look at the vacancy and address the criteria specified, e.g. there is no evidence to show that you have the required skills/experience with relevant software, i.e. Photoshop.

Summary of the feedback:
-Target my CV more specifically to particular jobs.
-Incorporate more than one image.
-Expand CV to two pages or smaller font size and different layout.
-Show evidence of required skills, e.g. Photoshop
-Too text heavy.

My opinion on the feedback:
I appreciate the feedback I'm given for each project I do yet I can't help but to disagree with some of the feedback I received for my creative CV. I do need to focus more on targeting specific jobs rather than having such a broad CV aiming range, so this is something I will try to develop although I don't see how I'd be able to make it too specific as I'll be using this same CV to apply for many different photography/creativ jobs. I don't like the idea of including more than one image unless it was to be a different photo used as a background for a second page which then brings me onto my next problem of not wanting a two page CV, I think a one page CV is more compact and easier to work with, I feel as though potential employers wouldn't want to be flicking through pages. I will make my text smaller and cut un needed parts out of it to make it less text heavy and I will include evidence of skills.

My general CV before feedback:

The feedback for this CV is as follows:

Your general CV reiterates the approach taken within photography foced CV and in this sense doesn't work well for a CV aimed at a more 'mainstream' sector. A completely different approach is required here. Development points: See above; Formatting and standard of presentation need to improve radically; Once again, focus on the requirements as stated in the job ad.

Summary of the feedback:
-Aim for more mainstream jobs.
-Focus on job specific requirements and show evidence.
-Improve formatting and standard of presentation.

My opinion on the feedback:
I agree that I need to focus on specific job requirements and aim my CV towards more mainstream jobs but I do not think my formatting or presentation needs changing. I think that although my presentation for this general CV is slightly creative and different looking then this doesn't mean it won't be attractive towards the less creative jobs. Mainstream jobs will have gone through millions of the same looking CV so I think my design will stand out more and give me a head start.