Owen Harvey | Guest Speaker

From the series Mod UK. by Owen Harvey 

Owen Harvey was our guest speaker this afternoon, he graduated from the University of Wales and came in to talk about his uni projects as well as the ones he is currently working on.  Harvey shoots primarily on film and began shooting using 35mm black and white film.  Once he had graduated he realised all of his work was black and white, so he began shooting in colour to add some variety to his portfolio. He also managed to combine his commercial work with his personal work and received a wage for shooting work he was really interested in. Blends portfolio work with commercial work. 

His clients have included: 

BBC 

GQ Magazine 

Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre 

Sony Music  

Harvey gave us a lot of advice some of which I hadn't even thought about, so I thought I would share it with you. 

Build your network 

Collaboration 

Social Media - quality over quantity 

Support your peers

Selling Your Product

Think about presentation 

What is right for your project?

Creating your own opportunities - think about the market for my work, reach out to relevant online platforms. 

Learning on the Job and Personal Development

Shoots at least three times a week 

When you leave uni you get pushed to have a style use the time now at the university to experiment. 

Stay Motivated 

Continue producing work

Stay engaged

Take risks 

Get your work out there!

Be patient 

You have to support what you do in different ways. 

To see Harvey's work click here

Photographing For a Restaurant: Cocktails

Whilst I was back home and at work over the Christmas break, my boss asked me to photograph some of the cocktails the restaurant are selling for their Instagram page. Due to having to this shoot once we had closed, it meant that the lighting wouldn't be great. However, it gave me the opportunity to use my brand new speed light and I am quite impressed with how the images turned out.  

Over my placement year I also photographed some food of their new menu as well as the restaurants interior. I will write a post about how that went shortly. 

Visiting Berlin - another place ticked off the list

I had the opportunity to visit Berlin for 3 days last week to visit a few galleries, bookstores and just spend the time sightseeing in general. The early start on Monday morning made the trip feel longer than it was, and the weather was definitely a shock but none of this stopped me from sightseeing and taking as many pictures as I could before my fingers turned numb. I visited the gallery where discovered the artist and he has given me a few ideas for a personal project. As well as visiting the and seeing I absolutely love black and white images depending on the style of the shoot they can give them a dated feel which is something I quite like. I found it interesting seeing how had documented the 9/11 and the way the images were exhibited. I'll be writing a separate post on these artists soon.

 Something I would love to do is travel for a year, experience different cultures, explore historical monuments and take as many pictures as possible, whilst that currently is not possible for me now I am taking every opportunity I have to build a mini portfolio of travel photos. So far I have Paris, Madrid, Romania, Ireland and now Berlin! Maybe Italy next.

Where would you like to visit?

Danny Treacy | Guest Speaker

From the series Grey Area by Danny Treacy 

Photographer Danny Tracey came into to speak to us about his own work, and review some our work. He studied in Brighton, however, he found it very uninspiring, on the hand he had family in Ireland and found the sights there very inspiring, photographing abandoned buildings describing them as accessible tombs and said he had the opportunity to witness. Treacy described the work he was making as well received, but began to find problems such as arriving at the scene after things had happened, his images were dependant on the events beforehand. A power relationship that was out of his hands. Described himself as a forensic photographer as he photographed scenes. 

He took an interest in photographing himself in clothes he would find at the locations he had come to photograph, as he was intrigued by the way clothing changes his and the viewer's perception of himself. He then began scanning the images of himself in before adding a black background, the images that were created by this reminds you of something that has been exhibited. 

When it came to him reviewing my work, he gave me a lot to think about and definitely helped me shape my project, Treacy has such great knowledge and offers some incredible advice if you are ever given the opportunity to have him review you work I would defiantly take it. 

You can find his work here