Photosmudger On the Road

Happy New Year, and so on and so forth. Hope everyone had a pleasant christmas, new year and all that. Mine was tops thanks for asking.

Despite only winding up the tour proper at the end of November, I've been asked to add another (sort of) date already. So, on Saturday the 6th of February, at Calumet's Drummond St Branch, I'll be giving a talk and setting assignments to the London Strobist Group.

It'll be similar to other roadshow dates in format, although I'm mixing the talk up at their request, to include stuff from 2008 as well as 2009. I'll be joined by Emma Taylor from Vue again, to help with critiquing both the assignment and anyone who wants their portfolio looking at. Nikon will be along as well, in their usual "quietly standing at the back and offering advice where needed" role. I'm expecting great things on a technical level from the group, as I know their standard of work is pretty high, but I'm very interested to see how they'll respond to a brief, as I suspect many of them will think technical first, and commercial application second. Plus, of course, as hundreds of students across the country now know, there's the invoice to deal with too......

If you want to get involved, I'm pretty sure you'll have to join the London Strobist Group, and you'll also have to donate £10 to the Street Football league to secure your place. I'm loving this bit, by the way - I've donated via just giving before, but never raised money myself, and it's curiously addictive watching the total creep up.

Looking forward to it already, and I suppose I'd better get working on putting the talk together!


Read more on "The Roadshow Rumbles on...."!

My washbag, finally unpacked after nearly 4 months.

So that's it - the Nikon/Calumet/Photosmudger roadshow is done for another year. Coincidentally it brings to an end almost 4 months of being on the road, shooting as well as lecturing. By my estimation I've not spent 7 consecutive nights in my own bed since the start of August - hence my ritual unpacking of my toilet bag on Friday night - how very rock n' roll!

A few quick figures to sum up this year's tour:

• Total number of students attending the morning lecture - 700+
• Total number of students taking up the afternoon challenge - 225+
• Total mileage travelled - 4400 + miles. Ouch. Very grateful I didn't drive for all of them.

And now in a bit more depth....

• Everyone who accepted the afternoon challenge. As mentioned above, that's more than 225 people. I totally understand that it's quite daunting being given a brief, then only 3 hours to shoot and edit it in. Add to this the requirements of an invoice, and the pressure of a group critique and you've got a potential nightmare. I'd have shat myself if this happened to me at college! We saw some very impressive results in this year's challenge, right from the first venue.
• Keen people who ask questions. I love it when people have a whole list of stuff they want to ask me after the talk (yes, this means you, Arek). It implies they're thinking a great deal about what they're going to do next, and want to milk me for all the information they can.
• Overall very good invoices and paperwork to accompany the afternoon challenge pictures. Bonus points go to the 3 people who handed in their own invoices, as well as the tiny handful of people who had clearly read the blog beforehand and knew proper industry terms like "below the line". I'm not writing all this for a laugh you know.....
• Much better technical quality of work than last year. I spent far less time tearing apart people's work from a basic technical standpoint than I did in 2008, and that's very encouraging. Still a few technical errors (including some whoppers) here and there, but most definitely progress.
• Just like last year, I'm consistently impressed with the facilities available at colleges. I know no students will believe me, but you really have got it good. Every single place we visited was much better equipped than where I studied in the mid-90's, so there's no excuse for not making maximum use of said facilities.
• The Flash demo. We started it as a bit of a filler at Glasgow Met, to give us something to do between setting the challenge and doing the critique, and it rapidly became very popular. There still seems to be a big "fear" of flash out there, and yet learning to light properly is probably the biggest single thing you can do to separate yourself from the keen amateur. Flashguns are probably the most versatile, and cheapest way into this, and we had a lot of very interested folks who seemed slightly amazed that I shot beauty shots, action shots, and magazine covers, all with humble flashguns.
• The food at Sheffield Hallam and Newcastle. Awesome, if only we'd been able to stay longer and settle into the coffees, cigars and brandies!

Extreme Close-ups at Glasgow Met.

