Documentary Photographers

As I have based my report topic around documentary photography, I have been looking for documentary photographers who are in todays industry and therefore know how to gain access to the industry and become noticed, which is basically what I am asking, I would like to email these photographers in order to ask questions and achieve primary research.

I have emailed 3 photographers and created interview questions which I would like to ask if I receive a reply:

Do you think you need qualifications in photography to become a photographer?

As a documentary photographer did you find it hard to become recognised?

What would you say is the most effective way to get noticed in this industry?

What technical skills are essential to documentary photographers?

What equipment do you need?

As somebody who wants to gain access to this part of the photography industry, what advice could you give me?

These questions are based around my report question so that I can receive basically an answer to my question off people who are experienced in the field.

Forensic Photographers
Forensic photographers are usually employed by the Poilce or Forensics to take photographs at crime scenes and accidents to use as evidence or as records of the incidents.forensic photographers need to be skilled in order to make sure every aspect of the incident is photographed, for example if there is a crime scene where someone is attacked, it is important that finger prints left, blood marks and footprints ect are all photographed as evidence for court and it could be really significant if something like this was missed by a forensic photographer.
Forensic photographers usually start their career as forensics, this is because they become wise in what to take pictures of and are used to the type of scenes that they might see as the photographers usually take imagery of dead bodies and assaults, therefore the job could be quite distressing for any photographer to walk into.

I found this information on creative skillset where there are more details that come with the job
http://creativeskillset.org/ 

Report Topic

When deciding on an title and a topic for my report, I was unsure of where to begin, I wanted to provide a report on an area of the photography industry which I am interested in myself and would like to learn about so that my report could be a reflection of my own interest of research therefore I will be basing my report around documentary photography, as although I am unsure to which area of photography I would like to go into, I enjoy documentary photography and have little knowledge on how to become a documentary photographer.

When deciding on a title for my report based on my chosen topic, I found it difficult to decide on a title that I could base a report on therefore since I don't know the outcome of my report, I thought using a question could be more appropriate.

When deciding on a question as my report title I made a list of questions I wanted answers to myself

• What does it take to become a documentary photographer?
• What careers are available for documentary photographers?
• How do documentary photographers gain access to the industry and become noticed?

I decided the question that I would use for my report title is 'How do documentary photographers gain access and become noticed in the industry' because this will tell me what I want to know which is how to become a documentary photographer.

The Association Of Photographers 

The association of photographers is something photographers can use to gain access to the industry and what companies and commissioners can use to find a photographer for something specific.

The Association of photographers has a website that is open to anybody that allows people to do a detailed and defined search to find photographers who are part of the association, it is a great way for photographers to gain work, especially those who are freelance and it is an easy way for people to gain access to photographers.

Website: 

http://www.the-aop.org/find/photographers  

The Genius Of Photography

I watched the episode 'Snap Judgements' from the BBC series 'The Genius Of Photography' this episode showed us how photography has developed and became worth more as an industry and grown as an art through technology.
The episode showed how photographs are worth a lot more now photography has became more popular as an art and in the general household and how auctioned images are now worth a lot more than in the past when photography was less accessible and developed for example one of the most expensive photographs to be sold was taken by photographer Andreas Ghurski whose work inspires many photographers.

Ethics In Photography

Like every industry, the arts industry and photography industry have ethical values and these are the facters which make photographers more professional, as it is more professional to be ethical than to create your own code of conduct.

In other industries such ethics can be creating products which are safe for consumer use, in photography this may not be applicable but ethics in photography could be creating images that are not offensive or inappropriate to the audience.

Different photographers have different ethics in creating photographs but some are expected in order to be a good photographer for example it is not in the interest to pass another artists work as your own yet you can use other peoples work for your benefit still but in the correct manner for example as a source of research or inspiration for work or reports and referencing the work.

It may also be in a photographers ethics to use model release forms or ask permission before taking photographs obviously this may not apply to all photographers such as documentary photographers but if possible it is deemed more professional.

The poilce and terrorismThe poilce visited the University in order to inform us about photography and terrorism and how to react to this.
Many photographers can be questioned by officers of the law whilst taking photographs as it can be mistaken for gathering information on a place, this is usually if a photographer visits a place several times to take imagery or if a artist is somewhere that is not usually of interest and can be deemed suspicious.
If a poilce officer approaches us as amatuer photographers it is important to remain calm and just explain what we are doing and maybe present a student card.
It is also important as photographers to note any other people in areas who are acting suspicious whom we might deem or think are involved in terrorism and in this scenario we must report this by contacting the local poilce.

                                          Folio
Folio are the University's centre for enterprise and employability, they can help us as students become more knowledgeable on what jobs and career paths are available in the arts industry.

Folio offer sessions and seminars or appointments with individuals, there aim is to help students gain an idea of what is available for after education. They can offer help with starting businesses, creating CVs, applying for jobs, gaining work experience and basically helping as much as possible with breaking into the industry.

I think that Folio are a great way of finding information out as it is just a case of asking and can be easier than starting research into the industry with no direction.

Photography and The Law

In week 4 of professional studies, we looked at the laws that are in placed that affects us as we enter the industry, this was to give us an idea of what our rights are as photographers and to follow up from the visit last week and expand on more laws and rights aside from terrorism and photography.
During this lesson I learnt a lot about my rights to photograph and discovered i'm allowed to photograph a lot more than I anticipated for example children, I was unaware that there are no laws against taking a picture of a child in the street without consent. 
Other laws which we discussed which I didn't have much knowledge on are about private property and how it is not illegal to take a picture of someones private property without permission as long as you are not on the property or trespassing as there are laws against that.
After learning about the laws around photography following our visit from the Poilce last week, it became obvious that you can be stopped and questioned by the poilce a lot in this industry due to the laws and restrictions on photography being quite confusing and therefore it was important we knew how to deal with the law enforcers if we are approached and questioned when not doing anything illegal whilst taking photographs, therefore we recieved a card which is aimed to remind people what our rights are as photographers.

Time Management

In week 2 of professional studies, we discussed the effectiveness and importance of time management and looked at ways in which to manage our time.
Time management has great importance in everyday life for everybody but the way we manage our time when doing university work can determine our grades and therefore our future.
In the session we discussed everything that can use our time such as University, work, friends, eating, travelling, sleeping ect and how we can manage our time generally in order to dedicate enough of our time to each of these and how we can decide which to prioritise.

As well as managing your time in general there is time management for things such as projects, therefore we looked at effective ways to manage our time when doing assignments at university and how we can contribute enough time to uni work and how this can effect our grades, knowledge and future.

By learning the importance of managing my time I realised how this is a key skill needed for me to get into the industry, although everybody has different reasons for using this key skill I think it is a overall something that employers in general look for. In my case, I am trying to break into the photography and arts industry therefore time management is essential as employers and commissioners in this industry are looking for people who can produce photographs on a certain date or work is expected to be produced to be exhibited therefore I will need to develop and gain time management skills