samanthathompsonphoto-blog - Tumblr blog

samanthathompsonphoto-blog · 8 years ago

Text

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Both Alex and I have worked together to create a website for our company, using the inspiration for researching how other gallery and agencies promote themselves on line. We have written this blog post together to showcase our steps, decisions and thoughts.

Creating the website

We have individually researched both photography agencies and galleries, more specially looking at how different creative agencies and galleries present themselves online. From this research we were able pick up techniques about the different ways they display their content on their websites. It is now time to create our own website to create a platform to showcase our company’s idea and using the techniques we have learnt from other company’s websites to enhance our site. From our research looking at Agencies and Galleries, we have understood the different ways to talk about what the company is and how they document exhibitions or the works of photographers. These are all parts which we want to include in our own site so we will take the knowledge learnt to help us work out what works best for us to create our website.

The first step for creating our company and website was to come up with a name for our company, a name which was engaging and original, something which showcased who we are. We wanted to show in our name that the company was a duo and a collaborative company created by the both of us. From research on other agencies like Wyatt-Clark and Jones and Webber Represents we thought it would be interesting to play around with joining our surnames. So we began playing around with Thompson and Tilley, working out if this worked, we felt like it was important to have Thompson as the first name and then Tilley as we felt it has more of a flow, with this we really felt like it was bold and had a nice ring to it. Now that we liked Thompson and Tilley, we wondered if we needed anything after the words. Webber represents uses represents to communicate their agency and also so does DNB represents which allows the viewer to make connections from the name that they are agencies. But because we wanted to keep it open, as we want to use the company for different purposes and bring together different areas of the photography industry we felt like putting represents after the name would limit ourselves to being simply just an agency. We then tried putting associates after Thompson and Tilley to make it Thompson and Tilley associates, but from talking to different people, like Daniel and Kal our lecturers they thought it sounded a bit too legal and sounds less like a creative company. So we thought that Thompson and Tilley on its own would allows us to change and adapt the company as it evolves with out being tied down by the company’s name, with this name we have the freedom to develop the company in any way we choose.

To show that we are a collaborative company we wanted to make sure that the joining of our names was prominent and deciding between being called thompson and tilley or thompson & tilly, but from seeing this written down the title the ampersand we felt emphasised the collaboration between us. The other aspect we had to think about was how the name could be shortened to allow us to be easily promoted instead of writing the full name each time. We came up with different options which we listed below:

t and t

t & t

t + t

T and T

T & T

T + T

From this experimentation we thought that the lower case letters allowed the the abbreviation to be less harsh and flow, this then made us think about whether to use capitals on the website which is something we will need to experiment with to allow the website to be consistent throughout so we will have to try the name with and without capitals and choose which one we prefer to then use this throughout the whole website to keep it consistent.

The email address

the next step before creating the site was for us to create an email address to use a linked email address for the website, but also having a linked email so that we can contact people in the future from this address as form of promotion for our company but also to emphasise that we are a duo. We thought it would be useful to create an email account with google mail so that we could use this address to access google docs and google drive in the future. We created the email account [email protected] but even though we wanted to use the ampersand we could not use this symbol on the email so we thought that we can use both and twitch and change between the two if we cant use the symbol. We chose to have .com account for international purposes a lot of the agencies and galleries have developed the business beyond the UK, so we thought it would be sensible to create the .com account as we do not know where our business may expand to, we do not want to limit ourselves.

An aspect we would eventually like to create in the future is to have individual email accounts for when we work have specific clients and have different roles with in the business, therefore we hope that eventually we can use the email addresses:

[email protected]

We thought it was a really interesting point to use our short names as it allows us to become unisex and to play with our perceptions as people wont know if we are male or female. This is something we can also play with when emailing clients and people in the industry with our joint email address in the near future and really allow ourselves to be universal by using our short names.

Planning the website

Before we created our website we thought it was important to plan out the different aspects we wanted to include so that when It came to creating the website we new the content to include. From our research looking at different websites we were really interested to mix the websites from galleries and agencies together to create our own website which combines the two.

Home

We wanted to use our home page to create a strong first impression for our online audience, we want to show the viewers strong images on the home page to introduce the company in a powerfully. Also on this home page we wanted to show news on them to show the viewers first hand what we do and what the company is. On the home page we want to play around with layouts and design to show the viewers our desin skills, emphasizing the creativeness within the company.

About

A section we thought was important to include was the about section. Which will say who the company are and we thought this would a good opportunity to be able to summarise the company in a couple of sentences as we don’t want to overwhelm with information and we want to be able to communicate with the audience exactly who we are in limited words. On this page we also want to include our values and what the aims are for the company to really sell our services and engage with the viewer. The next section we wanted to include was a biography section about the founders of the company, in other words a little section about the two of us, as we want our collaboration to be one of our selling points we really want to emphasise this to the audience by allowing them to understand a little bit about each of us and and understand who we are.

Also in the about section we would display our contact details, including our joint email so the audience know how they can contact us and get in touch. Something which we thought was interesting when research websites was the inclusion of the company’s location, but obviously at this moment in time we don’t have a location which is something we would want to include in this section. We did however, contact Linsey from the student enterprise team and also a staff director for the south bank collective, she is based in the Clarence centre for enterprise and innovation, so we have contacted her to see if we could possibly use the Clarence Centre as our location to showcase what ideally we would like to have on our website.

Workshops

The next section we want to include on the website is a section which showcases the different events and interactive workshops held at our gallery space or that we hold in the industry as another way of engaging with our audience. At first we weren’t sure what this section should be called as if we called It ‘events’ it may come across that the company photograph events and may not be immediately obvious what we want to communicate. So we came up with the idea to call it ‘workshops’ to help the audience understand that the company hold workshops and put on workshops. Also the title ‘workshops’ allow the section to be open so that we can include in this section future symposiums, talks and workshops that the company hold and are involved with. So far we have put on a photobook workshop which is something we are going to include in this section as an example of the types of events we have done allowing the audience to engage with the workshop and the content but also to show our experience.

Exhibitions

Exhibitions is another aspect we wanted to include on the website to showcase exhibitions which collaboratively we have curated and eventually this can be a space for the exhibitions which are being held at our gallery. So far we have collaboratively curated the Fassi exhibition for the South Bank collective which we want to include here to showcase our experience. What we think is important is that we include photographs to represent the exhibition and to not bombard or bore the viewer with to much text. The images however need to be professional to add to the consistency of the website and showcase work we are proud of and want to represent us as curators. Another aspect we have picked up from research is that galleries use their sites to promote future exhibitions to build an audience for an exhibition before it opens, fortunately we are both curating our own exhibitions for our degree show so we can put this on the website to promote our upcoming exhibition and to engage the audience to our work.

Artists

An important section we want to include is the section which shows the artists we represent, obviously we don’t actually represent artists at the moment but we wanted to use this as a platform to showcase what we would like to do and display on our site. We want this section to be called ‘artists’ and not ‘photographers’ as from research it is clear that agencies are moving beyond just representing photographers so by being open and calling it ‘artist’ this can allow us to be flexible with what sort of artists we represent in the future. In this section we are going to pretend to represent ourselves and our colleague Charlotte Hartley as we feel there is consistent style between our portfolios. Also the three of us move in and out of the fine art world with our practice so this is something which links us all together and definitely an aspect in photography we really enjoy and would love to include in our agency. We are going to write a summary of the artist and then show their portfolio and plan to present a projects section to allow the audience to really get to understand the work of the photographer, which is another aspect we have picked up from research and how important it is to navigate the viewer around their portfolio and for them to learn about the photographers entire practice. We are also going to include a link to the photographers own site to allow the viewer to see more work and learn more about the photographer, so for the purpose of showing how we want our website to look, we will include a link to the artist’s photography websites. However, this is just to show one examples and the websites are not included as part of our submission. At the bottom of the artist page we want to include a link to the latest news of the photographer to help promote the recent work and projects of the photographer.

News

A news section is an aspect we have found really successful for other companies during our research as it provides a platform for the audience to keep up to date with the photographers and the companies work. This is a section we also want to include to allow our audience to keep up to date with the photographers we represent as another way of promoting their work, but also to show what exhibitions and events which are coming up to build an audience for these different activities. At the moment we plan to show on this news section a bit about our graduate show as this is something all three of our photographers are apart of. Through using interviews as part of our research, in the future we would love to include this in the news section, hopefully allowing our audience to understand that we are really interested in engaging with different industry professionals and sharing the knowledge we learn to benefit the reader. Although at this moment in time we can not include the interviews we have done on our site as we did not ask permission from the interviewee’s, but this has definitely inspired us for the future. Alongside the News section we would love to create a newsletter which we can send out to our clients and audiences to future promote the work of the photographs and the company, hopefully this will allow us to create a relationship with our viewers.

Social media

We are also going to include links to our social media platforms and have decided to create a twitter and an Instagram site as another way of engaging our audiences and promoting our company. We have decided to only do two social media platforms as we want to do these well done and keep an active online presence on both of these platforms to build our audience up. Although, from our research we have found that other companies use more than just these two platforms but we feel it is really important that we do our twitter and Instagram pages well instead of having loads which aren’t as active and as engaging. On Instagram we want to play with the platform as an online exhibition promoting our curating skills and the work of our photographers. On the Twitter we aim for this to be a platform the interaction with our audiences and use this for more social updates and creating an audience for our events as well as an audience for the new work of the photographs which will go along side the News Section.

