Photography field trip with two of my photography friends

So, today was the second day of school. Because it was so overwhelming the day before, I had to get a shot of the sign that Belas Artes made for us.

They told us that they would need to take it down soon as there is a piece of legislation that restricts signs and advertising in Brazil (or something like that).

After we did our portuguese and photography classes, we took a field trip to Pacaembú Soccer Stadium and Soccer Museum. We weren’t allowed to take photos in the musuem, so this day is a bit light on photos.

This is a HDR that I did on the way in. It is a massive place and the Brazilian’s love their soccer. So it was hard to get a shot without there being someone in it.

The outside of the stadium

Inside the stadium

A down shot of a vendor talking to a customer

So the scene is this: You’ve been in this country for a whole two days, it’s your first day of school and you are going on your first cultural field trip. You realised that whatever portuguese that you learnt before this trip was extremely handy, but not enough. Your tour guide meets you and oh, by the way, there’s going to be a film crew following you around this place where people may rob you cos they are very poor.

Oh ok…….

Cool, just a little scared……

But then you see that everyone is nice and happy and friendly….

and because they don’t spend much money on where they live and their cost of living so they have more money to spend on car, motorbikes, etc

They are also quite inventive….

All the animals are really healthy

and there are small cheeky kids posing for you, and then photobombing you (I must admit, it got a little bit old). But it was so cute as we walk along the street and they are telling everyone that they are famous models now and that we are from Australia and very famous.

Also, it get really exciting as you plan your trip to Rio, your news story comes on…..

I have more images than this. I’m going to make a slideshow with all the photos put it somewhere….

Our teacher Cam Attree bought in another commercial photographer to talk to us, Toby Scott. He photographs alot of furniture and still life, in his studio in Clayfield and on location around Australia. I describe his work like an Ikea catalogue, everything has that Scandinavian feel to it. He started shooting commercially about 4 years ago and works with ad agencies, before that he used to work at Dragon Image while learning photography. You can find him here at tobyscott.com.au

• He shoots with one lens where possible and with a medium format camera
• Doesn’t shoot room with windows between 11.30am and 1pm
• In commercial photography, it’s easier to keep the same clients and keep up relations with them and they will pay the bills. Get 1 or 2 big clients
• He uses “Keystone” for image correction
• Use magazines to learn and reference back to. Study each image, break it down to what each image contains and figure out how to replicate it
• Set yourself apart from other photographers, but not by saying you are the best
• Go in and interview with an agency. Follow up but don’t expect to hear from them for up to six months. Sometimes they don’t have much coming through or they don’t have something that would suit you.
• It’s harder to sell yourself than it is for someone else to. Have a production manager to help sell you, write emails and make phone calls to help sell you to potential clients. Also, build up a team around you.
• Depending on the shoot, it sometimes will be styled by a stylist and sometimes they will expect you to style it by yourself. Hire one yourself unless they have one on staff.
• Be on the same level as your stylist
• Use an A3 folio to show examples of each genre you do. Toby has one with 15 pages, with a french fold and nice paper. He updates it every 6-8 months.
• Paper and typography is important and appreciated, depending on who you are working with.
• Keep different books for different clients
• Keep it simple
• Select the jobs you want to do and give those jobs 110%
• Stand your ground, even at the start. Toby decided that he didn’t want to do weddings and has never changed this rule. To this day, he hasn’t shot a wedding.
• Always check and constantly update your terms and conditions and change your licencing to what the clients wants.
• Get the best stuff you can afford to do the job.
• Professionalism is something that used to exist in commercial photography, but doesn’t much anymore.
• Toby always shoots tethered and uses an ipad to view as shooting. He uses Mac in post-production. He then backs up everything using a Drobo. Current work is stored on an external hard drive which gets taken home at the end of the week.
• Give everything a job reference number and reference to it in invoices and letters etc
• Use a budget to upgrade equipment and then add to it every year.
• Be yourself and do work that makes you happy.
• Toby doesn’t do much post-production. Colour balance, exposure and straightening up.
• Nothing leaves his studio unfinished. His production assistant is a retoucher.