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@avril182
From Rust
On the 26th August I did a portrait shoot with From Rust. They are a local band that I have seen and photographed live a few times, they had mentioned to me in the past that they would need some promo photos done. A few days prior to the 26th, the vocalist Jake contacted me and said they needed some shots done for the 31st. This didn’t give me a lot of time to plan, arrange and produce the photoshoot as I also had to arrange it around work and was attending Reading festival on the 28th.
They had just switched bassists so one of the members I hadn’t met before but I got on well with them all and they were fun to photograph. They are young guys that like to laugh and joke around, which doesn’t really work for metal photoshoots but creates a nice atmosphere on set and helps everyone to feel at ease.
The photos were required by the 31st for a feature they are going to be given in Kerrang, as well as needing some promotional shots for their upcoming EP release in November. As we didn’t have long to plan I suggested a location I used previously in my tattoo project, which worked well for the urban, grungey look that the guys wanted. They send me some examples of photos they liked including ones of Bury Tomorrow, so I tried to create a shoot that was unique to them but included some similar features to the photos that had sent.
They wanted the photos to be quite dark and miserable looking, but the only day we had to shoot turned out to be a hot sunny day, with a long sunset. We began the shoot with the blaring sun, and a lot of the images were washed out. After about an hour of shooting the sun died down and created some nice lighting that I think worked for the shoot and enhanced the guys well. I think that they contrast with the background and it compliments their appearance. We also went back and revisited some of the previous set ups when the sun had died down.
It was quite a quick shoot as we decided that we had gathered enough after only about an hour. We began shooting about 6:30pm, so this gave me enough time to go home and edit before working 8 hours the next day. After work I sent the images over to the guys. I was unsure if I’d have enough and if they would please with them, as I lack experience and confidence with my portrait shoots. However, I was very pleased to hear that all of the members were delighted with the images produced, and they have since been posting them on their social media accounts.
Bloodline
Yesterday Rosetta’s Ruin finally released their new EP Bloodline. This has some great tracks on it that I’ve been loving for a while. I enjoy hearing them at shows and was excited for everyone to be able to get them from the physical EP that they had me design.
I have been designing the EP back since, well last year I believe. We have been through so many different ideas and concepts for the artwork that I actually lost count. For every design idea there would be different colour/image combinations and then at least 5 different logo and title arrangements per design. Whenever we came close to finalizing the design we would change it, and find something better.
The guys shot around ideas for me to play with based on the EP theme, but they didn’t really know what they wanted so I just had to work to the best I could and send samples to see what they would like. We changed from drawing to digital to just edited photos and this was the final design we settled on:
As I only really had a few ideas, I had to work off my own style and try to fit it to the band. I worked a lot with their previous imagery so this meant that sticking to my own personal style would have fit the imagery the band already uses, and I took influences from these bands and albums:
In the end I ended up changing to just a whole image and thought that the colours of this image worked well. It was a snap I took on a ferry to the Isle of Wight in May and the blank open look on the water fits well with the deep emotion of some of the songs. The inside of the EP took a lot of work too, which you wouldn’t really expect. There were conflicting opinions within the band of how it should be laid out and what should be included, but in the end we came up with this.
(updated photos when I manage to get my hands on a physical copy).
The EP can be downloaded from their Bandcamp: https://rosettasruin.bandcamp.com/
In preparation for their EP release, we also took some portrait shots a few months back. I kept them secret until the EP was released, and they have used a few in posts over the time of the build up for the release.
I was happy with this shoot as it only took a rough half an hour, and it has been our most successful shoot yet. I like the images and feel that they are produced at better quality than our previous shoots. I also think the guys are beginning to become more confident and comfortable with shoots, which makes it easier, and the composition and posing used is improving.
Exist Immortal & Scout Killers
August 19th - Headliner: Exist Immortal Support: Mithra, Kinasis, Landmvrks
August 20th - Headliner: Scout Killers & Saint Apache Support: Baited Hook, Russ Leonard
A Few Snaps
Since my last post, I have photographed a few more shows at Cobblestones and thought I’d do a catch up post with some of my favourite images from them.
