As it stands I do not really have any elements of an art career around my photographic practice. Up until now, my web presence has been predominantly commercial based. With my website showcasing my commercial work off far more than the personal projects and photographic explorations, I have been on. I have been thinking a lot about the direction that I am going to take my photography once I have completed my degree and have realised that I want to be known for my art and not as a commercial photographer. Once I have finished uni I plan on travelling and working with my camera documenting everything that I do. I would like to work on projects that may eventually be put on display in galleries as well as publishing books. Now realising this, I know that I have quite a bit of work ahead of me to make this happen. I need to readjust my website. Putting my personal work at the heart of my image as an image-maker. I also need to start putting my work in competitions to try and get my name exposed to the world of photography.
After thinking about this more I have entered a photo competition with the photo above. The brief of the competition was “show us the places already affected by global heating, and the people finding innovative ways to protect each other”. I felt like my first-year project “The Philosophy of Our Land” was an appropriate fit for this as I spent time with the people living on an off grid community. The people here are making the change that is needed in people lives in order to reduce global warming by living in line with nature and not against it. The competition was free of charge so I don’t have anything to lose for applying.
Updating my Website and online presence
I have recently updated my online presence as I felt like I wanted to change the way that I presented myself as a photographer. Before this update, I was showing myself off as more of a commercial photographer and I was using my online presence to try and promote myself in order to get more work. Since returning back to uni and working on new visual projects I have decided that I want to present myself as me. A photographer that wants to ask and answer questions and not want that wants to earn money directly from the photographs that I take. This is why I have moved my website around in order to center my personal work and use that style as my selling point. This puts me as an artist in the center of my name and not someone who is taking photographs only to make money. I know that once I have graduated I may have to center peace some money-making aspects to my practice but while I do not have to rely on making money with photography I am going to try and push my project work as much as possible.
Another aspect to my website that I have added is my blog. It is called “Life is a Project” and it follows some of my photographic adventures and work that is current. I have done this so that if a future client wants to see what I have been working on recently then they are able to do so. The name “Life is a Project” comes from the idea that I am constantly working and developing myself and that I am motivated to make these better changes in my life. I also have a YouTube channel called this which at the moment is not one of my focuses, however, I plan on working on this much more in the summer and 3rd year of uni which might become a financial outlook for me one day.
I took a few months off Instagram at the beginning of the academic year. I deleted the 3 accounts that I ran as I was getting bogged down with the false intentions that come with the social media platform. After having some time to reflect what I really wanted to use the platform for I decided to create another account which I could focus on uploading my projects and personal work for myself. This is part of creating an image for myself which hopefully will grow.