The first personal project I actually cared about...

Those of you who might know me from college, particularly 3rd year, will know that creating my own personal projects was something I never really made time for. My main aim was to develop professional skills in a commercial way that would one day help me become a full time photographer. First and foremost I cared about the quality of images I was creating, and the ‘message’ of the project came as an after thought.

I enjoyed shooting to briefs and creating images that would convey what the brief described, but when told to develop a personal project about something I cared about my mind often drew blank. One of my worst traits is that when I’m not interested or excited about something, then I struggle to put the effort in and get very lazy about it. This definitely happened during my 3rd year of college where I was under the misconception that I was being asked to create something really ‘artsy’ in order to pass the course. Being a few years older now with a bit more life experience I think there are a few reasons for this.

Firstly, I’m a really simple guy and not very emotional. Up until the start of 2020 nothing bad or significant had really happened in my life and it was all very smooth sailing. There was literally nothing I cared about enough to want to talk about in a personal project. I was much more interested in the technical side of photography, and would rather have shot many different and random images over the year in order to learn more about the craft.

Secondly, I think I had it in my head that my ‘personal project’ had to be something that would pass the course. At the time we were getting shown lots of different personal projects, many of which I could appreciate, but that were very artsy and not my style. So I mistakenly thought I had to do something similar in order to please the lecturers. Which as stated above, was difficult for me because I never had anything meaningful I wanted to say. I just wanted to create cool images!

It wasn’t until the end of last year that I actually picked up my camera and thought first about what I was trying to say for myself. The lighting, technique and everything else became almost irrelevant. I wanted to create something that would be important for my family and that’s what I would like to talk about today.

“If you seek me, you will find me”

February 11th 2020. My dad sadly passes away almost suddenly due to cancer. He had a sore throat and a dodgy hip. Went for a scan at the start of January and was gone by February. 2020 was a shit year for everyone, but particularly for my family and most of all, my Mum.

Skipping ahead to November 2021, it was time to think about Christmas presents. Sadly, the only thing I know my mum would want, was impossible to bring her. But maybe there was a way I could try.

My Dad was a big Catholic and so we were always brought up believing that even when people pass on from this life, they stay with us in spirit up in Heaven. As much as I’m not so much a practising Catholic anymore, I’m so grateful this was something my Dad brought us up believing.

He left behind his crucifix necklace for me and his signet ring for my little bother Michael. Both of which you would never see him without. You would often see him in his brown timberland boots, jeans and a jumper. In fact anytime I picture my Dad, I picture him in the same outfit. These pieces of jewellery as well as his clothing became the basis of the project I was going to create for my mum and brothers and sisters.

The aim was to take photos in and around the house, that hopefully when looking at them you would get the feel that he was present. There were many memories I had of my dad around the house. One of which being when he would get Christmas decorations down from the loft. I wanted to recreate these. A massive thanks goes to my younger brother Michael for agreeing to stand in for these photos.

From here I kind of went on a bit of a tangent. On top of being an amazing Dad, he was also a loving Granda. When he passed away, my nieces and nephews were very young and have grown up a lot since his passing. In fact, one of my nephews was born just a few days after he passed away, meaning they never got the chance to meet.

What I wanted to do was create images similar to the ones above, that couple possibly look like my nieces and nephews were standing next to him.

I actually have another niece and nephew that I have still to do these images for, but they were isolating at the time I was taking them. I’ll need to get them done soon and hopefully this is something I can update every few years as the kids grow.

So there we have it, the first personal project that I’ve started that is actually really important to me. The beauty is, it’s not for anyone else other than me and my family and thats the first time I’ve done a project that is in fact, personal. This is something I will definitely keep going!

Thanks, Matthew

Director @ Gold Visuals

Tips for Aspiring Photographers

Last week I was invited to deliver a talk to the talented photography students of City of Glasgow College, where I graduated from 5 years ago - feeling old!

While at college, I knew that by the time I left I wanted to be able to do photography as my full time job. In order to do that, I needed to know how I could turn this fantastic hobby into something I could make a living from. But where do you start?

My talk to the students was going to be on just that. Tips on transitioning from a student photographer into a full time one - and I will list these below.

1

This one may be a bit obvious, but you need to have a passion for photography. Ever since I got to play with my Uncles camera at a family party when I was 12 years old, I knew that photography was something I just really enjoyed doing. Whilst not knowing what I wanted to do as a career until after I left school and started the photography course at COGC, photography was something I just always took an interest in.