The website

Theme

We had planned out exactly what we wanted as content for our company’s website so the next step was the make the website. The platform we decided to use to create our website on was squarespace, both of us have previously used Wix so we were interested to explore with a different program to gain insight into how other website platforms work. We were also advised to use Sqaurespace for its clarity and is apparently easy to use. The first step for creating the website was to create the domain name, luckily for us thompsonandtilley.com was available and allowed our company to be consistent with our email account. For the domain we couldn’t use the ampersand (&) and so had to use ‘and’ but this was ok as we were hoping to be able to use both depending on the platform. We then had to decide on a theme to use which was hard as there were so many to choose from. Luckily, we both wanted the site to have a plain white background so that the website becomes an online exhibition, using the white background to frame the photographs on the site. The white background is also another way of showing that our company curates exhibitions so we hoped this would communicate our role as curators and represent us as an online gallery. We also new that we wanted the navigation bar to run across the top of the page so that it is easily visible on every aspect of the site allowing our audience to easily navigate around the site. Both of these aspects narrowed down our search and we kept swapping and changing between themes to make sure we had the right fit which we were both happy with. The final theme we chose was Jasper which provided a platform which we could personalise and make our own, but what we liked about it was that the navigation bar was across the top which makes it easy for the audience to navigate from page to page. We think its really important to think about the audience’s experience of the site and making it as clear as possible for them.

Font and text

The next step for the website was choosing the right font to use throughout the website and we experimented with the font on the title thompson & tilley, which was on the top of the website. It was really interesting testing different fonts and the effect each one can have on how the company’s name is read, some were very harsh and bold and others were in capital letters. What we thought worked well was a thin and light font to allow the writing to be gentle and soft, something which we hoped to communicate throughout the website but also as a company as we are both gentle and soft characters. In the end we went for the font Cormorant which was thin and light but bold enough to still be read clearly. With this font we then played around with capital letters or lower case but it was clear that using lower case characters emphasised the soft and gentle atmosphere we wanted to create and communicate to our audience, this is also something we decided to use throughout the website to present a soft approach throughout the website but also to make our website style unique from the other websites we have looked at. Another aspect which added to this gentle approach was using light greys and light blue text to be less harsh than black but to still stand out on the white background. All of these decisions come down to making a good first impression and we had to ask ourselves the impression we wanted to communicate to our audience, buy using all these soft and delicate fonts and styles we hoped that this would flow throughout the website and create a neutral and delicate atmosphere for our websites visitors.

On the site we wanted to keep the information and text minimal, to allow the photographs presented to captivate the viewer. But it is essential that we get the most important information across in a couple of sentences to not overwhelm the audience with text but keeping them involved in the companies and photographers work. On the individual artist’s pages, we also included the links to the photographers own website, to allow the audience to learn and see more from the photographer, this is another way of promoting our photographers. For the purpose of this website we have included both of our own photography websites but the sites are not updated as we want to be represented by our company’s website. However, we wanted to show exactly how we would present the photographers on thompson and tilley’s website.

Layout

We used the same pages as we had planned out in the website plan, but using sqaurespace presented new technical aspects we had to work with and understand in order to get our vision of the site to actually be created. We really wanted to be creative with the layouts on the different pages, specifically for the artist’s page we chose to present bold images for the thumbnails on the page to showcase and represent the work of the photographers, drawing in the audience to look at more. On the individual photographer’s pages, we wanted each page to be specific to the photographer and allow each artist to be different from the rest. But we also hoped that making each photographers page slightly different would communicate our skills of nurturing our artists and working hard at presenting them in the right way to the photography world. Going back to the main artists’ page we felt it was important to lay out the photographers in a line with different sized thumbnails to emphasise the creativeness of our company but to also eventually when we represent more photographers this will become a collage of work, which links to the different collages used across the sites pages.

Throughout the website we wanted to play with scale and compositions and to use this as a unique selling point for our company by showing off our design and curation skills and making our website creative and engaging, keeping the viewer engrossed. The compositions communicate a creative presence throughout the website, we want this as a platform to play around with juxtapositions and to engage the audience in our practice throughout. To also create a creative website, we wanted to play around with scale using larger and smaller images to catch the attention of the viewer and lure them in to the site, we also wanted to not use an organised, structured grid to keep the website diverse throughout the site. However, even though we used the website as a platform to be creative there were also elements of the website which we felt it was important to keep the same through out to create a style and consistency. The framework of the artists’ separate pages stayed the same having the text in the same places across the photographers but the compositions and sizes of the images changed throughout which was to emphasises this personal touch. We also kept the exhibition and workshop pages structure the same starting we upcoming and then scrolling down to previous exhibitions/workshops. So although images and artistic juxtapositions were keeping the website interesting and dynamic throughout, we new it was important to keep some of the frameworks the same to emphasises our style. Another aspect we kept the same was the font and the text colour and use of lower case to again create a definite style for ourselves allowing us to be creative with other aspects within In the website.

Another layout technique we thought was important was to make sure that the audience can scroll down the pages instead of across to contrast with our image compositions, in particular for the artist’s pages the projects are collaged on the site, but then when the viewer clicks on a specific project it is simple and fluid, emphasising the photographs. By having a mixture of collages and single images to scroll down we really wanted to create contrasts and narratives between the pages, another aspect to showcase our curation, design skills and creativity. On each page the audience scroll down we thought it was necessary that there is a section of the image below to encourage them continue scrolling. With so many people using their phones to visit websites and are constantly scrolling down social media pages or photographs we thought we would play on this aspect and to show some pages one below the other playing with this scrolling technique and engaging with the viewer.

Logo

We wanted to create the company a logo to use as a promotion tool and on our social media platforms, we felt like it was significant to keep the logo consistent to the website, generating a recognizable style for our company. We wanted to use the same font and text colour to create a logo which correlates to the rest of the company.

Social media

Creating both twitter and Instagram made us think about how we wanted to present ourselves beyond the website, so it was about keeping our style consistent on these platforms too. We had to use a mixture of ‘thompson and tilley’ and ‘thompson & tilley’ as a lot of the information wouldn’t let us use the ampersand, but this allows people to still know that is our company and so people still know there is an ‘and’ in the company’s name, either way we are still trying to communicate that we are a collaboration working together.

0 notes

samanthathompsonphoto-blog · 8 years ago

Text

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Next Step

Graduate Entrepreneur Scheme

Now that I have done an extensive amount of research about both the agency and Gallery industries, and learnt about there audiences and how they present themselves online. Myself and Alex have been able to create our very own website to showcase the ambitions of our collaborative company. But we really had to start thinking about how to take the company to the next level and to think about our next steps in conversation with our course Leader Daniel Alexander he felt like we would benefit from applying for the Graduate Entrepreneur Scheme. Which is the perfect platform for graduates to use if they are thinking about developing a business. The Programme is a support system running for twelve months to help nurture and develop the ambitions for the business. The programme provides

· Workshops and talks

· Access to professional networks and potential mentors

· The chance to work with GES alumni and our Entrepreneurs in Residence

· Specialist legal and intellectual property support

· Access to a desk in our GES hub for the duration of the programme

· Access to a start-up loan help you start and grow your business

Each of these aspects could really motivate our business and help it grow. The Scheme is looking for graduates who have an idea they’ve validated or is in the early stages. I consider our company to have begun as we have done extensive research into the industry and also created our website. The scheme explain that “We are looking for innovative, motivated and committed graduates who have the ambition to create and grow a business.” Each attribute I feel that myself and Alex have as we are incredibly motivated to get this company moving and on its feet. Conveniently, I have been working with the student enterprise team to produce photography jobs for there team as part of my work experience with the south bank collective. One of the student enterprise team runs the graduate scheme and so myself and Alex decided to use the networks we have made in our work experience and ask for some advice on the best way to apply and to go about the application process for this scheme. It really does show the importance of networking and the opportunities and connections you make through work experience.

Information from: http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/student-life/student-enterprise

0 notes

samanthathompsonphoto-blog · 8 years ago

Text

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Book

Exhibiting Photography

A practical guide to displaying your work

Shirley Read

Read, S. (2014) Exhibiting Photography. 2nd ed. Oxon: Focal Press.

To help develop my understanding of the curating and gallery industry I was interested to research around some theory about exhibiting photography, to give me some theory and help with my curation knowledge. I have gone through the book depicting quotes which helped me learn about different exhibition techniques and wrote notes as I went along.

What is an exhibition? Many definitions

“

· any conventional exhibition space

· A variety of other spaces where work is sometimes shown

· Commissioned public art” (Page 3)

This allowed me to think about an exhibition can be curated in a range of different environments beyond a gallery space and is something myself and Alex need to think about in the build up getting our own gallery.

“an exhibition shows that a photographer is a professional and series about his or her work. It is, perhaps, the equivalent of producing an annual report of raking an exam and demonstrates, both the exhibitor and to the worlds of photography and business that the photographer is on track.” (Page 7) This immediately makes me think about being an agent and to motivate the photographer to be involved in exhibitions as a good way of promotion.

Promotional tools: aimed at helping the photographer but can use it in relation ship gallery and exhibition research.

“Different promotional tools “these include business cards, postcards, e-mailed images, CDs, portfolios, and websites. All of these have application beyond the gallery system and are useful ways for photographers both to keep a record of their ongoing work and to reach the wider audience.” (Page 19). As an agent it will be my role to take control of the photographers promotion so its really useful to pick up different pointers which can help me to do this. But also its useful to use these pointers as promotion for our own company especially using business card and our website to promote our selves/

“Photography students often work in galleries, both before and after graduation, as part of an intern or work experience program and can gain useful experience and contacts this way.” (Page 30) This is showing me that I am on track and also how valuable my work experience at Webber represents has been. But also motivating me to intern and gain more experience in the industries when graduating.

