Personal Work

When is an idea not an idea?

If you’ve been following me for a while you’ll have heard me say on repeat (like a broken record) that personal work is your number one marketing tool. Especially personal projects with an idea behind them. So what is an idea? It’s not a topic (Football is not an idea, neither is vintage cars, even

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3 tips for sharing travel work with ad creatives

If you have a personal project gallery on your website, are you guilty of having a list of place names? CUBA TOKYO ALASKA It sounds so exotic and farawayish…but actually- does it? Nope. To advertising creatives, it’s like landing on yet another amateur travel bloggers site. And that is at best boring, and at worst

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A rich career in photography

“Why would I order a camera part online when I can get out into the world and take photos on my way to the store? Why would I not want that experience?” These are the words of London born NYC/ Sydney advertising photographer Simon Harsent, who chatted to me a few weeks ago about his work,

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Sowing inspiration

In just a couple of days I’m flying to Hanoi, Vietnam. I’ll be joining a group of photographers from around the world who have spent the last 5 weeks (between juggling jobs and kids and life) on The Series Project program, researching and identifying stories they want to tell. As requested (by me!) they’ve already started

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Can you remember the first decent photography gig you got?

Can you remember the first decent paid photography gig you got? The one where you thought- OMG I’m really doing this! It might have been 30 years ago or 3 years ago but there’s a very strong chance it was inspired by something you created for yourself. And you shared it because, what the heck,

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Personal work is not this

If you watched the presentation last week with Billy Plummer you’ll have heard him talk about the difference between tests and personal work. (If not, you can still catch the replay here.) It’s well understood that tests are when you photograph to try out new gear, lighting and technique. But when you photograph with an

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Hope has Wings

To many photographers, being at the top of their game doesn’t just mean making beautiful work for clients, but also being seen and acknowledged by the art world or organisations like Magnum. Maybe that’s you, too. For British photographer Nancy MacDonald, this was something she dreamed of but didn’t believe was possible until she made

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