Portraits

Haven't been active in a while because I have been busy with school but I figured I would upload some photos from my most recent project. Our assignment was to photograph portraits so I decided to use my cousin as my model. The last two photos are from an assignment that we did towards the beginning of the semester for self-portraits. I will upload some more from that shoot soon because I had a lot of fun with that. For my cousin's portraits I decided to keep in very simple and elegant. I threw in the two photos of me to kind of break up that simplicity and show a little more humor.

Reaction Paper #3

Janelle Brooke

• wedding and portrait photographer 
• started in 2008 when she was 24
• graduated suffolk in 2006
• worked for Hampton Models and doing band photography
• first wedding photo shoot in 2008
• attended CW Post
• advertised in long island wedding magazine, the created FaceBook page in 2010
• business photographs about 40 weddings per year
• gained even more bookings from creating a promo video 
• all edits and work done at home
• has full team of 8
• had 2 team members who attended suffolk and became interns with the company
• editing is most important thing that sets them different from other wedding photographers
• use natural lighting
• use content aware tool for  majority of editing and getting rid of unwanted things in photos
• got featured on GMA on boudoir photography
• working with more than one person on location helps a lot
• prices and fees depend on time, location, make up and hair artists, etc...
• learn the business of photography

I really loved having Janelle and Terry come in today to talk about her business. I found it really inspiring that not only was she a suffolk student but she created her own path in the photography world and it worked out for her. I definitely learned a lot from her today when it comes to getting started after college, what to charge and what the editing process consists of. Over the past few weeks of this semester I really want to explore more in portraiture photography because I find them so interesting. It was really cool hearing her story and where and how she got started and I do feel like she inspired me a lot today and I am definitely going to do more research on her.

Photography Career Research Paper

Art 144 Photography Seminar 

Keener & Cyr

Photography Career Research Paper

The career I have chosen and also type of photography I would like to pursue is a Freelance Photographer. I could never really choose a certain style of object to photograph, I always loved doing everything but it’s pretty much impossible to have a career doing every type of photography there is. I particularly had a main interest in portrait and concert photography as well as street photography. I didn’t think there was a photographer out there who was on the same page as I was until I met and thankfully got to interview, Betsy Brody. She too is a freelance photographer and she specializes in portraits, concerts, weddings and other events. 

When it comes to employment opportunities, I have found that it is most important to befriend almost everybody you come in contact with. For the most part, being a freelance photographer, you are self- employed and a lot of your job opportunities are from booking appointments with clients on your own. You can’t really join a certain business that specializes in freelance photography because it isn't a thing. The more contacts you make, the more your name gets out there and what can start off as a local job can turn into an international job. 

There really isn't much education needed, but it is important you know everything about your equipment and what you’re doing. It definitely helps a lot to attend some sort of college level school for photography so they can teach you about the industry. It’s hard to learn everything about the career field by searching it on google. 

When i interviewed Betsy, one of my questions to her was how she got started and it gave me an idea as to what I have to do and I am currently on the right track to being a successful photographer. She attended a year in the Art Institute of Philadelphia. From there, she started her own business in 1987 by doing portraits in her area and from there her business has expanded. Becoming an assistant is very important because you learn a lot about the career field hands on, and you also get a feel of what life is like outside of the photography classrooms. 

Seasons have a pretty big impact on your work flow. For Betsy, her busiest time of the year is during the fall and winter seasons because she does a lot of family portraits and schools pictures. In the winter she gets busy with the holidays and a lot of families need Christmas cards done. Mentioned in the interview, she recently finished an assignment where she was hired to shoot a Chanukah event. With concerts, she gets hired to do a lot of head shots of new artists and well as capturing them on stage at events. 

The pricing structure depends completely on the photographer and how much they need to survive. A portrait session for an hour can cost from $150-200, but that doesn't include prints and edits. For Betsy, she charges $150 for a regular portrait session that is local, the price rises depending on how far away the client is located because she doesn't work in a studio, she works on location. She charges $15 per print, but it depends on the size. For example an 11x14 would cost $100. For events such as weddings, Bar/Bat Mitzvahs and such starts at $1000. It all depends on how many hours the client would like to hire her for and what is needed such as digital files or albums. 