“Working as an intern or volunteer on a short-term basis can be useful way of acquiring exhibition skills and keeping in touch with the photographic world. It can also be a way into permanent gallery work.” (Page 30) This is also encouraging to keep volunteering as I do not know what opportunities may come from it.

“Visiting galleries and attending private views can be a terrific way to meet like-minded people.” (Page 30) Another point which motivates me to continue working and attending exhibitions to help expand my knowledge of the gallery industry but also away of promotion for myself and future company.

“Fairs, markets, and festivals can be enjoyable and rewarding occasions. Hiring a stall at a fair or market, either as an individual or as a group, may or may not bring sales, but it is usually informal enough to bring feedback, informed or uniformed comment, and networking opportunities.” (Page 77) This is encouraging me to network beyond exhibitions and to also think about taking the company to different festivals and also as a way of promoting the photographers I work with as an agent.

The Curator’s Role

“The key curatorial tasks are to be responsible for an exhibition concept, to select the artists and the work for that exhibition, to design the oversee the design, the layout of the exhibition.” (Page 129-30) Since I have done lots of work around the role of a curator its really valuable to come back to the basics and to mark out exactly what the role is and skills needed.

“A curator will usually be supportive and constructive in their criticism of work so photographers have to be ready to trust the curator’s knowledge, not just of their work, but of the other photographer’s work, of the exhibition space, of audiences, and the art world.” (Page 131) In the future when putting on exhibitions how important it is to build a trusting relationship with the photographer to create an exhibition which voices their mind.

“The curator also acts for the audience and will bring a fresh and independent vision to the task of selecting work. This is almost always something the photographer finds difficult to do on their own. A curator should be more useful than photographic colleagues in dong this since it is something they do constantly; they have more at stake at getting It right and more interest in reaching an audience than in indulging the photographer.” (Page 133) this encourages me to really think about the audience’s experience of an exhibition when curating and allow the experience for them to guide the curatorial decisions.

From looking at this book and depicting elements which help me really understand the foundations for promoting the work of a photographer and how this can also allow me to learn about the different techniques Alex and I can use to promote our company. It has allowed me to go back to the basic role of a curator and to think about the important skills needed to curate successful exhibitions. Must most importantly this has highlighted the importance for a curator to be motivated by the experience of there audience and allow this to inspire the curation decisions.

0 notes

samanthathompsonphoto-blog · 8 years ago

Text

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Work Experience

South Bank Collective

Progressing the company

Another part of my work experience for the south bank collective was to work together as a company and to start to think about how the company can expand and grow from here. It was a really valuable exercise to to start to think about how important it is to set objectives for a company and to allow the company to expand. This is something which has inspired Alex and I with our own company and has motivated us to continually set objectives for us to reach. It was important that as a collective we start to think about about the steps for the collective after I graduate and start to consider who I want to be my replacement. But because I have worked closely with specifically the student enterprise team, I will need to find somebody I am confident can work with the team well and also pick up the jobs when I leave and be able to do this in an efficient and professional way. But also it was interesting to talk about how the company is going to move beyond working with photography and to increase the participation of drama and film, which is another reason Alex and I create a brand which could eventually move beyond the simply photography. At this moment in time it is important that we do not begin to produce jobs which we don’t have the skills to produce at a high quality. Developing my knowledge that it is ok to say no to jobs to maintain a high quality reputation. Another really interesting idea which was bought up was about creating an annual review, or even an annual exhibition to help promote the success and work of the collective, and could also be another opportunity to draw in new students especially if the aim is to progress beyond photography. But this annual review or exhibition could also be useful to promote the company to different clients and to expand the audience wider than the university clients. From being apart of this meeting and talking about how the company can progress has giving me insight into the different directions a creative company can move into but also to think about the different ways Alex and I can think about progressing the company in the future and making sure we sit down together to talk about our objectives.

0 notes

samanthathompsonphoto-blog · 8 years ago

Text

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Work Experience

South Bank Collective

Dealing with problems

During my work as a producer for the south bank collective I have had to deal with numerous problems along the way, and have had to find the best ways of dealing with difficult situations. One of the main problems which kept coming up during my producing role was chasing the client for a Purchase Order Number, with out this I could not invoice the client which meant that the collective, myself or the photographer could not be paid. It was important that I didn’t nag or annoy the client by keep asking them for it but it was about finding that balance between asking in the write way and gently reminding the client. This is something which I have got better with over time, showing how my communications skills with clients has progressed and is stimulating me to get into the agency industry and to establish these communication skills further. Not only have I had to learn hot to gently remind the client to raise PO number I have also had to chase accounts payable and the client to actually pay the collective, also skills I have developed over time and over lap with gently reminding the finance team and the client without being rude or annoying. I have also had support from Linsey the staff director and part of the student enterprise team who has sometimes help me guide up emails to send showing how important it is to learn and progress from others in the industry in order for your skills to develop.

Another problem I came across was the client setting a very challenging brief for the photographer, which it was then my responsibility to laisse with the client to gently let her know that the photographer was not all that confident with photographs because of the detailed brief given to him and the complications on the job. I felt like the best way to deal with this situation was to be honest with the client from the start really showing that I had control of the situation and was aware of the goings on. I also learnt the success of checking in with the client on the updates from the photographs to show that I cared about her experience with the collective and wanting to maintain a positive experience the whole way through. From learning to deal with difficult situations it taught me the importance of creating an honest relationship with the client and being honest with them from day one. In particular, I would not confirm a job with a client until a photographer was guaranteed so in the mean time I felt like it was useful to keep the client updated so that they knew I was in control of the situation and working on it.

With the introducing of new assistants this presented numerous problems to over come, from my own process of signing up to the company I was aware of how important it was for all of them to be signed up and insured before they could begin working. As a producer and head of student engagement I had to keep on top of this and to make sure nobody was assisting with out the completion of of the contract. Which really showcased the importance of running a company and making sure all the administration jobs are completed. But also form liaising with the different students It was made clear to me how successful it is to be able to reply to emails quickly and efficiently. When the students replied quickly and with good responses it communicated to me their professional manner and also that they were serious about working for the collective. When some students failed to reply or took days to reply it made me have to contact them in other ways or even contact other students. So from this It has shown me moving on in the future the importance of responding quickly and efficiently.

Bringing in new recruits also presented a few other problems which needed to be dealt which but also what I have learnt a great deal from. I sent one of the very experienced new recruits on to lead a photography event as none of the lead photographers where available but it was clear from her portfolio and interview process that she was very talented and experience with event photography. From start to finish with liaising with her while producing this job there were no problems and I was really please and impressed by her professionalism the whole way through, really showing important first impressions are and showing how professional you are and your work ethic for whoever I work with in the future. But unfortunately, the new assistant to assist on the job was an hour late for the job, which left me dealing with phonecalls between the photographers getting me used to communicating with photographers and dealing with situations. It was important for me to have a word with the assistant after the job but I thought it would be best to do this over the phone as I was conscious that over email may come across a bit harsh and mean. So the phone called allowed me to speak with her and find out about what happened but also to make her aware that this behaviour is not acceptable but for her to now go on and learn from this and prove us wrong. This has really shown me how the best way is to deal with hard situations and how from speaking on the phone can be a lot more approachable and less daunting for the assistant.

Overall, from I have learnt that experiences difficult situations is the best way to learn how to deal with them but has also how important it is to work in an environment where you can ask for help and advice in order for me to learn about the best ways of dealing with problems which come up. That way I learn and become used to how to deal with them on my own. This has also shown me that it is to make mistakes and to be faced with problems but its important to find a solution for the problem to showcase your professionalism and the service you are providing for a client. It has definitely shown me that I need to get more experience in the industry to continue learning about how to deal with difficult situations.

0 notes

samanthathompsonphoto-blog · 8 years ago

Text

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Work Experience

South Bank Collective

Top Tips for working for the collective

Also as part of the induction Day, Daniel one of the staff directors thought it would be interesting to share with the new recruits some top tips he has for somebody working for the collective. But I was interested to look at these points and find out what I have learnt and how these tips can help me moving forward after university. I have written notes on the different tips:

1. This is your company, be creative and ambitious with what it can be. This makes me think about how myself and Alex need to be as creative as we can with our company and really put our own stamp on it.

2. Started 3 years ago, taken a lot of people doing a lot of work to set up, and to work out best way to pay and build a reputation to make ourselves an established company which people want to use. This allows me to think about how important it is for a company to build a positive reputation something Alex and I need to do to help build our own reputation.

3. Be Enterprising, always have your eye on the bigger picture, recruit good people and find good clients. Unique, there isn’t another model that has worked so successfully. This enables me to reflect back on how valuable the experience has been to work for such a unique company and motivates me to go on and create a company which is unique its its own way.

4. Work so far has been passive, but the next stage should be finding our own work. Its everybody’s role to be on the look out. Don’t always expect that work will come. I take this as a tip which can help me with thinking about what’s next after university and making sure I am active and putting myself out there and not waiting for it to come to me.

5. Network, the jobs you do will bring you into contact with numerous different people. A lot of the time the events are for something different people and connections. Telling people what you are doing, into contact people who are potential clients for yourself and for collective. Again this highlights the importance for me to continue networking to get myself known and to build relationships and contacts in the industry.