If you don’t love photography, try find something you do love and make a career out of that instead.

2

When people find out you have a camera and are interested in photography (often your friends and family) you will no doubt be asked to do some favours. I know it can be daunting to cover your first wedding/party or take your first headshots or family portraits. But no matter how nervous you feel, it’s important to BE BRAVE! Always say yes to every opportunity that comes your way.

For one, the more opportunities you take up, the more experience you will gain and as we all know, experience is everything! Secondly, opportunities can often lead to more opportunities that can sometimes lead you down wonderful paths full of exciting adventures.

Fo example, while I worked part time at TK MAXX, my manager at the time was arranging the yearly managers conference in Glasgow. She asked if I would be up for coming along and snapping photos of the event. Despite having no previous experience of event photography and everything in me was saying NO, DON’T DO IT! YOU’LL BE RUBBISH! I reluctantly agreed and went along to the event anyways.

It was there that I was introduced to more people involved with the company. One thing led to another and I ended up covering numerous conferences for TJX all over the UK where I got to stay at some amazing places such as The Savoy Hotel as well as the Mandarin Oriental in London. Both of which are 5 star hotels that I would never even have stepped foot inside had it not been for the events I was covering.

I often think what would have happened if I let my nerves get the better of me and said no to the initial invite to cover the conference in Glasgow. Thank goodness I said yes!

3

Speaking of opportunities, while at college I was put in touch with a few professional photographers such as Mark Hamilton, Chris Blot and Joseph Ford, who were looking for some assistants. Again, I said yes to these opportunities and through this experience I learned a lot about how each photographer worked and got a hands on look into what happens on large scale commercial shoots. I absolutely LOVED IT!

I am in fact often on the look out for assistants to help me on some shoots throughout the year. So if you’re interested please feel free to get in touch with me!

4

It goes without being said, but when you go along to these opportunities, DON’T BE A DICK! It’s important to be a friendly, helpful person where ever you are. You never know when that person you’ve just spent time talking to will actually be looking to hire a photographer at some point down the line. If you’ve been unpleasant or never gave them the time of day, why would they come to you?

5

This is something I never really got a grasp of until after I left college. There is in fact A LOT more involved with being a photographer than just taking and editing photos. In fact, the majority of your time will be spent away from the camera, working on your marketing strategy, answering emails and organising your finances.

The sad reality is, you can be the best photographer in the world, but without basic business skills, you won’t book enough clients to be able to do the job full time. On the other hand, you can be a really average photographer with great business skills and be fully booked for months at a time.

Having a website, Instagram, Facebook Page, Linked In, Google page and twitter account will help you reach as many potential clients as possible. However, more than that you need to learn how to use each of these platforms effectively.

5

On that note, START NOW! Get your website set up, get your social channels started and begin that journey. You’ll learn so much along the way and the quicker you start the quicker you will get to being as close as possible to ‘PERFECT’.

6

You’re gunna make mistakes! There is no doubt about it. Everyone does, especially when you are just starting something new. Whilst no one wants to make them, they are an essential part of the learning process. Anytime you have a slip up, make sure you learn from the experience and aim to improve the quality of your services by putting steps in place to not do them again.

I’ve made plenty of mistakes over my time as a photographer, and I will list a few of them below.

Again, this one seems fairly obvious, and I guess it is. But I’ve made this mistake before and felt horrible about it. I had a job scheduled in for Sunday morning and I was really looking forward to it. However, at the time I had just started seeing a new girl and you know what it’s like. You get excited to see them and your feelings get the better of you.

On the Saturday night I was invited out with her to get a few drinks. I thought I would go for a few hours and just take it easy as I knew I was shooting the next day. Obviously, after a few drinks you stop thinking straight and before I knew it I was waiting in the taxi que outside The Garage at 4 O’Clock in the morning, absolutely blootered! I was due to be back in Glasgow at 9 O’clock to start working.

By some sort of miracle I actually made it to the shoot on time, but I was still feeling a bit tipsy from the night before. I wasn’t sharp, I looked rough and I probably reeked of the booze I had been consuming just a few hours before. Despite doing an okay job on the photos, the client was defo aware of my unprofessional appearance and I never heard from them again.

