Business Cards

After I got my 40 free Moo.com cards, I decided to actually splurge and pay for 100 cards. I got a set of 50 business cards solely for my 7591 Miles project. I used the three different photos of the series for the three designs of the back of the card. The front just had my name, that I'm a photographer, my website, email, blog and phone number. I printed another 25 cards for my Succession project and 25 of Kayleigh. The reason I printed 25 cards with Kayleigh on it is because I wanted to save those for the summer as I want to do some pet photography then. I put them alongside my exhibition anyway just in case. At the end of the preview night I only had about 20 cards of Kayleigh left and that was it! A couple days I came back and there were only 3 cards left!! I decided to restock with some of the free cards I got, and by the time I added those I only had one card left. It's crazy! I had no idea people would take my cards. I printed 100 cards thinking I could use them over the summer and take them with me to Australia and just cross out my phone number... But no, they're all gone. It's absolutely crazy!

Professional Practice Plan

Throughout my three years on the course I've tried a whole range of different types of photography, including objects, landscapes, interiors, cityscapes, portraiture and more. However, something that has been consistent for the past few years in my passion for landscape photography. I started off being a bit clueless about photography, but the course has taught me that it's not all about a pretty picture; it's the meaning behind the photograph that makes you a great photographer.

In my third year I really started to think about my future: what I'm interested in and what kinds of jobs I want to get when I have finished the course. Therefore my two final projects are both about landscapes, but very different aspects of it. The first has a very scientific approach which is an area I'd love to go into, whereas the second project was a lot more personal. Because of my passion for landscape photography, I contacted quite a few photographers regarding their work and whether I could assist them on a photoshoot to gain more experience. After interviewing Fergus Heron, he agreed to let me assist him on a shoot in Horsell Common. It was a fantastic opportunity as I learnt a lot about large format photography and the ideal composition for deadpan landscape photos. It was also interesting to see his process of finding the perfect shot, and how he records everything in a workbook - similar to what I have been doing on the course. Another field of work experience I looked into was working in a camera shop called Harpers Photographic. This was a great learning experience, especially working in the processing lab, although it isn't something I would like to do as a career. Finally, I have also been part of a volunteering project called New Creatives where I worked together with a contemporary artist, Oliver Merkin, and helped Havant and Portsmouth college students create an art piece with the theme "making things makes us human". Their work was displayed at Aspex gallery, alongside a timelapse video I created of my experience. New Creatives has introduced me to some jobs I'd be able to do such as teaching or curating, but it's also given me more confidence to talk about my work and help others with theirs.

In 2010 I created my own Facebook Photography page and have been regularly updating that ever since. I also got a Flickr account where I do weekly photo challenges; I have a Twitter account, a Pinterest account, a blog, and finally a YouTube account. I update my blog as often as possible, usually a few times a week. My YouTube account has all my timelapse videos, my pinterest has a bit of everything (portfolio, landscape photography, pet photography, university projects, behind the scenes) and my Flickr mainly features my weekly photo challenges. Of course I also have a website with its own domain (www.elainedevries.com). My website features my portfolio, but also has links my University projects and my Commissioned projects (Pet, Band and Interior photography). It also has a link to my blog and Pinterest and a contact button. I also have a section with "links" that brings you to a list of websites where my work has been featured. Although I have an online portfolio, I also have a physical portfolio as I think it looks more professional to bring that in for an interview. It is an A3 box portfolio from Silverprint and includes a variety of my best work.

After I graduate I will be moving to Australia. This is both for personal reasons but also to further my landscape portfolio. Australia is known for its beautiful landscapes, and I'm hoping to do more projects similar to my Succession project, where I look at a more scientific aspect. I like the idea of creating awareness of environmental issues within my work. Something that I have become increasingly more interested in lately is pet photography, which is why I will be doing some work experience with a pet photographer in Melbourne, Caitlin McColl, once I have arrived in Australia.

Business Cards

I've been going a bit crazy over free samples lately. I've order anything and everything ranging from make-up samples and moisturisers to puppy toys! One of the many many things I ordered are business cards from Moo.com. Moo is an online company that specialises in professional looking business cards for reasonableness prices. I desperately need some new business cards as I ordered mine from Vista Print for very cheap and they aren't very good quality (Card Paper). I've also got an image on it that isn't even in my portfolio anymore!

Anyway, so then I came across Moo's free business card samples. You could order 10 cards for free with free postage and everything. This is where the crazy part comes in... I got them sent to 4 different addresses so I managed to get 40. I sent one pair to my flat in Portsmouth, one to my parent's house and one to both of my boyfriend's parents' house.