6. Learn, this is a huge learning opportunity, a pioneering example of how to embed enterprise learning at university. Our producing process has evolved already from the beginning. What worked and what doesn’t work. It is interesting to look back and reflect on how the collective has grown and highlight the importance to reflect back on a company and to work our what has worked well and what hasn’t so the company can build, a huge aspect myself and Alex need to make sure we do and keep reflecting back on the company to help it progress.

7. Immediate Response to communications is the most important thing. Reply to emails. This has highlighted exactly what I have learnt from working at the collective and how I have now become confident and proficient with emailing clients and colleagues.

8. Sorting out problems, its ok to mess up, as long as you tell us quickly and work with us to fix it. This is a really reassuring point which allows me to know that it is ok to not always get things right but its more about how to solve the solution and turn the situation around.

These top tips from Daniel have been really encouraging and motivating to help me look back on the skills I have picked up from working at the collective, and really building my confidence with communication skills which I can take with me in the different industries moving forward. But also from working for the collective has allowed me to see a a successful business has run and these tips I can think about with how to progress Alex and my company and how we need to keep reflecting on our progress and failures in order for the company to develop.

0 notes

samanthathompsonphoto-blog · 8 years ago

Text

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Work Experience

South Bank Collective

The induction process

The induction process for the new recruits is an important process to make sure we are setting them up to work in the company in the correct way. The induction day process was structured and planned to make sure that the day had objectives and also a programme to allow the participants to understand the process for the day and what it will entail. It was Billy, ‘Head of training and induction’s’ role to plan this day but it was really knowledge working with him to give me insight into how to plan for an induction process which will be an important aspect of being a company owner. The induction day began with being Introduced by Hannah the student director and her role was to introduce the new recruits to the company expressing the aims for the collective going forward and how that the company is in an evolutionary stage, continue to develop. I think that this aspect allowed the new recruits to feel as if they can be apart of something exciting and innovating it really showed me the importance of opening an event well and with bold and engaging conversation. This has shown me for when holding workshops or events in the future the importance of capturing the audience’s attention from the beginning.

It was then Billy’s turn to take the candidates through an overview of the important bits of information needed to get them on board and introduce them to the company. Billy covered the following points:

1. Emails- Directly to your phones important. For efficiency and keeping on track

2. Jobs all have different looks so editing all the same is vey important. Keep a consistent brand and style for the company

3. Types of clients we get- different producers allocated different clients, but also sometimes you are just sent them.

4. Being assertive- we are not going to work for free

5. Jobs which snowball into something bigger and bigger.

6. Different clients- speaking specifically about different clients, in particular wedding shots and different client’s student enterprise team, learning to adjust how to behave in different environments.

7. Difficulties on the job, following the specifics of the brief.

8. Do not clock watch, if you over run it is fine and looks professional.

9. How the jobs develop with feedback how important two-way communication is and how briefs are met.

10. Difficult jobs- difficult guidelines.

11. How your shoots develop by shooting regularly, your style develops with you.

12. Coming out of your boundaries, and pushing your comfort zones so that you become comfortable with any job which might come up.

13. Week turn around from shoots.

Billy successfully provided the new recruits with an overview of what they need to know but also advice, and from reading back over these points its really stimulating looking back and realising how I have developed my skills of working with different clients and photographers throughout my work experience with the collective and how this is setting me up for going into the agency and or gallery environment and have really built confidence with liaising with different clients and photographers and making sure briefs are met and every aspect of a job is completed. But something which I have also noticed from this induction day is I am now in the position to help the new recruits across the different aspects they might come across while working for the collective. Which shows how important it is to get work experience to develop your skills and with practice things become easy and become a lot more fluid and you build your confidence. This is really encouraging a motivating me to get as much work experience as I can in the future to develop all the skills needed to become an agent, curator and to run a collaborative company

Producing over view

Part of the induction process was for myself and Alex to create a presentation to talk about the role of a producer and the process of jobs, we thought this would be a really useful technique to show the new assistants the process of producing jobs so they can learn about the framework of the company and how jobs come in and how we deal with them. On the presentation we gave them an overview of the producer role which was “Liaises with clients, organises the shoots, completes invoices and makes sure the commission is complete and to a professional standard.” And it was actually really interesting and to revaluate at the role and to summarise what the role is, its allowed me to think about how my experience with working as a producer as developed my skills in all the aspects form communicating with clients which is really valuable experience for when getting into the agency and gallery industries and has built my confidence with being able to communicate with clients successfully. I have also learnt about all the different components there are for organising a shoot, from getting the brief, briefing the photographer, risk assessments, quotes, invoices checking files. It has really allowed me to gain insight into how creative agencies work and learning about the different roles there are. I think one of the most important points I have learnt is about making sure a commission is to a professional standard, as it has allowed me to get used to looking at photography before sending it off to the client and learning what a ‘professional standard’ is.

The presentation we created was in the same style as our recruitment presentation using the same font and text colour to emphasise the South Bank Collective branding, giving me insight into how important it is for Alex and I to create our own brand guidelines to follow. The next section of the presentation was to show the new recruits the producers to do list, and allowing them to see the different jobs which come under the producer’s role. From taking them through the 14 points and jobs the producer has t do it’s a bit overwhelming as we took them through each section. For me thought this allowed me to understand what I have learnt from working at the collective and how each of these points have become common place and I now do each of them automatically. Which just shows me how importance experience is to build confidence and for me to really learn about a job role and what it entails.

We then wanted to take them through how to send a professional email, taking them through these 11 points.

Make sure you have a professional email address.

Make sure you know the purpose of your email.

Try to focus on one thing per email.

Limit yourself to approximately 5 sentences.

Make sure your emails are polite and to the point.

People like to be thanked.

Have a short and precise subject which includes the reason for your email.

Stick to the standard structure – Greeting, complimentary, the reason for your email, call to action, closing message and signature.

Proof read your email

If it is important to the SBC directors or anyone else, make sure you CC them in.

Always answer emails ASAP.

When giving this presentation it became clear that similar to the producer list I had become confident in sending a professional email and I was surprised to look back and realist that in the emails I sent on a daily basis for the collective cover the majority of these points. Showing me that the collective has provided me with a platform to enhance my communication skills and develop the way I communicate with clients, this email experience has definitely built my confidence for working in the industry after university and being confident in my email and communicate abilities. But I will keep a copy of this list to refer back to if needs be.

We then took the recruits down a step my step process of recruiting a job and used one particular job example to help emphasises the producer role. this example showed me how important it is to physically so somebody you are working with what you are talking about which I need to remember when liaising with clients of putting on workshops in the future and to remember to show examples to engage with the audience. We took them through step by step the process of producing showing them examples of:

1. First contact with client

2. Confirming the brief

3. Sending quote and Terms and Conditions (examples of these to help emphasise what we are showing)

4. Brief the photographer, something which I have developed while being a producer is that if the client only sends the brief through on an email and not on an attached document, I have found it useful to create a document for the brief to then send onto the photographer so they have all the information in one place and a document they can print out and take with them on the job with the shot list.

5. Risk assessment

6. Keeping the client up to date, this is another point I have learnt works well is to check in with the photographer before the job to confirm that everything is on track, and to just give them confidence and reassurance that I am in control of the job.

7. Keeping up to date with the client, following up after the shoot

8. Sending the photographs

9. Checking in with client before sending the brief, this is also something which I have found works really well as creates a relationship with the client but also emphasises that we want to provide to them an efficient service of a high quality

10. Client invoice

11. Sending to accounts payable

12. Student invoice

13. Updating dropbox

14. Updating spreadsheet

Taking the students step my step has allowed me to look back on exactly what I have learnt from being a producer and how I have managed to become confident in all the different aspects. But also this has made me think about how I have become confident with liaising with clients and supporting photographers with briefs which combined are aspects and skills I have learnt from research are valuable skills so have as an agent so I can take these skills with me into the industry.

I think that we provided a lot of information to the students and don’t expect them to be able to take it all in so we have thought about ways in which we can help them learn more about the producer by planning to create a producer pack which showcases the examples so they have a step by step guide of how to approach the job role.

Overall, from putting this presentation on to the new recruits it has shown me the importance of showing examples to them but also how has allowed me to look back on what I have learnt as s producer and the skills I have developed. The only other thing which was not mentioned in the presentation was how important it is for a producer to keep on top of their payments, which is definitely something I have had to learn to be good and and learn to keep up to date and balance the numerous other jobs going on. A balance which is good practice for when being an agent or curator and having to learn how to balance numerous ongoing jobs.

0 notes

samanthathompsonphoto-blog · 8 years ago

Text

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Work Experience

South Bank Collective

Photobook sales

A job which I had been working on for a while with the collective was working with the Library to sell the photography students photobooks. It allowed me to gain experience of producing jobs and dealing with clients which goes beyond producing shoots. Which helps me for when I’m an agent and having to work with a whole mix of clients and for the photographer. The job began on confusing start as there was a lot of miss communicating and different people getting and even the individual from the library in charge with dealing with this leaving. So there were lots of obstacles I had to over come from this job but each step was valuable experience which I have learnt from. I had to use my email skills developed over the months from producing for the collective and to really work out with the library how much they know about the job, which photobooks they have and also to learn who my point of contact should be. It showed me how important it is to be patient with clients and to make sure you ask for things in a polite way and to continually show your appreciation. But these are skills with I continually picked up from producing and finding the right way to speak with clients in a professional manner.