June 29th - Headliner: The Dreamer Within Support: From Rust, Rosetta’s Ruin
July 9th - Headliner: The Lounge Kittens Support: Pretty Little Enemy, Madame Guillotine
August 1st - Headliner: Lock & Key Support: Reign Eternal, Moorhaven, Our Hollow, Our Home.
Mediocre Shakespeare
So in my previous post I mentioned some of the things that have been occupying my time, along with work and socializing, and 2 Days after Download festival came Rosetta’s Ruin’s biggest gig to date, supporting Slaves (US). I was already a fan of Slaves, and having some of my closest friends support them was incredible. It was great to see them going places, and knowing that I have helped them along the way. Still in end-of-degree celebration mode, I took the night off from photography for this too.
So yep, I took a break from photography for a little while but it didn’t last too long. A week after Slaves I had tickets booked for a gig in Plymouth for one of my favourite bands Being As An Ocean. I had never been to this venue or even Plymouth for a gig, but it was the closest location and I had to go as they’re one of my favourite bands to see live, their energy and crowd interaction is incredible. The promoter of this gig added me on Facebook a while back after liking my photography page and us knowing similar people. This crossed my mind about a week before the show, and I decided that I would proposition him to be allowed to take my camera, as I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to photograph one of my favourite bands.
The promoter agreed which I was very thankful and excited for. Plymouth was more of a drive than I thought it was going to be but the show ended up being worth it. They had some good supports that I took a few snaps of:
But it turned out that I was super rusty and didn’t get that many shots I was happy with sadly. I had little knowledge of the venue so I wasn’t sure what to expect really. It ended up being a quite high stage with little to no room to stand at the side of the stage so I had to be down with the crowd. This was pretty hard as the rest of the fans were pretty dedicated to get as close to the stage as they could for BAAO. I managed to work my way in and find a spot that was okay and take some photos. I was overly disappointed in the night and I am glad that I got to photograph them, but I do think that I could have done better.
A few images I captured that I think sum up a Being As An Ocean show quite well - I swear Joel spends more time off stage than on.
Graduating, Wedding & Download ‘16
I started writing this post about a month ago but still failed to update my blog and catch you up on stuff that’s happened so let’s try again.
So yes, I handed in my reflection assignment, passed with another 70% and finished my foundation degree for the rest of the year, and well, ever. It’s pretty surreal to think I’m not in education anymore, I enjoyed having a project to focus on and developing my skills, learning something new and keeping myself motivated in photography, and I am hoping that none of that changes once I graduate. Speaking of which, I received my results about a week ago, with an overall 70 something% getting a distinction and being able to graduate. This pleased me as I felt that I poured a lot into my work. I am now going to be graduating on the 22nd September, my dad won’t let me get out of attending, and luckily I don’t have any assignments to resubmit so that’s me done with education.
After finishing my last project I then had my brother’s wedding in the Isle of Wight and without being biased, the most beautiful wedding I have attended. I hated weddings previous to this day, the boring church tradition and family gatherings, but it was my first outdoor wedding and a lot of fun. I took a disposable camera and some photos on my phone, debating on whether or not to take my DSLR and dabble in some wedding photography. However, I decided against it as it was a family event and I wanted to enjoy myself without concern of my equipment’s welfare. I also doubt that wedding photography is for me, although I can’t be certain as I have never perused it, so I won’t rule it out just yet.
After the wedding it was straight into preparing for Download. Last year was my first Download experience, where I joined one friends group of 20 other people and made new, closer friends than I had before. This year I went back with them and the group had grown even larger. New people joined our camp every day and it was impossible to keep track. I had an amazing time, meeting my favourite band members Dani & Davyd Winter-Bates once again, seeing various incredibly talented bands and spending a weekend with some cool people. The rain and mud can be a downer on the festival experience when you’re exhausted, aching and hungover but it is always worth it to keep soldering on through it and looking at the positive side as it is what you’ll remember most. I took a disposable camera to Download also as I was using a Nokia 3310 for my phone, but when I took this and the one from the wedding into Boots to be developed, they told me that they couldn’t do it as the film had gotten wet. I am very devastated as I was dying to see the photos and how they turned out, but I still have some hope that I may recover them, somehow. I’m not too sure how yet.
