Before I began this module, especially in the first year of the course, I had my mind set on working as a freelance architectural photographer. However, having had the chance to photograph different subject during the summer in the USA (rural and urban), and having a chance to go back around London and shoot in my regular haunts of The City and Canary Wharf, I am beginning to have second thoughts.
So it’s almost perfect that I am able to write a report like this to help me piece together my thoughts.
To start off, having no experience in an ancillary role, I currently have no desire to work in one. That being said, if I were to ever go into one, the idea of working as a picture editor, or in any sort of role within a publication.
Diverging even further from being an actual photographer, the idea of running a gallery, or curating for one. These, however, are for a long way down the line in my career, and not something that is likely to be something attainable within five years from now (save from me winning a considerable sum of money in the lottery). Even further from this, I have dabbled with the idea of starting up and running my own publication. Something like this will be able to satisfy the needs of curating as well as creating.
The prospect of becoming a freelancer now, after these guest talks from bank managers and insurers has made the prospect seem a lot more daunting than it did before, as I was unaware about how much work actually went into running a business solo. That being said, it does still remain a likely option.
This is the part where I sound very negative, which may be taken in quite a few ways… I know a lot more about what I don’t want to do, rather than what it is I do want to do.
It is worth mentioning that after several small-scale domestic shoots for friends, family and small charities, working as a wedding or an events photographer does not appeal to me at all. Neither does working as a portrait photographer.
As well as this, at college, the lecturers seem to heavily push for students to shoot fashion, which is an area of photography which I have always hated.
This term, I will be exploring food photography, though again, this is something I also had the opportunity to try once before during college, but it didn’t appeal to me much at all.
Ryan Trower 