With patience and persistence, I was could then work out the best way of quoting the library for the photobooks, but it was important that I new the exact books they had with them and the selling prices which I could then work out how much the collective should charge for the production costs. There was a lot of back and forward emails with the client to keep them aware and negotiate fees. But I also learnt how important it is to get other people, your colleagues, to check costings before you sent them off to make sure every price is correct so that the job is done correctly. I had to learn about how to adapt invoices depending on the jobs and work out the different price cut for the the collective and how this can be split between the people involved.

I had to work hard to make sure that the collective was paid but to also then contact all the different students and get them to send in an invoice in order for them to be paid. But It showed me how important it is for in a company to have people to help as for this I worked with the two staff directors to work out the legal and simplest way for the students to be paid. I then had to create a specific invoice template to send to them and making it as clear as possible for them allowing me to develop my invoicing skills and also liaising with different people to help them do it correctly.

As this job was a bit confusing, I thought it was important to begin to build a relationship with the library so that for future purposes the process of selling the photobooks is a lot easier and less confusing and time consuming for everyone. To do this I wanted to make it clear to the library that I was available to help with the process going forward and to plan for future transitions. Overall, this has shown me how important it is to learn from difficult situations and to work out the best way to make things better to show the client you are willing to improve in the future. Which gives me confidence that in the future when interning or even having a company if things go wrong, its about learning from this and working with the client to make things better and to show the companies willing to improve.

0 notes

samanthathompsonphoto-blog · 8 years ago

Text

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Work Experience

South Bank Collective

New Recruits

Now that the interview process is out of the way together myself and Alex had to work out which ones to take on board and to plan the next steps for the recruitment process. As we had written up notes on each candidate during the interviews it was easy then go back and refer to the notes to help depict which people we were impressed which we felt were ready not come on board and others which we felt needed a bit more time to build their confidence and technical skills. To further use the skills, we were developing on excel we created a spread sheet to lay out who we thought was successful and who we felt needed more times. We also split the spread sheet into the university years, so we could begin to think about who we are bringing on board from the different year groups. This was actually an important factor to think about as it made us to start thinking about the future of the company beyond this year and the how important it is to recruit some first years to allow them to grow throughout the years and grow with the company but also second years to help them get this opportunity. This has shown me how important it is to always think beyond the moment and to plan ahead and objectives something I need to think about for Alex and mines company.

Once we had decided who we thought would come on board we had a group meeting with the other producers to talk them through our decisions, it was important to let other have there say and take that in to consideration. What works so well is that myself and Alex are both 3rd years and most of the other producers are 2nd years who already know the photographers we have interviews. So this is good to get their feedback but also from not being 2nd years we have been able to meet every candidate with a new page and not know anything about there work history or history at the university. This allowed us to become un biased, which I think is really important for interviewing in the future but to then considered other people input to help make the final decision emphasizing how important it is to work as a team with in a company and respect other people’s opinions.

In the end we chose to give the majority of candidates a go at working as an assistant photographer, and by being assistants they get build their confidence and build their way up in the company and develop their skills at working for clients and a professional company. This aspect that we are a professional company has been something myself and Alex have had to make sure the candidates have understood and for them to understand that it is very separate form the university and a professional company which needs to be taken seriously. It has shown me how important it is for when hiring new recruits in the future but also when deciding who to work with that you trust that they are aware of the company and have a professional manner to go along side.

The next step was to contact the applicants and to start to think about the induction process for the next stages. Although there is a separate job role within the company for head of induction and training this gave me the opportunity to work with different people with in the company to help plan an induction process and begin to get the new candidates on board. Which is useful for the future when working with different roles when greeting experience in the industries. It was important that we thought about all the important aspects we want to introduce them to and allow them to really feel apart of the team and on top of what is expected of them. We came up together with a list of factors which we were important to include during the induction.

1. Showing examples of different work from different clients

2. Technical based challenge- go out and shoot test their skills

3. Lab and light room sessions to show them the post production process

4. Invoicing

5. Them being part of something and learning who is involved

6. Showing them the role of a producer so they can understand the process and how the jobs work but also for future purposes as being an agent may appeal to them.

It was really useful setting out the different aspects of the induction we wanted to cover and so it was now about finding a day which every one was available for which always proves tricky. Similar to how we got them to sign up to tutorials on a google docs spreadsheet, we provided the candidates with a day and for them to let us know their availability and to also let us know if they couldn’t make it when they could. It was a really good learning process of making sure we give enough time in advance for them to be available but is really helping me understand how to manage a team and to consider lots of different components which will help me as a business owner. The planning of the induction process was also allowing me to look at the wider picture of the company and to work out the different aspects which are important for them to know about the company and how the process will begin for them. We want to make sure they feel comfortable and at ease using our personal skills to help with this. This is something myself and Alex are really interested about building into our company and presenting a soft and welcoming atmosphere across the company so this is really providing me with experience with dealing with people within the industry, which I will be dealing with straight after university so its really valuable having the experience of working for a team and communicating a good first impression.

0 notes

samanthathompsonphoto-blog · 8 years ago

Text

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Interview

Simon Terrill

Photographer

The next interview myself and Alex did was with photographer Simon Terrill, Simon invited us to his studio at summerset house, which was a great privilege. It allowed us to go into the world of a photographer and see the different types of studios they work in. But also it was interesting to learn about how it got the studio, and how he had to apply for it. It has opened my eyes to the different aspects of the wider photography industry, specifically how summerset how’s are curating a space which collaborates artists from across the mediums. Really showing me how the creative industries are evolving and combining. We had a great discussion with him with the interview questions but we had to adapt the interview as we went along as the conversation where delving into different areas. This taught me the importance to be able to adapt to a situation and think on my feet, but also how important it is for myself and Alex to bounce of one another. The interview questions were important to give the conversation some guidance but it allowed us to engage with Simon and really learn about his perspective’s. During the interview I wrote notes on what Simon was saying, which I have then thought about after the interview allowing me to really depict the important points to help me grow my knowledge of the agency and gallery industry form a photographer’s perspective.

Simon

1. What is your opinion of the gallery from a photographer’s perspective/ do you value the gallery/ is it important?

It is central for him, because of what the gallery is, people can very easily be critical of galleries. But you can walk into the room and leave the rest of the world behind. Walk into the artist mind and their world. With a white wall you only need to do something small to make it your own. People can be critical but name a better space which you can present your mind.

Simon is very poetic in the way he speaks about the gallery space, its incredibly interesting to learn about important the gallery space is him as a photographer. The way he spoke about the gallery is a chance for you to walk into the mind of the artists really caught my attention and made me think about how important it is for when curating an exhibition to think about the audience’s experience and to really allow them to step into a new world leaving the outside behind them.

2. Have you approached the galleries or do they approach you?

If you see yourself as a fine artist like he is, he does not approach galleries as you don’t want them to represent you. He will approach curators however. Public galleries, don’t have to make money just your ideas. Artists galleries and commercial galleries, he would never approach to show work as he is not in that world. Good commercial galleries are like an old school kingdom with king or queen who runs it, who is the boss and the have created list of people they put together. They approach you its their gallery and their chosen artists like a marriage of loyalty, survival for an artist is to have people like that.

This allows me to learn about how different galleries can be but also how important it is for galleries to find the talent, something I really need to think about and to learn to look at photography in a way which allows me picture the future for the practitioner and see if I want to work with them.

3. What is your participation in the curation of your own exhibitions?

He works closely with curators, but it is always different depending on what sorts of shows. He had different shows last year one in Melbourne in a commercial gallery, he put it up with no discussions. Another one at National Portrait Gallery, where there was a curator who was there as a mentor and support, they discussed ideas as they evolved and useful to have someone to talk to. You have to present your ideas well to a curator and it varies for curators as every curator is different, the best time is when they talk about ideas related to the idea, developing ideas of creative terrain to evolve work that’s what he calls evolutionary curation when work develops from ideas. He is not sure what the exhibition is going to be sometimes but he will work with the curator to develop this. Curators at summerset house want to help, generating culture from within. They have put together a mix of people, theatre, musicians, dancers which is the point of spaces like summerset house where they put together unlike people and see what happens and as an experiment.

Simon providing us with different curation examples he has experience allows me to understand how the wide range of different curators there are in the gallery world, but also how he felt its important for a curator to be able nurture and help the photographer develop. This aspect allows me to think about the overlap between the role of an agent and the curator and how important it is in for both roles to care for the photograph and to want to develop there work and how it is seen to the public.

4. What method do you use to keep up to date with the gallery industry?

By visiting shows and reading, networking and talking to people about galleries, he is not on social media but goes by recommendations and going to friends shows, being involved.

I was surprised to learn that Simon does not use social media to keep up to date with the gallery industry, but this has shown me how important it is to network and to talk to people about shows, it’s a good way of promoting an exhibition but also to learn about what is going on.

5. What do you get out of exhibiting your own work?

Ultimately it’s the personal adventure of it. Everything else is secondary. For him its a personal transformation, making art changes him. Depends what sort of artists you.

Its really inspiring to learn how important exhibitions are for his practice and how motivating the idea of exhibiting work is for him. It allows me to learn from a photographer’s perspective how important the gallery world is for them. Encouraging me to find photographer like him and work with them for exhibitions in the future, its shown me the importance to find photographers who are passionate about exhibiting and about their work.

6. What is your opinion of photographic agencies?

Never dealt with any, he deals with galleries put himself in the fine art world, and agencies are in a different world. The good ones are the same as a fine art gallery’s, take care of their photographers who need a representative.

