I had a lovely email earlier off a friend’s Daughter asking how she would go about getting involved in photography…. I thought I would share the titbits of information with the rest of you! You never know… it might make for an interesting blog.

Hi Emily, thank you for getting in touch. What year are you in at school? or are you at College now? I started out doing Media, and Art/Design & Psychology as A-levels at 6th Form and from there I went on to study for a year at college - where I did a BTEC Diploma in Foundation Studies - Art & Design. Choosing to do a Foundation course was one of the best things I could have done and really recommend it. It will allow you to try lots of different creative courses (Make sure you choose a foundation that studies photography too) If you live in Birmingham - Bourneville is a lovely college. I went to The Arts Centre in Liverpool. After doing my Foundation course I then went onto study a 3 year BA Hons Visual Communication (Photography) Degree at The Birmingham Institute of Art & Design (or B.I.A.D as it is also known) Which is part of B.C.U’s Gosta Green Campus. By doing this degree I was able to experiment with Illustration, Graphic Design, Video/Documentary & Photography. You can choose more photography based modules if you wanted to. http://www.biad.uce.ac.uk/Galleries/viscomm.htm If you are interested in Photography I would recommend trying to get some assisting work with photographers in you local area. That way you can work out what area of photograph you would like to work in… for instance… are you interested in Fashion? I have been fortunate enough to assist Fashion Photographer Helen Roscoe on some of her photo shoots. http://www.helenroscoe.com/ Or are you interested in more Commercial stuff like product /advertising photography? etc, etc. I love buying fashion magazines like Pop, LOVE, Wonderland, Dazed & Confused, etc for the beautiful and inspiring range of photoshoots they have. Assisting work isn’t usually paid - unless you have lots of experience, are very lucky or have a very kind & generous photographer to work with. But it is a fantastic opportunity and you meet some AMAZING people! http://www.photoassist.co.uk/ www.photographers.co.uk I keep a photography/art blog that I use as a diary to record my day to day life in photos http://luciekerley.tumblr.com and it is also important to have a portfolio of your work on the internet for people to look at. www.luciekerley.co.uk Check out other peoples photography on sites like Flickr etc and also geek up on the tips and techniques shared by professionals on their blogs… for example… http://philipbloom.co.uk/ http://philipbloom.co.uk/blog/www.photographers.co.uk I keep a photography/art blog that I use as a diary to record my day to day life in photos http://luciekerley.tumblr.com and it is also important to have a portfolio of your work on the internet for people to look at. www.luciekerley.co.uk Check out other peoples photography on sites like Flickr etc and also geek up on the tips and techniques shared by professionals on their blogs… for example… http://philipbloom.co.uk/ http://philipbloom.co.uk/blog/ I recommend getting out and about and start taking lots of photos - learn how to use a dslr - a digital slr camera - one that you can change the aperture, and shutter speed etc, familiarise yourself with all the functions.

Go to photography & Art exhibitions.

Get inspired.

Have an exhibition of your work!

Find out where you can submit your work or get together with a group of other creative people and sort out an exhibition together.

Enter photography competitions… etc,etc…

Network. Network. Network.

The list is endless…

Go to your library and read lots of books on the subject and find photographers that you find interesting. Try and do an internship at a photography agency (this is also usually unpaid - but it looks fantastic on your c.v) I did a 6 week internship in London at Magnum Photos. http://www.magnumphotos.com/ but there are lots of other photography galleries and photo agencies that you could google and get in touch with. I can’t stress just how IMPORTANT it is that you get work experience and meet lots of people who are interested. in the same things as you are. Finally… Don’t be scared of asking lots of questions or asking for help.

If you don’t ask you don’t get. I hope this helps :-) If you have any more questions please get in touch, Lucie x