To this day, I have a strict no drinking policy on the nights before any photography jobs.

Another less obvious mistake I’ve made over the years is drifting too far away from the client brief.

The brief was to go around 4 different locations and create 4/5 different images that they could use for case studies on their website. But what I actually handed over was around 100 images for each location. That’s great I thought, they are going to be really impressed with how many images I managed to get for them. More is better, right?

Wrong! The problem with this was that the best images were mixed in with the average images. So when the client opened up their gallery they were met with 100 images that they didn’t ask for, which made it look like I was only an average photographer.

What I should have done is stick to the brief, spend all the time I had focusing on 4/5 really high class images and only handing over the images I was really happy with.

So now I know to always refer back to the clients brief and make sure I’m ticking off only the boxes they have asked for. Sure it’s okay to make suggestions, but first and foremost make sure you are doing the job you have been hired to do.

Another mistake I made while at college was believing that I knew everything I needed to know about photography. Oh how I still have so much to learn!

I remember getting an A for my graded unit in my first year of HND. I was really happy with my project and the lecturers would often tell me how much they liked it. I WAS INVINCIBLE! Or so I thought.

Going into second year I had it in my head that I was already a really good photographer and that there was nothing more to learn. However, I quickly realised that I didn’t have a scooby what I was doing. Particularly when it came to studio lighting and running a business.

I also remember being really offended if anyone ever dared critique my work and tell me I could have done something better. However, being a few years older now, I know that I’m always in the process of learning and it’s important to take other peoples opinions on bored. Their critique is often the most valuable way to start thinking about how you can improve.

There was also a sense of reluctancy to ask questions. If I asked something I was unsure of, it would make me look silly or incompetent - so I thought. But in actual fact, asking questions to the people more experienced than you is a great way to improve your skills as a photographer - or anything really!

Big Headed Matthew is no more and I’m always trying to get better!

7

Money isn’t the sole reason you should get into photography. But at the end of the day, if you want to do it as your full time job you need to be able to make some money from it. So it’s important to value your time and effort.

Knowing what to charge is often the hardest part of the initial conversation with potential clients. You’ll be worried you ask for too much and scare the client away, but equally you don’t want to charge too little and end up working a full week on a job with no financial reward at the end of it.

My advice is start of small, and build it up as you improve your skills and discover how much time will be needed to complete each job. Be honest with your experience level and charge for your services accordingly.

Try and avoid working for free. You’ll most likely be asked to shoot some jobs with payment being in the form of ‘exposure’ (eg getting tagged in the photos). Whilst this can sometimes be beneficial in getting your name around, more often than not the person or company asking you to do this is just looking to take advantage of some free photography.

Working for free also doesn’t help the industry. If we all worked for exposure, then why would anyone pay for photography services? This would leave a lot of photographers out of a job.

So it’s very important to value your and time at least charge something for your services.

8

With the money that you earn from photography, try and reinvest it back into your business as much as you can - particularly at the start of your journey. This can be in the form of new equipment, website subscriptions, training courses and software.

Equipment definitely isn’t everything and you can of course create amazing photos regardless of what camera or lenses you are using. But if you’re serious about doing this as a full time job then you will need gear that you can rely on. Having top quality equipment will enable you to do your job more efficiently and to a higher standard. Not to mention, it just makes your life easier!

About half of my student loan went on photography equipment. The other half went to the pub! The first thing I bought was my camera (7d mark ii) and two off camera flashes. Flashes proved an essential thing to bring along to almost every event I have ever covered and so it was important I had some of my own.

I often looked at the equipment that established photographers were using when I assisted them. The idea of having all the lights, lenses and computers seemed so out of reach! How could I ever afford all of this?

In actual fact, it’s a slow burner. You don’t just buy everything in the one go. You do it bit by bit and before you know it you will have everything you need to do a professional job no matter the situation.

9

Finally, you need to believe in yourself! A lot of people will never get started in their photography careers because they simply don’t believe they can do it. Bullsh*t! It’s just taking photos after all! You are more than capable of doing whatever you set your mind to!

Hopefully the above tips give you a good idea of the things I done to make a start in my photography career and with any luck they will help you down the same path. If you are unsure of anything or just want to chat about photography, feel free to get in touch with me. I’d love to hear from you!

Thanks, Matthew

Director/Photography @ Gold visuals