This point again allows me to recognise the overlap between the agency and gallery industries. For me it allows me to recognise how important it is in both industries to take care of their photographers and be a successful representative for them.

7. Do you think it is important for a photographer to be represented?

Yes, important to deal with the jobs beyond making art.

To hear from a photographer’s perspective how important it is for them to be represented allows me to learn about the role of an agent and gallery and how there role is to allow the photographer to do what they do best and make work and its our job to do all the other jobs which accompany.

8. If there was a company with an agency, gallery and workshop space, could you see this working?

Yes, absolutely. There are spaces like that which are all different, it all comes down to the people for us our space would be us. Print personality on it and that is who you are. Ultimately, if you can get the business side right its about the character which is defined by our characters. The duo is completely different to anyone else’s, but the first good ideas was working together.

We thought it would be really valuable to hear from a photographer’s perspective if he can see our company work, and it was incredibly motivating to learn that he thinks that if we make sure we make it our own and put our own stamp on it there is no reason it wont work. Its was also reassuring to hear that he felt like us being a duo could really work in our favour. He has really motivated me to be persistent with our company and make it work by making ourselves stand out from the other creative companies out there.

Overall, this interview has given me insight in a photographer’s mind and has allowed me to develop my knowledge of the gallery and agency industries form a photographer’s perspective. Its allowed me to see the industries form another side. It has taught me how important it is for a photographer to exhibit work but also how they want to be represented and for somebody to do the other jobs for them. It gives me hope that myself and Alex creating a company which merges the two together will attract photographers if we do it well and allow ourselves to stand out.

0 notes

samanthathompsonphoto-blog · 8 years ago

Text

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Interview

Dominic Bell

Curator

Fortunately, from emailing Dom to see if he would help us with our research and answer some interview questions. In the end with PhotoLondon coming up we understood how busy he must so we arranged to email him the questions for him to fill out. This actually worked really well as the answers were all written from him giving us his opinions, where as when we have done the interviews in person we are just having write down notes as quick as we can during the interview. But it is really interesting to learn about the different interview techniques and what works well. Below are the interview questions and answer from Dom, I have written little notes about each answer to help me really understand what I am learning from the Interview.

1. How did you begin your career as a curator?

I'm not sure if it has ever 'began'. What I do know is a crossover between gallery director/registrar/installer/gallery manager + a tiny bit of curating. For me, curating is a slippery term, it's glamourised in to thinking you spend time picking and choosing and editing work, but in reality what I have to do is weigh up financial costs of pieces, shipping of those pieces and what effectively communicates a body of work without showing all the pieces.... What we do with Webber is curate with the artists, and collaborate throughout this process for the best results. I guess I'm entering in to other questions, simple answer is, I started at the bottom of the gallery module as an assistant registrar, I learnt about framing, editions and editing - that then gave me the confidence to talk about how works should be exhibited and why, which has probably led me to my job I have today.

This answer has really allowed me to see that the role of a curator can be used in many different contexts and that there are numerous different job roles within come along with the curator role, sometimes only a tiny bit of the work is actually curating. But Dom has highlighted how he began as a gallery assistant register, where he picked up his skills and gained confidence, motivating me to get experience in the field and really consider working as a gallery assistant to then build up my skills and confidence to move onto curating. Its really valuable learning about the different routes into the industry giving me examples of possible routes I can take.

2. How would you describe your approach to curating?

Minimal, photography is a relatively easy medium and unless I was curating a historical exhibition which brought together works from various time periods and styles - the hangs are always very easy and shouldn't be made complex. The viewer, in my opinion, should be presented with the cleanest hang, photographs and artists should have space.

Hearing that Dom has a very minimal approach Is interesting to learn about how different curators approach their projects, but also that he thinks about space and tidiness to present to the view. This enables me to understand how important it is for a curator to think about the experience for the viewer.

3. What are the steps in curating an exhibition?

After finding the artist I like, I contact them and start a conversation about what i would like the exhibition to achieve and why our audience would be interested. Then we look at a wide edit of the work, looking at which images would sell, which ones are important tot eh body of the work and which ones would work well in the space, this helps determine the edit a lot. After this, we would make some to-scale mock-ups of the prints and sit with them for a few days to see if they work at certain sizes. After that, we look at different framing options and if we want any vinyl text on the walls or a printed press release.

Its really valuable research learning about the process of how an exhibition is curated developing my understanding of a curator’s role. I think its really interesting to learn that he contacts the photographer and begins to have a conversation and engages to them the gallery and who will be interested, this allows me to learn how important it is for a curator to have good communication skills to be able to laisse with the photographers. But also how there are all the different steps from the edit, prints and the framing options allowing me to understand how important it is for me to develop skills in each aspect.

4. How long does it take to plan an exhibition?

It can take anywhere from 1/3 weeks for a solo show usually right up to 6 months for an art fair like photo London. It's easy to turn around a show quickly, but as soon as you have an extensive project, it's worth putting the time in to build up press.

I was actually quiet surprised to here how quickly a turn around for a solo show can be, but this has also highlighted the importance to build up press which needs to be done future in advance.

5. How do you familiarise yourself with new curatorial practices?

I don't. I read and study photography as a medium and that's it. For me, the curating is already in the work, it's just up to the curator to tease it out in the right order.

This is helping me to learn about how the curation is simply down to the curator and its up to you to communicate the work, Dom has shown me its not always about looking at others for inspiration but to create your own way of curating.

6. What do you think you bring to the Webber gallery space?

I guess energy. Working is relatively easy in most departments, it's just about how much your willing to put in. Being able to actually talk about photography with strong resolve has always done me well, a lot of people don't know what they're talking about, so if you can make measured suggestions with conviction, you're strong suited to do well.

For me this communicates the importance for me to be able to talk about photography, something which I have developed over my time at university being able to talk about mine and other peoples work something which can help me in the future as I already have the knowledge to be able to talk about it and its just about developing these skills.

7. Where do you feel the gallery industry/ curating is going?

Galleries will start to disband because they are too rigid, especially in photography. They have put up high walls to create a stable market for high level collectors when in reality photography's strength lie in its ability to collaborate and merge with other industries; fashion/advertising/editorial/design. More galleries should have no roster, and only work with artists/collectives as and when. Curating will probably have a rise, in this capacity, but will also take a severe hit by the amount of online Instagram accounts who are masked as 'visual curators' which are essentially just pretty image editing. Curators are going to have to have more education certificates to put them head and shoulders above the rest, and in reality it will be the glitzy kid on Instagram who might get the job because they have the brand, the followers.... Having said this, I think there is now more need for curators, ones who are interested in the forward direction of the medium, rather than the current visual trends that slip through the internet.

This inspires me to be forward thinking when thinking about curating in the future and making sure that I am working about bringing new curatorial approaches rather than sticking to the current trends, this will hopefully allow me to stand out from those you are stuck in the current curatorial trends.

8. How do you make your curating style stand out from others?

Don't know if I have a style, there are probably only 3 curators I know who could claim to have a style. I put my work lower than other peoples if that helps.... I'm open, each exhibition changes, photography is so varied that it's hard to maintain a style as it would conflict from one project to the next. I don't know if you can have style hidden in adaptability.

Its interesting to learn about how curators need to be adaptable in their approach, but also learning that Dom puts his work lower which encourages me to find one curation approach which is something I work with in every exhibition but making sure the rest is adaptable and changing each time to keep an audience interested.

9. How do you work alongside the agency?

I guess I get involved if there are special projects, or a more fine art client in advertising needs talking to. As I said, being able to talk about photography in a fine art context is a huge tool to have in both industries.

The gallery can have huge positive impact on the agency side of things and act as a shop window. However, we have to stay consistently conscious that all the photographers here want to do a show, and at the same time they all want to earn money. It's about being fair to the agency side and not closing them out but allowing them in at the right level.

This is really valuable researching learning about the balance between the gallery and an agency, both aspects which Alex and I want to work with, so its interesting to learn about the importance of finding the balance with the agency and I am really drawn to the point about the gallery acting as a shop window, which makes me think about how both aspects are helping to promote the other.

10. How do Webber choose who is going to exhibit?

Through discussions with Chantal. We talk to people constantly and try to keep open about collaborating with people who we don't represent. It's about finding the people with the right style who aren't going to be difficult to work with.

This has shown me the importance of working collaboratively, something myself and Alex want to do and making sure there are lots of discussion to make sure the decisions made are the right one, but also about finding a style we we want to work with and keep this consistent throughout the exhibitions.

11. How do you work alongside the photographer successfully?

Constant communication and being honest from the start. Be realistic with them and not raise their hopes about sales.

Showcasing the significance of being able to build relationships with the photographer and to be able to communicate well with them to develop this relationship and the work shown, but I think this really shows me how exhibitions never guarantee sales allowing me to learn about how unpredictable the gallery and curation industry is.

12. Do you think there is more pressure on photographers make a profit with their work within the gallery? How do you attract this type of audience?

The pressure comes from the photographer themselves, not us. Every photographer can't escape from the feeling that a successful exhibition means sales, it's just the way it is. It's hard to make money as a fine art sales photographer, it's just not going to be that much, only about 1% of the photographers who I know who regularly do exhibitions make enough money to live from it, probably even less than that......

We find the high level clients by getting printed press and doing art fairs, but it's not that easy - they like a direct and ongoing relationship, they don't want to drop in and buy something - most collectors want to be sold something, have the luxury of learning about the work and even meeting and starting a relationship with the work - it is very time consuming and doesn't always work out.