Professional organization and networking is the most important part in a photography career because your clients are the ones paying you and keeping you alive. It’s important to really get yourself out there. People who know your name and are familiar with your work are more likely to recommend to friends and family. One of the best ways to start looking for jobs is by craigslist or just on social media. Social media itself can have a big impact on your career and can definitely help get yourself out there. 

Betsy’s advice to me was pretty much keep doing what I’m doing. The more photos I take the more I learn and eventually everything will come naturally. She was very helpful with my research and i’m so thankful she was able to take the time out of her day to let me interview her. 

For a while I was always indecisive of everything I did. I discovered I really enjoyed shooting concerts right when I started dating my boyfriend who is the drummer in a band and he would have me photograph and film their performances and I started to really get into that. Then during the summer I found myself doing a lot of decisive moments of my pets at home. When it comes to portraiture, I really wasn't a big fan of them until we had to do an assignment on it and I started to really enjoy doing that. Towards the end of the semester I couldn’t decide what I loved to shoot the most, I was stuck between portraits, animals, and concerts. Then I met Betsy who I have seen a few times at some of my boyfriends shows and I found her website and discovered she does the work that I’m into, and considers herself a freelance photographer an that’s when I knew what I wanted to do. I consider myself a ‘free spirit’ and I solely believe that that characteristic is reflected into my work and my workflow. 

Lauren Williams                                                                                                                         Prof. Cyr
Digital Photography
Artist Statement

       For a while I have been very indecisive on what photography style I would like to get into because I loved almost everything. I was able to narrow it down to portraits, pet portraits, and concerts. I was never a fan of studios and portraits because I liked being out and about and being almost free, but since we were assigned to do a portrait in class I started to like it. My pets mean the world to me and they're always the first thing I think about if I want to go out and photograph something. I'm attracted to action and life and they bring out the best in my work because I feel like it's very difficult to capture the personality of an animal. As for concert photography, same thing. I love the idea of capturing someone in their habitat, particularly on stage. I really started to get into concert photography right when I started dating my boyfriend who's a drummer in a band and he would have me photograph the concert. I have decided that I would like to focus on portraits of people and animals, working both in a studio and on location. For concerts, I would only shoot when I'm on tour with my boyfriend and his band. 

      I pretty sure I'm on the right path to where I want to be in the future. Doing this final assignment for digital photography has definitely helped with deciding on what I would like to photograph. I've been doing a lot of portraits with both my animals and friends and family. For particularly the final I am doing just pet/animal portraits so I really think that will help me learn more about portraiture photography.

Lauren Williams. "Sassy"

Lauren Williams. "Sassy with Shadows"

Lauren Williams. "Hard Lighting of a Feline"

My cat lives in my basement because she's afraid of Zoey, so the only time I get to really see her is if I go down stairs. I decided to take her out of her comfort zone and place her in the dining room and do some portraits of her. I'm pretty happy with how some of the results came out. At first it was a little tricky because I couldn't get the right exposure and the images kept coming out blurry and she would move her head. These were my top 3 choices out of all the photos I shot of her, and one of these will also be included in my portfolio and my final project for my digital photography class.

Brandon Woelfel

I came across this one particular photographer on Instagram a while ago and fell in LOVE with his work. His name is Brandon Woelfel. These are just some of the incredible photographs he's taken and I just love his work because he uses these cool effects and just the over all photo is sick. I do hope I could sit down with him and interview him about his work and what he does to his photos and what inspires him one day. I highly recommend checking his work out, his Instagram is @Brandonwoelfel and his website is http://brandonwoelfel.weebly.com/

Lauren Williams. "Corey Beach Gloom"

Lauren Williams. "Corey Beach Sunny"

This weeks assignment was to photograph different landscapes at different times and these are my top 2 choices. I'm not a fan of landscape at all so this was a little difficult for me, but shooting at Corey Beach never fails me. The first photo was taken right after it stopped raining, while the second photo was taken a week later when it was nice out. I personally love how the black and white filter makes both photos look dramatic.