David Bailey

“It takes a lot of imagination to be a good photographer. You need less imagination to be a painter, because you can invent things. But in photography everything is so ordinary; it takes a lot of looking before you learn to see the ordinary.”  David Bailey, British Photographer

August 30th, 2006

Photography Quote - Ansel Adams

“Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer - and often the supreme disappointment.”

Ansel Adams quotes (American Photographer, 1902 - 1984)

August 30th, 2006

Tuesday

Trying to juggle working from home with a mountain of washing. The washing gets done, but I am faffing about doing little jobs rather than getting to grips with some of the bigger projects I should tackle. Ho hum.

August 22nd, 2006

On the road …

Yesterday I attended a photographic road show or a very small trade show. About a dozen suppliers had gathered in a hotel confernece room. Quite good as I arrived late afternoon and it wasn’t so busy that you could not speak with exhibitors about their offerings. I came away with some ideas.

Including a studio props catalogue, which I had a quick flick through and was surprised at some of the things you could buy. Some made sense to me, others had me wondering “why?”. Strangely though I keep spotting them, in other people’s photographs, so perhaps they are more popular with customers than I first thought …

On the way home I managed a quick detour into Bluewater shopping centre on the way home. The traffic was awful, so I decided a spot of window shopping was a better use of time, than queuing in rush hour traffic.

Did achieve one business goal there - bought a three level tray contraption so that all my papers are not sat on my desk in one huge leaning (tower of Piza style) pile. It also forced me to sort the pile out and file a chunk in the bin. So now my desk is organised again.

Whilst at the shops I was trying to find a particular photographic magazine, but instead discovered that the TV series ‘Lost’ has it’s own magazine, which I bought and I’m thoroughly enjoying the read. I like a good story, and this is one. Never did find the photo mags!

August 22nd, 2006

Cakes!

The exhibition in Holt came to a successful end. I may be back. Found a nice Fish & Chip shop there too – so that’s an incentive!

And of course it did rains lots whilst I was in Norfolk. It’s like the weather knows I’m on my way, and the rain clouds gather.

So the only photography I managed was of my friend baking cakes with her three year old daughter. Not as messy an affair as I would have thought. And they were rather nice too!

August 18th, 2006

Cherubs

I feel that I am on the cusp of great busyness with the kid’s photography business & I sense my mentor’s frustration that I’m not there yet.

We had a lively debate about marketing strategy yesterday. Very useful. Just need to put the plan into action.

As an aside I am now a Licentiate of the Master Photographers Association. So that’s three qualifications, but perhaps more importantly I am now a participating Cherubs photographer for a local area from 1st September. I’m really excited about this.

Essentially I get to offer new mums fab offer & hopefully they’ll take it up.

August 15th, 2006

Ingatestone Hall Exhibition

I spent the week at Ingatestone Hall exhibiting my prints & greeting cards as part of the Essex Guild of Craftsmen Art Show, sat in a room surrounded by portraits of ancestors of the Petre family & various display cases.

It was quite a contrast – my contemporary photography against some very gloomy looking portraits.

August 13th, 2006

Trains …

“We need shots of movement” my friends said, except no one could decide exactly what they wanted to photograph, so we ended up at a local level crossing photographing trains as they whizzed past us.

They are all members of a local photographic club, and this was one of their assignments. I joined in too. Endless people asked us what we were doing, and went away with puzzled “but why?” expressions.

OK it’s not an obvious thing to shoot, and I’m not sure any of us got more than one photograph that we’ll ever show anyone else, but part of the fun was photographing something that challenged us all creatively.

August 11th, 2006

Photography life …

My to do list this weeks looks a little crazy.

I am trying to plan my marketing strategy for the kids photography business – so my head is swimming with the pros and cons of direct mail campaigns, leaflet drops & exhibiting.

I am exhibiting my landscape photographs along with a number of other artists at Ingatestone Hall, Essex from Wednesday till Sunday. This is an Essex Guild of Craftsmen event, and they successfully ran a similar Art event last year, but this is my first time out with them.

As an aside – I had to go buy a picture for a flat we are renting out. I couldn’t use one of mine, because they were a three hour drive away, and the agent was recommending we had a second picture.

I wasn’t happy about it, but I went shopping and was rewarded with a “oh … it’s not very big” once himself had seen it. You set the budget I explained. “When have you ever stuck to a budget?!” Fair point! This is after having had Autumn Lights printed as a 1.5m square canvas and himself being very concerned it was too big.  It wasn’t.

I was actually surprised to find how poor the selection was & yet how expensive they were.  Given they are produced in their millions, are unsigned by the artist and generally are not great images. Ok I know I’m biased, but I spent good money on “something that’ll do for a couple of years” rather than something to love for a lifetime.

I suppose this is how we live today. We buy planning to replace in a few years, and with art, I think, you need to invest a little bit more in something you love. Especially when you see it everyday.

August 7th, 2006