This answer allows me to really learn about the unpredictability of the curation and gallery industry and how important it is for me to be prepared for this. But to also be prepared that its all a slow process which is time consuming which doesn’t always work ok, Dom is really helping me understand the parts about the industry which aren’t always spoken about.

This interview with Dom has allowed me to learn about aspects of the curation and galley industry which goes beyond the research about the different gallery and curators. He has allowed me to learn about the unpredictability of the industry which is something I need to be prepared for. It has given me an insight into the world of a curator allowing me to understand the extent of the job role and how its not always curation, there’s a lot more to deal with. In particular, I have learnt about the importance to get experience in the industry to learn the skills needed to work as a curator and to really build up the confidence to be bold and to present new ideas beyond the current curation trends. It was a real privilege learning about Dom’s work and he even said how good the questions were, so it really encourages me that I am going in the right direction and trying to learn and understand the right aspects to develop my understanding of the curation and gallery industries.

0 notes

samanthathompsonphoto-blog · 8 years ago

Text

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Interview

Kalpesh Lathigra

Photographer

The first interview myself and Alex did was with photographer Kalpesh Lathigra, it was an interview I was eager to do to be able to learn about the agency and gallery industries from a photographer’s perspective, allowing me to see the industries form another side. As we had already planned out the questions we were really interested to use these as a guide for the interview but were open to have a fluid conversation with him and to delve into different areas which will allow us to really understand the viewpoint of a photographer. Throughout the interview I wrote notes on what Kal was saying and then also revisited the answers to depict what I have learnt from the interview.

1. What is your opinion of the gallery from a photographer’s perspective/ do you value the gallery/ is it important?

When he first thought about the gallery when starting out he just saw it as an extension of somebody’s work, and how the final point of approval is a gallery show. This still exists in some ways, but the most important thing now to think about is how the physical space of a gallery is important in the development of projects. The Gallery is a different entity, work should fit and relate to the space proving the audience relate to work in a physical space. The gallery is a congruent for people to understand work in a different context than in a Magazine or book where people will react in a different way. In a gallery you think about what the light and the sound is, we as human beings are tangible and relate to it this. The gallery is about the relationship with the viewer.

From this it is clear that for a photographer the gallery provides a platform to create relationships with the viewer, and to build an audience who can relate to the work. This has shown me how important it is for a gallery space to help represent the work of a photographer and to make sure the curation of an exhibition considers how the audience will relate to the work.

2. Have you approached the galleries or do they approach you?

He has done both, the industry norm is you don’t approach galleries they approach you. Unspoken approach is introducing yourself to people in the gallery, you are aware what galleries are doing and who they are representing. Its about asking yourself who do you want to be represented by. Gallery owners like to say we found talent.

This is encouraging to hear how a gallery likes to find talent, something which I need to remember for Alex and mines gallery and how important it is to be on the look out for upcoming talent.

3. What is your participation in the curation of your own exhibitions?

If you’re in a group show in someone else gallery, you have no participation. If it is your own show you may take advice, its your exhibition. At Webber, he had 8 pictures initially, but Dom suggested more as he new space, it was a back and fourth decision. He chose pictures and was handed over to Dom, he trusted him and his knowledge of space. There were few discussions he put in his ideas, and trusted Dom to understand what you see first when you walk into the gallery and he was experienced with that.

It was really valuable research learning about an example of how Kal has worked with a curator, highlighting the importance for the photographer and the Curator to laisse with each other. But also this has taught me how important it is for a curator to be trusted by the photographer and for the curator to give the photographer confidence that they know what they are doing.

4. What method do you use to keep up to date with the gallery industry?

On a basic level, social media, newsletters articles, recommendations from industry friends. He knows what’s going on but don’t always see everything. Webber is interesting as it is a young gallery which is experimental. Public galleries, he is signed member you get sent magazine every month. Become members of Tate, meet in the café meet in member’s room. Agencies meet in specific places which makes you think about power. People want to be part of a nice person, find your usp. People need to want you.

This has allowed me to hear from a photographer’s perspective how they keep up with the gallery world, it has indicated the importance for myself and Alex to use Social Media as a key promotional too to create an awareness for exhibitions. But to also think about interesting ways to create relationships with our audience, like having a news letter or a membership scheme. Kal has encouraged us to find our USP, and to make sure leave good first impressions and to always be nice!

5. What do you get out of exhibiting your own work?

When thinking seriously about it the validation of your work being accepted, you have control of a space and how you are seen and want it to be seen. You want the viewer to look at the work and find direct relationship with it. People are interacting with work, there’s something about that which stays with you, you are putting something out into the world, creating conversations. A book allows people to buy things and have that but an exhibition is about leaping past the photography industry, when people get something out of a show which is beyond people outside of industry.

For me this answer makes me realise how an exhibition can create an audience beyond the photography industry. Allowing the photographers work to be seen beyond the constraints of the photography world. Its encourages me to make sure that in our company we build a community beyond the photography world and to allow others to interact with photography and work the work of photographers.

6. What is your opinion of agencies?

Photographer has to have the right fit; a really good agent is worth gold but not a good one if they are purely about money. A photographer needs to be looked after and nurtured, having a dialogue and know what is best for the photographer’s career. A good agent can rein them in and make them understand and sing, be the best they can be and beyond all be supportive. Securing a legacy, represent a brand and not be diluted. The photographer’s mentality is important you have to match.

Its really valuable hearing from a photographer what they look for in agent, showing me all the different aspects an agent should have and be able to offer to attract photographers. But this has indicated how important it is for an agent and photographer to be the right fit and to work well together to reach there pest potential.

7. Do you think it is important for a photographer to be represented?

Big importance, but can be personal to the photographer. Being represented gives the client trust. Agency which have good clients, and a good reputation can deal with clients.

This point teaches me how important it is for an agency to build up a good reputation, something Alex and I need to start doing now in order to create an audience but to also create a good reputation for ourselves within the photography community.

8. Do you approach the agencies or do they approach you?

Both, an agent would like to find their talent but also comes with recommendations. You have to be careful who you are represented by. Look at the else is on the roster, it says a lot about your peers around you. The photographer has to ask themselves, how commercial do you want to be? The Fashion industry is still largely agency based. Agencies are lining their selves with fashion and a lot of commercial.

This encourages me to make sure myself and Alex really work out who we want to represent as creating a successful roster will show off our abilities and attract other photographers to the agency.

9. If there was a company with an agency, gallery and workshop space, could you see this working?

I could see this working but some advice would be think carefully about the workshops. Outsource something like that, getting experts to come into your space. Building relationships, do call outs. Book makers? Give the space for free. Provide space to collaborate with the the industry. People aren’t always represented but hold talks and use gallery for this. Launch magazines, book launches. Multipurpose. Fundraising for charity’s.

We thought it was really important to ask Kal his opinion on our company idea and to get some feedback on his thoughts and gain some advice on how to create a successful company. It was interesting to learn how he thinks we can use the gallery space in interesting ways to build audiences in different areas of the photography industry and even beyond the industry. This has definitely encouraged us to use the gallery space to engage with an audience and bring successful industry professionals to the space maximising our potential audience.

10. How do you choose an agent to work with? What attracts you to them?

Before it was different it was based on reputation, now it has to be right fit, with the photographer’s best interests at heart. The agent has to be able to understand you and how they understand your work, it also very important to who they are as people but importantly you have to follow your Intuition.

This last question provides me with knowledge about how important it is for an agent to understand the photographers work and to also make sure myself and Alex build a strong and positive reputation for ourselves.

This interview has given me insight into a photographer’s perspective of both the agency and gallery worlds, overall it has shown me how important for both agents and gallery’s to create relationships with photographers to help develop the photographers practice and audience. I have learnt more about the roles of an agent, curator and gallery and it has also shown me what a photographer looks for in agent. Each aspect discussed motivates me to develop my skills in all of the areas but to make sure I use my personality to attract audiences and to build strong relationships with photographs across all aspects of the

0 notes

samanthathompsonphoto-blog · 8 years ago

Text

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Experience Interviewing

Interview Preparation

A lot of the research I have done has been based around looking at photographic agencies, curators and gallery allowing my understandings of those industries to develop and to allow myself to learn about how specific figures in the industry become agents, created an agency, became a curator or owned a gallery. But as part of my research I found that reading interviews which spoke to the different people about their role in the industry allowed my knowledge of there business and role to develop future than simply looking at hour they present themselves online. The interviews allowed me to understand the backgrounds of the industries figures teaching me about the different routes people have taken to get into the agency or gallery industries. As I have been really inspired by the success of learning from interviews, myself and Alex were interested to use the connections we have made in the industry to interview specific individuals across the gallery, curation and gallery industries to help develop our research. We wanted to contact a range of characters from the industries to ask them questions about their roles and their opinions on curation, galleries and agencies to really help with our research and to help us understand about the industries from different perspectives. As myself and Alex want to collaborate together to create a company which incorporates those factors the interviews would allow us to ask questions of what we want to know more about and really get to understand the different roles to help us when it comes to creating our own company and we can learn about the industries from these interviews.