(update:) so I had written the above previously and advised by trusty old photography teacher Steve, I took the film into a photography shop in town, where they sent it off to a professional lab with a note saying they had water damage. It took about 2 weeks or a bit more to get them back, and a lot of the photos hadn’t come out especially from the wedding. However, I still managed to salvage some from Download including the ones with Dani & Davyd (where I look roughhh).
So yeah, I had a great time and am happy that I had some photos to salvage in the end. I’ve also been getting back into photographing more gigs since so I will update that in my next post.
Peace out
When Pokemon Go becomes super addictive so you take the long route home from work & eat breakfast by the ponds
Final: Reflection & Improvements
Overall I am very happy with the development of my self-promotion and the direction in which it is heading. I think over the past year I have accomplished quite a bit, and I am happy to start building up my brand and meet potential clients. I have enjoyed this course and how it has pushed my further and allowed me to do things I would never normally push myself to do. I have reflected back on everything I have done for promotion and I think the majority has been successful in building and shaping my brand as a photographer. There are still changes, improvements and developments that I plan to do in the future though:
Exhibition
I do think that the exhibition was generally quite successful but I think we could have pushed ourselves as a team to spark more interest. It seemed that with the main four students taking the majority of the roles on themselves, that everyone else became disinterested. I think we would have benefitted from having weekly meetings that equally shared roles and got other students more involved and motivated. This would have put less pressure on the four students doing the majority of the work, and there would have probably been less arguments and tension between everyone as the responsibility would have been shared.
Setting up
Setting up was possibly the most successful part of the experience but we would have benefitted from having more of the year one students there to help us. With me taking photos and Ben filming, it meant at times we were two team members down from putting up boards and work, and every little helps. I think we would have also greatly benefitted with a more precise plan. It seemed that we would take regular 5-10 minute breaks from setting up as the floorplan had to be discussed. From my past experience with setting up an exhibition, an organised floorplan helped massively as everyone knew where to put boards, and where their work was going instantly so everyone could just get on. A lot of the time it felt I was waiting around to be told where to put things.
During
As stated previously, I think that just sharing responsibility and not having self-entitled management roles would have made everyone feel more involved. I also think that we should have assigned different shifts, rather than everyone all day, every day with work breaks. Having 10 students sat in an empty room for a full day seemed unproductive and quite pointless, so I think we could have saved money and time if some students did one day, and some other students did another, but had enough students (about 4/5) so that breaks could be given with at least 1/2 people still left behind to man the exhibition.
Other
More advertising platforms and time spent advertising
More advertising through the Fusion website and social media
The location of the venue - trying to find the entrance was tricky
Lack of support from sponsors
Finding more sponsors
Create a press release for advertisement
Flyer at any other exhibitions or similar events
Contact other forms of media such as radio - (Bridgwater & Bristol radio) The Breeze, Burst radio (Bristol University radio), Heart fm etc
Contact local/Bristol artists and reviewers. People who write for small magazines or blogs about art or events
Contact Bristol’s college/university to advertise
Try to conduct the exhibition over a weekend or at later times on weekdays to compensate for people who have 9-5 jobs
Feedback
I conducted some questionnaires after the exhibition so that I could get some improvements suggestions from an outsider view. Because we didn’t that many visitors who I could contact, I decided to ask a combination of both those who did and didn’t attend. I thought this would be helpful as I could then get feedback on what we could have done better, but also feedback on what would have made people more interested to go. Here were some of the suggestions given:
Location – Closer to home(Bridgwater) or somewhere more central in Bristol
Opening Times – Across a weekend or after 5pm
Better advertising
Having students present their work in 10 minute slots & generally standing with their work for Q & As.
Improvement on the quality of some of the work
More effort into the books and things for sell
My Work/Personal Changes In regards to these things there are also things that I felt that I could have done personally to improve the overall exhibition, but also for my work. These are also some suggestions from feedback.
