Philip Grocott's Blog

March 9, 2010

Focus On Imaging 2010

Today was the penultimate day of Focus On Imaging. Having not been before, I went along with fellow students from Burton College. It's basically a huge trade show of exhibiters and manufacturers of all types of photography products and materials. There was everyone from Adobe to Wacom and more on show.

There was plenty more going on too, with plenty of talks to attend, covering all sorts of technique, workflow and equipment use amongst other things. Initially, we wandered around all the stands and looked at various products we'd like to buy but can't afford.

After getting something to eat and more wandering around, I went to a talk by photographer Edmond Terakopian. Titled "Aperture 3 for Photojournalists" this was obviously about Apple's latest release of professional photography software. Personally, I'm new to Aperture, but already a big fan, so found this interesting just from the point of view that it's useful software. But it was also interesting to see and hear how Edmond Terakopian works.

Our time at the exhibition soon flew by. I could easily have stayed for a few more hours to see what else was on show. I didn't leave empty handed either, as I bought myself a new camera backpack too, a Streetwalker from ThinkTank Photo. It was a good and busy day. I'll certainly be going next year.

www.PhilipGrocott.com

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March 9, 2010

Sunny Day (Random Photos)

There wasn't an awful lot going on in class yesterday, so I and another student decided to go out and take some photos. Admittedly, I should have been concentrating on and photographing other things, but it was a good sunny morning. It's not often that we get to go out in groups to take photos and it's something I think we should do more often. Sometimes it's good to just get out, get inspiration and make photos from whatever you see around you.

www.PhilipGrocott.com

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March 7, 2010

Burton upon Trent - Can you help with my Photography Project?

For my final piece of work at college this year, I'm producing a series of portraits about how people in the town of Burton upon Trent will be voting in the General Election this year.

The final images may be part of an exhibition in June at FreeRange in London and exhibited at Burton upon Trent Library in August.

If you live in the Burton upon Trent area and would like to be a part of this project and have your portrait taken, please contact me via email. I've also set up a Facebook Group for the project. Also, I'd really appreciate it if people spread the word to others in the area who might like to be a part of the project.

www.PhilipGrocott.com

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February 22, 2010

Recent random photos

Just walking about taking photos...

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February 8, 2010

Laura Pannack

Burton College has had some great guest lecturers this academic year. The latest was photographer, Laura Pannack.

Laura started her studies at Brighton University with painting, but found when using a camera she had a natural ability for photography. Laura has since gone on to win the Hotshoe International Next Perspective Award, amongst winning and being shortlisted for other awards. Laura has also assisted Simon Roberts.

Laura gave an talked about her work, which can be seen on her website, whilst giving good common sense advice about being a photography student.

Laura encouraged us to make mistakes during our time at university. It’s the only time we will be able to do this without losing reputation. She felt it important to be inspired, watch movies, look at other photography, to absorb everything around us.

Making the most of the university’s facilities was also something Laura encouraged. And to be involved and be prepared for crit sessions. She said to make sure to maintain contact with peers, even after university and social networking sites were a good way to do this. We should make sure we collaborate with our peers, Laura talked about how she and fellow students had set up the Bystander collective. Laura advised contacting older peers for guidance. Laura also said peers made good assistants and models as it made for a more comfortable environment.

Laura talked about the importance of assisting and how to go about it. She advised that we should single out photographers that we admired and to keep asking, it was a good idea to be tenacious in this respect. Laura highlighted that we should not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of. Many photographers will allow assistants to work for free, but we are working still and entitled to some reward.

Laura listed the things she felt made for a good assistant and a good photographer after leaving university:

Be punctual

Be equipped

Be polite

Do research

Invoice properly

Know when to be quiet

Be alert

Prepare financially

Contact photographers for assisting early (at least two to three months beforehand)

Stay open minded

Be respectful

Be positive

Stay in touch, support and network

Always keep shooting

Look back at your previous work (you can see how far you’ve come)

Laura talked about how one of her tutors asked where did she want to be in five years time and then asked her how she got there. Essentially, it was important to plan in detail how to achieve your goals.

Laura finished her talk by stressing that it was important to remember why you are a photographer.

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February 1, 2010

032/Project 365

One month and one day in, I've decided not to continue with my daily iPhone photos.
I'll still continue to write regular blog posts and show work in progress along with the occassional homeless photo.

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January 31, 2010

031/Project 365

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January 30, 2010

030/Project 365

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January 30, 2010

Catching up, Results and What's Next

It’s been a while since I did a proper blog post. There’s been quite a few things going on. The college is now fully committed to being a part of this year’s FreeRange exhibition, work is starting on my final self-initiated project, UCAS applications for third year study have been sent off and we’ve had a talk from Laura Pannack. All of which I’ll go into more detail with individual posts over the next couple of days.

Recently, I received the results for the photography degree work I produced last term. I also met with my tutor to discuss the results and the work I'd be doing next.

The mark I had gotten was an indicative scoring and proved to be much more than I had expected. The course is run in association with Staffordshire University and has a fairly complicated marking system. But in simple terms, work is marked out of a total of 15. I got an indicative grade of 12. That essentially means I’m at Merit level, on the cusp of a Distinction. Anyway, I’m pleased with what I’ve got!

This term will also mean that I have to produce a final self-initiated project. I discussed my ideas with my tutor. I’m looking to do something which I can get really involved with. I seem to be more focused on street and documentary photography lately. So maybe I can somehow combine the two. Certainly the street aspect would be useful for Format 2011. I certainly have a strong desire to photograph people more, typically my work is absent of people. I have been considering doing something relating to a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre, but am now pursuing doing something around the General Election that should take place this summer.

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January 29, 2010