We began by thinking about who we wanted to interview and why, bringing together a list of different people across the industries which we have made out connections with to contact. We thought about contacting two photographers to understand from a photographer’s perspective their opinions of the gallery and agencies, we were going to contact Kalpesh Lathigra and Simon Terrill, both very different practitioners to give us varied answers, but also both photographer who we have made connections with over our time at university so wanting to use these connections to help us. We then thought about contacting Ioanna Zouli and Katrina Sluis who have both been lecturers who been taught us throughout university and who both have connections and do work with The Photographers Gallery. We thought this would be really interesting to ask questions to figures who work in a gallery environment helping our research of the gallery industry develop. When thinking about the different connections we have made within the industry we thought about who else we could interview we came up with contacting Kate Barrett the head of Photography at Wallpaper magazine, as we have previously made contact with her and she has always said to contact her if we need any help. By interviewing Kate, we would gain insight into the producing side of the industries but also as she used to be an agent we can ask her questions which will help our research on agencies develop. To help develop our understanding of the curation industry we wanted to contact Dom Bell the curator at Webber, and to help us with understanding the Agency industry and about being a business owner we wanted to interview Chantal Webber. Both Dom and Chantal we have built a relationship with and so using this networking to hopefully benefit our research. Overall, we had thought about the connections we had made to help our research of curating, agency, gallery industries and business owner knowledge develop and also be experience of interacting with these different individuals.

The next step in order for us to interview these individuals was to email each of them but to carefully plan an email, to engage them to us to hopefully get them to say yes to an interview with us. We had to make sure we personalised the email to each individual in order for us to connect with each one differently depending on who they were and our relationship with them. But in all of the emails sent there was one sentence which was was used in all of the emails “Ideally we would like to arrange a convenient time to meet with you in person, but we are aware of your busy schedule so if meeting us is not possible we can send you the questions.”, we felt like this was an important point to include to give the person and option and to make the interview fit around their busy life style, and I think it was important to include this to show our awareness of there busy schedules. We also said we could meet or send them the questions, as some of the people might have preferred one or the other so I think it was personable and considerate to allow them to choose.

Now that the emails were sent out we worked together to create a list of questions personalised for each character depending on their role and what we wanted to know. From doing lots of research on interviews throughout the research for this module, we both had an understanding of how different interviews are worded and the different types of questions asked. With this we were able to put together a set of questions, but it was important we asked ourselves what we wanted to learn from the interviews and to make sure the answers of the question would give us the knowledge we were after. But even if we don’t get a response from everybody the collaborating together to create interview questions allows us to think about what we want to learn more about within the industries but also interview practice for the future if this is something we choose to include as part of our company. From our interviewing experience with the SBC we wanted to think of questions which answers we wanted to know and would benefit from.

Interview Questions

Photographers (Kal & Simon)

1. What is your opinion of the gallery from a photographer’s perspective/ do you value the gallery/ is it important?

2. Have you approached the galleries or do they approach you?

3. What is your participation in the curation of your own exhibitions?

4. What method do you use to keep up to date with the gallery industry?

5. What do you get out of exhibiting your own work?

6. What is your opinion of agencies?

7. Do you think it is important for a photographer to be represented?

8. Do you approach the agencies or do they approach you?

9. If there was a company with an agency, gallery and workshop space, could you see this working?

10. How do you choose an agent to work with? What attracts you to them?

The questions we have created for the photographers, will hopefully allow us to understand from a photographer’s perspective their opinions of both gallery’s and photography agencies. As myself and Alex hope to have our own gallery and agency and to work with photographers it will be really beneficial to understand the photographer’s perspective to help us understand their impressions of the industries allowing us to see the industries from the photographer’s perspective and also to consider their perspectives when planning our business and how we can work with photographers in the right way.

Curator (Dom)

1. How did you begin your career as a curator?

2. How would you describe your approach to curating?

3. What are the steps in curating an exhibition?

4. How long does it take to plan an exhibition?

5. How do you familiarise yourself with new curatorial practices?

6. What do you think you bring to the Webber space?

7. Where do you feel the gallery industry/ curating is going?

8. How do you make your curating style stand out from others?

9. How do you work alongside the agency?

10. How do Webber choose who is going to exhibit?

11. How do you work alongside the photographer successfully?

12. Do you think there is more pressure on photographers make a profit with their work within the gallery? How do you attract this type of audience?

We then created the questions for an interview with Dom the curator at Webber Gallery, it was really interesting planning these questions and asking ourselves exactly what we could benefit from by interviewing him. But in discussion what we found most important was to really understand his journey and his approach to curating to allow us to understand a curator’s path into the industry and to understand his curatorial approach and what he brings to the gallery space. This will provide us with information about the role of a curator and how Dom makes his work different.

Digital Curator (Katrina)

1. What attracted you to the role of a curator within the gallery?

2. How would you describe your approach to curating?

3. What are the steps in curating an exhibition?

4. How long does it take to plan an exhibition?

5. How did the idea of ‘The Wall’ in the photographer’s gallery come about?

6. Do you think that the Digital representation of work within the gallery has changed the expectations of a gallery?

7. Where will the introduction of digital platforms advance to?

8. Why Digital?

9. What advice would you give to people trying to get into the curating industry to make themselves unique?

10. Now that you are coming back to work, what is next?

11. How do you go about choosing which artist to exhibit?

Creating questions for Katrina really made us think about what we wanted to know about her involvement at the Photographers Gallery, but also to ask her about her curation of ‘The Wall’ which is a digital exhibition platform in the gallery. We wanted to ask her about this to show her that we have researched her work but are interested to learn more about it, we also wanted to understand her thoughts about digital exhibitions compared to physical allowing us to understand more about the digital curation of exhibitions rather than simply photographs on the wall, this would hopefully really expand our knowledge of the curation and gallery industry.

General (Ioanna)

1. What has your involvement been with the Photographers Gallery?

2. Why did you want to get involved with this?

3. What is your opinion of the gallery/ do you value the gallery/ is it important?

4. Where do you feel the gallery / curating industry is going?

5. What do you think the purpose of the gallery is?

6. What is your view of online gallery spaces?

7. What do you feel makes a gallery unique?

8. In what ways do you think a curator could be unique within the industry?

9. How would you go about choosing which artist to exhibit?

10. Now that you have increased your involvement within the photographic industry where do you see yourself going next?

Ioanna was another individual who we wanted to interview because she doesn’t come from a photography background and was working at the photographer’s gallery while she Katrina was on leave. So we were really interested in gaining an insight into the thoughts of an individual from outside of the photography industry and their opinion on the gallery industry, allowing us to hear about the gallery from somebody outside of the industry to help us understand what other people’s views are. But we were also interested learning about her involvement at the photography gallery to understand the different roles which the gallery has, providing us with knowledge from with in the gallery to expand our awareness of the gallery community.

Head of photography (Kate)

1. Do you use agencies to find particular photographers?

2. How does the role of an agent affect the exposure of the photographer?

3. What are you views on agencies now?

4. What skills have you adopted from the transition from an agent to head of photography at Wallpaper?

5. What are the important skills and traits which make you a successful leader?

6. What would you consider the challenges to be for a creative business like wallpaper in the future?

7. What advice would you give to people interested in getting involved with business’ such as Webber and Wallpaper?

8. What do you think makes an intern applicant stand out?

9. What personal attribute did you find helped her become a successful agent?

10. How do you balance your work load?

Kate was another person who’s questions we really had to think about, we new that Kate used to be an agent before moving to wallpaper as the head of photography and so we were interested to find out about the transitional skills she adopted from being an agent to her role now. Both the gallery and agency industry skills have learnt about have different crossovers and have similarities so I was really interested to learn about the skills she feels have helped her get to where she is and her role at the magazine. This would hopefully allow me to see how skills learnt in different areas of the industry can be used in different environments and jobs, something really useful to learn for me and Alex and how by wanting to create out company with different job roles it will be helpful to realise how the skills can interact.

Company owner (Chantal)

1. What are the important skills and traits which make you a successful leader?

2. What would you consider the challenges to be for a creative business like Webber in the future?

3. What do you think makes an intern applicant stand out?

4. Where do you feel the gallery industry is going?

5. Where do you feel the agency industry is going?

6. What do you feel the relationship is between the agency and the gallery?

7. What do you feel the future is for Webber?

8. How do Webber get their clients for the agency?

9. What inspired you to go about starting your own business?

10. What skills and traits do you look for in an agent?

11. How do you choose a photographer to represent?

12. What advice would you give to people starting their own business?

As Alex and I want to create our own company and become our own bosses we were interested in asking Chantal Webber about her role as a leader and a business owner to help develop our knowledge of what it takes to build your own business. But also because she started up a photography agency we were also interested to understand from an agent’s perspective how they built the agency and choose who they represent. This will hopefully build our understanding of the agency world but also learn about an individual who has created their own agency and somebody who we can learn a great deal from.

The next step for the interviews is to wait for responses from the different industry professionals, but even just from the process of contacting and creating the interview questions myself and Alex have developed our own interview style and has made us think about the different connections we have made already across the photography industry and how this can help us in the future.

Awaiting Interviews

Fortunately, we heard back from all of the different individuals that we contacted giving us confident in our email writing and catching peoples attention getting a positive reaction from each person. We got replies from both Ioanna and Katrina but it is an incredibly busy time for the photography industry professionals, that we understood their busy schedules and that they had a lot of other things on.

We then got replies from both Kate Barrett and an email from Chantal Webber, which we were incredibly pleased about but again due to the time restraints and busy schedules they are both happy to meet us in the summer and to talk to us about the industry. But knowing that we have the opportunity to meet with these two individuals allows us to be able to carry on our research and develop our understanding of the gallery and agency industries after university. By being able to meet them after we finish University allows us to be a lot more flexible with our availability and hopefully opportunities may come of it.

0 notes