More Questionnaires – Approach people on the opening night & ask what they think
Adding more tattoo samples, and making it obvious what they are & find a more interesting way to display them
Another row of tattoo prints – If I had more time and money so it would add to the flash sheet aesthetic I was going for
Make my book more prominent and interactive – make it more inviting to pick up and buy
Advertise my Facebook page and website – flyers I could hand out with my business card
Making myself available to have time to check the banner and board description before it went to print
Business Cards
I like the good response that I receive from my business cards. I think having a dark pun on them makes them interesting and funny, and is a good way to present my brand at first look. The design represents my brand and the style I take with my work. There are a few little design changes I would like to make the next time I order more, and I would also like to make my Facebook page a key part on them.
Website
The development of my website has enabled my brand to become more professional. I have a successful platform that I can use to display my portfolio to any potential clients and interested viewers. I think I need to continue with how it is going, generate better and more interesting content for the site and develop an email list to gain regular viewers. I also think that I should continue with my blog and find a way to combine both my blog and my website together.
Shop - I also would like to add a shop feature where I can sell prints, books and potential merchandise. I think it would be fun to design some photography inspired merchandise that may bring in more viewers to my work (from inspiring photographers). A lot of the time I feel as though my shots aren’t print worthy as they are of local bands, but I think I need to approach it differently, and I am going to research into the best place for prints and set up some prints/print packages of my Under Your Skin project.
I also received a good response online from my flash sheets that I designed, so I would like to get prints made of these and other drawings I have to sell on my shop and give my store some variety.
Blog - As well as this I intend on continuing with blogging. I started avril182 with the intent on just recording lessons and reflecting for my units, but I now have 55 followers on my blog and get regular notes on things that I post. I have been doing a photo a day challenge, and intend on using it as a way to share knowledge and network with other photographers, as well as motivation for me to continue with photography.
I would also like to find a way to connect my blog and my website together more.
Facebook page
Like my website, I am very happy with my progress and how I have developed it over the past year. It’s a good way for me to get feedback and comments back from the clients I work with. I would like to proposition my clients more to leave feedback/reviews on my page to get honest opinions on my brand and for other potential clients to see if they would like to work with me or not. I would like to expand my audience even further, possibly by posting the link on other photography forums and different platforms where I could get potential interest and network with similar photographers and new bands. I love how easy the Facebook page has enabled it for me to get in contact with bands, when I miss speaking to them at shows I often get messages from band members thanking me for the images and asking for permission to use them. I am very open to allowing my images to be used by bands, and I regularly find new band member’s profiles who are using my photos (awesome).
I took some photos this Saturday (21st May) and today (24th) I received a message from the headlining band EMP!RE asking permission to use my photos in a feature they were having done on them by Stencil Mag (an online music magazine). I am very excited to start getting my work more publicised and I really want to continue with shooting more shows so that I can improve even further. I intend on investing money into better equipment and pushing my photography as far as I can.
Exhibition Photos: Reflection
I had a few roles with setting up the exhibition including being part of the team to set up, and helping with research into the best location. However, the biggest role I was given to do myself was to take photos of the opening night and set up to document the experience.
I took inspiration from google image searches of exhibitions, and general exhibition photos I have seen before. I noticed that a lot of the images rarely concentrate on the context (afterall if you wanted to see the work you should have been there) and it focuses more on the atmosphere and viewers. I used this as the main subject of the photos of the night.
I took various photos with different subjects in mind. These main subjects were:
Promotional material for the exhibition - to showcase what we did as students.
Documentation for the other students - evidence of what we did.
Press release photos – including group photos.
It was a difficult task to focus on all these subjects as I was expected to participate strongly with the actual set up too. I would concentrate on putting up boards and getting everything ready then before I knew it was 2PM, people’s work was going up and I was missing shots. I had to flick between helping out, organising my work and grabbing my camera for prime opportunities. However, despite this I think I got a collection of photos that documented the day well.
I managed to get a variety including; painting boards, prepping and setting up work, the finished displays, prepping the open evening with drinks and food, viewers visiting the work and some press release group portraits.
I am happy with the shots but there are a few changes I would make to improve them if I did this again. These are things such as:
Concentrating more on the photos – staying aware of what everyone else is doing so nothing is missed.
Taking my flashgun – when using my wider angle lens the photos were a bit too dark and I don’t like using the on camera flash.
Proposing more portraits and more viewer shots.
Researching more into the possible angles and style that I could have used.
Taken some shots of the students with their work.
Decided to take up skating