• To mirror what I've said above - I was very disappointed by those who didn't do the afternoon challenge. Above all those who took the brief at midday, then never showed up for the critique. I'm not that scary. My main reason for disappointment lies in the fact that, as I've stressed many times on Photosmudger, and during the talk - this is not the sort of industry where things are handed to you on a plate, you're going to have to get out there yourself and show lots of initiative if you want to make a career out of it. Not even attempting a project like this doesn't bode well.
• On the same topic, there was a general level of "can't be arsed" about some places and students. I realise I'm not to everyone's cup of tea, and that I'm not a big name, but the sort of things I'm talking about (business, organising shoots, how to get work and so on) are relevant whether you choose to follow a path like mine, or shoot weddings, or travel the world shooting for stock libraries and so on. Whether this lack of interest manifests itself in signing up for something, then not showing, or sitting stunned after the talk with an empty head and no questions, it demonstrates what I've just mentioned above - a lack of initiative and drive that doesn't promise well for a future career!
• A bit of a gripe here, but I can't let it slip. It was very easy working in Derby, Edinburgh Stevenson, Reid Kerr, UWE, and Sheffield Norton as we DIDN'T HAVE TO MOVE ANY OF OUR GEAR ALL DAY LONG! Sorry, that just slipped out. I realise that organising facilities at colleges can be like getting blood out of a stone, and on the whole lecturers have gone to great lengths to accommodate us, but as a request, if we do this again, we'd all be much happier in one room all day long! Even if it's small, or not perfect for all purposes - I know I'd rather talk to a crowded but cramped classroom full of people, rather than an empty lecture hall. I also realise that the original requests from Calumet may have been different to this - apologies if we're not all singing from the same hymn sheet.

Lecturing at Reid Kerr, sadly without spooky audio from next door.

• Watching Duncan peel off through heavy traffic in a Newcastle rush hour and head over the Tyne, whilst following behind and taking the correct turn. He was on speaker phone the entire time, and he can swear like a true Scotsman!
• On a related car note - playing "hide and seek" with the cars in Preston. It wasn't actually that funny, just a pain in the proverbial.
• Being told off for turning on a projector without asking for help at Reid Kerr. What was I thinking?
• Having no Nikon bags on the first day. Makes us look very professional.
• Getting lost, not once but several times, at several places, whilst looking for the gents. It's my age, or something.
• Dennis' sales talk for the D3s at UEL. He just couldn't help himself, and launched into full Nikon-spiel mode.
• Some of the more "amusing" interpretations of the brief. I won't embarrass them by naming them, but when the subject matter is "The Hat" I expect to see a hat somewhere in the shot - even if it's only a shadow or something. Likewise, despite explaining it pretty clearly "usage" refers to the usage the images will be put to, rather than what the subject matter is used for. Funnily enough, I already know what sports shoes can be used for.....
• Putting together the goodie bags whilst singing Right Said Fred, American Pie and Hello Dolly. Not one of us can sing, but that didn't stop us trying.
• Speaking of singing, it was very spooky giving the lecture at Reid Kerr whilst there was some kind of kindergarten singing school going on in the next room. Every few minutes snatches of "hot cross buns" and "baa baa black sheep" came filtering through the adjoining door. Very surreal indeed.
• Getting snapped for the local paper up in Aberdeen. Ah, that took me back a few years I can tell you...

• Student turnout - 7/10. Pretty good, although there seemed to be a large discrepancy between the hordes of people who had allegedly signed up, and the actual turnout on the day. I'll leave it to David to have words.
• Number of questions asked - 4/10. Not many, but that appears to be the norm. Maybe it's because I tell all the students everything they could possibly want to know about photography in one go that there's no need to ask questions. Maybe.
• Quality of tea and cakes - 0/10. What tea and cakes?
• Quality of extremely posh restaurant food at the "Hallam View" - 10/10. Ye Gods those Monkfish fishcakes were tops. Felt like royalty, and slightly underdressed whilst sitting in the exclusive "staff and visitors only" restaurant.
• Ability to handle the assignment - 7/10. Above average, with a few outstanding attempts, and a few that needed a lot more polish. What we saw a lot of Hallam though, was very good ideas, even if they were hard pressed for time. Highly commendable.
• Embarrassment caused by running up and down 4 flights of stairs when the loos were out of order - 8/10. Not what you need when you've been in front of an audience for a couple of hours.
• Number of people who feature in the presentation who I bumped into in the corridor - 1/1. As with UEL, you know who you are!

• Student Turnout - 7/10. Pretty good numbers, although see below for more info.
• Number of Questions asked - 5/10. Not many, but fairly good ones, very business minded.
• Quality of Tea and Cakes - 9/10. A steady stream of hot black coffee provided by Frank, and a truly delightful stuffed mushroom for lunch.
• Overall Cleanliness of College - 10/10. Very clean indeed - hand wash stations every 2 yards, antiseptic wipes at the door, instructions on how to wash my hands in the gents. It all conspired to make me feel very dirty, which I probably am!
• Ability to handle the assignment - 7/10. A decent attempt, which just needed a bit of polish to make it really stand out. The only problem was.....
• Number of people who actually attempted the assignment - 1/10. It's a new record folks, just 4 people attempted the assignment. It means I got to leave early, but it doesn't really instil me with confidence that the students at UWE are displaying the initiative, drive and ambition that's required to be successful self-employed people. To those that did it, Jamie, Luke, Matt and Khalil - I salute you, you are hereby entitled to take the piss out of your peers for at least the next week.