3 out of 4 are now at my flat in Portsmouth and I will be collecting the last set sometime in the near-ish future. First I ordered some "Pet Photography" business cards, since I'm very interested in that field at the moment. They look beautiful. The quality of them is amazing, they are very thick and smooth business cards and have got a matt finish to them. The second set I ordered is of my 7591 Miles project. It's simply got on photo on the back. The third set I ordered was my Succession photo. I originally wanted to have the circle on the back, but I have having all sorts of problems, so I just put it tiny on the front to get the idea, and then the clearing photo on the back. I quite like it this way because I love the clearing photo, and it shows the quality of the photograph. Finally, I printed my ducks. At this point, I figured out that you can choose multiple designs for the cards, so I chose 4 different photos (3 blue, 3 purple, 2 red and 2 yellow).

When I order my real business cards (I won't just live off of free samples...) I reckon I'll create several different designs to show the range of photography I can do. I'll probably order 100 cards and choose maybe 5 different projects? I haven't quite decided yet, I wanted to have a look at the quality first.

I don't expect to get rid of all of my business cards during the Eldon show, so I will be using them in Australia too, although I'll just have to cross out my mobile number and write a new one. Or maybe.... order another few free samples to various different addresses. Neighbours??

Pet Photography - Kayleigh

Shoot 5 with Kayleigh. I'm starting to be more and more interested in pet photography, and as always Kayleigh is my model. I decided to shoot in the same location as I did for the last shoot, but use a completely different lens. I used one of my all time favourite lenses: 50mm with an aperture of 1.8. For anyone that doesn't know what aperture is, it basically means if you have a very low number, the lens is open, and a high number (eg. 22) the lens is almost closed. If you have an aperture of 1.8, whatever you focus on will be sharp, but anything surrounding your subject will be blurry, whereas with a high aperture your whole photo will be in focus. I used an aperture of 1.8 in these images, and as you can see Kayleigh's head is in focus but her body and the pillows behind her are blurry. It was quite a hard shoot because of the aperture. In a lot of my photos, her nose was completely in focus, but her eyes were out of focus!! I'll have to use an aperture of 2.8-5.6 to get a similar effect but not as extreme.

I really like how the images look, they are very different from the last shoot. Kayleigh is such a poser! But the only reason she sat so beautifully while looking at the camera is because I had a treat in my hand!

During the summer I'm going to try and have as many dog/cat photoshoots as possible and hopefully earn a bit of money. I've ordered a book called "photographing dogs" which should come next week so that'll give me some useful tips.

Pet Photography - Kayleigh

 After the shoot from the previous post, I decided I wanted to do one more photoshoot of Kayleigh before I went back to Portsmouth. As mentioned in the previous post, I really wanted to take some photos outside, so I did the next best thing - in the conservatory. The colours in there are quite neutral (other than the new carpet) but it looked great with Kayleighs ginger fur. The top right photo shows a selection of my favourite images, and the middle right and left are my two favourites out of everything. Finally the bottom right is a cheeky unedited photo of Kayleigh.

The colour combination works really well: there isn't an overpowering red sofa behind her and the background isn't too plain. The subtle orange in the pillows ad the brown of the chair match with Kayleigh. I slightly edited the photos so that Kayleigh is a bit brighter and more colourful than the chair behind her.

I decided to choose these two images as my favourites because she's looking at the camera. Although there were a few photos where she was looking away that I liked as well, I prefer the eye contact.
I'd like to do more dog photoshoots with different dogs, but that'll be a project for the summer.

Pet Photography - Kayleigh

 When I get to Australia I will be assisting a very popular pet photographer, Caitlin McColl. To get myself ready for that, I've been doing some practice shoot with Kayleigh. I didn't realise how many things you have to think about when taking photos of dogs!! It's not only about trying to get eye contact with her, but it's also (obviously) about composition. The top photo is a great photo of Kayleigh, although it isn't taken in a very nice location (poles sticking out her head). The second photo is a lot better, although she is a bit close to the table. It's a colourful shot and shows her within a clear context. I'd love to take some photos of her outside, but it's a horrible day so that wouldn't look very nice.

It also takes a lot of patience... and a LOT of shooting. I do like the photos that I've taken, but will definitely need to take more.

Christmas Cards

I haven't been blogging for a while, it's been quite busy! I went to my parent's house for the weekend to take a photos for our Christmas cards this year. My mum had the idea of taking shots of our puppy playing with our Christmas hats and outfits. She knew she was being watched so was a bit hesitant, but as soon as we left her alone she started to play with everything. These two shots are the final two. I prefer the one to the right as she's engaging with the toys, whereas my mum prefers the shot to the left.