The Lecture theatre at UEL, so big it makes it look like there's less people there.

• Student turnout - 8/10. Decent numbers, and lots of keen folk doing the brief in the afternoon.
• Number of Questions asked - 4/10. Not loads, but fairly good ones.
• Quality of tea and cakes - 6/10. Caffeine based beverages absolutely fine, but no cake products to be found. Maybe we didn't look hard enough.
• Number of students in the audience who also featured in the presentation - 10/10. You know who you are Mr Laing - enjoy the ski show at the weekend!
• Ability to handle the assignment - 6/10. Some very mixed responses, ranging from some of the most polished work yet, to people who just completely missed the point.
• Proximity to airports - 9/10. I'm a geek and I'll admit it. I spent a very pleasant 15 minutes staring across the water at planes coming in to land. At no point did I stick my arms out and go running round shouting "neeeooooow" though. Maybe next time.

Playing to a packed house at Lincoln. Can you see the students behind the Nikon Goodie Bags?

• Student Turnout - 3/10. Oh Dear. I think at the peak there were something like 27 people in the room, although people were coming and going throughout the talk, so that number went down quite a bit. See above photo for the view from the front.
• Number of Questions asked - 3/10. Oh Dear again, barely a single question.
• Quality of tea and cakes Fish and Chips - 10/10. The fringe benefits of visiting on a Friday I suppose.
• Number of huge beanbags - 9/10. Offered a golden opportunity to swan dive into them with whoops of joy.
• Ability to handle the assignment - 6/10. Only a handful of people took it up (which means we get to go home early) and they had a fair crack at it, but nothing that really knocked my socks off.

As part of the roadshow we set time-limited challenges to a select group of students at each college. The aim of the challenge is to get students working to fairly tight commercial briefs, where they haven't had weeks to prepare things, and have to deal with what happens on the day. They're also a chance to work some business studies in, as we expect a completed invoice to be handed in with the images. In fact, when I come to critique the work, I'm almost more interested in the invoice than the shots!

Just to give you a flavour of what to expect, here's a brief behind the scenes video with 2 guys from Reid Kerr college in Paisley, John Morrison and Stephen Smyth. I went along with them on the day, strictly as an observer, and shot some video of them at work. I should point out to those of you who are thinking of getting a sneak preview of what to shoot that they interpreted one of the briefs a certain way - if you go out and shoot an Audi garage it may well not be appropriate to the briefs you're set at your college!

Apologies for the slightly ropey quality of the video. It looked fine on my machine, but by the time it had been uploaded to YouTube it had turned a bit rank. I'm quite new to this whole video lark anyway, and have got a lot to learn on a technical level!

.... I was working for the Northants Evening Telegraph, and I'd rescued a dog from a river. I'm not sure if this is progress! Read more on "The Last time I was in a local paper...."!

• Student Turnout - 8/10. Lots of folk, particularly for Dave, Dennis and Duncan's afternoon off-camera flash demo.
• Number of Questions asked - 10/10. Pretty much all of this score is accounted for by Arek, who turned up with a bloody great shopping list!
• Quality of Tea and Cakes - 9/10. Lunch wheeled out to us in the lecture theatre. Mmmm, lazy.
• Ability of Tom's laptop to handle something simple like a USB key drive - 0/10. Time for a new one methinks. Mind you, this one's 4 years old and has been dropped more times than I care to remember, so no real cause for complaint.
• Number of people who used their own initiative on the assignment and thereby knocked our collective socks off - 10/10. You know who you are!

• Student Turnout - 8/10. Pretty good numbers, although maybe helped by the fact it was raining and we were indoors in the warm.
• Number of questions asked - 6/10. A few good questions, proof that I didn't cover everything in the talk.
• Quality of tea and cakes - 8/10. Actually, make that scones, although I've still got one of the vouchers I was given for the staff canteen.
• Inconvenience caused by having to change venues several times and making up the goodie bags out in the corridor - 8/10. That were a bit annoying, I don't mind admitting.
• Ability to handle the assignment - 7/10. Pretty good, with only a few people who got the wrong end of the stick or messed up the paperwork.
• Number of local papers that turned up - 10/10. Blimey. I'm famous. And I'm not a fan of being in front of the camera, but I already knew that!

...Is clearly a Nikon bag. What self-respecting photography student would be without one!

I must admit to being a bit freaked by this actually, I was just packing up from finishing the talk, stepped outside the lecture theatre to answer the call of nature, and was confronted by half the student body of Reid Kerr being corralled into position by their lecturers. A very impressive sight, and certainly more impressive than what happened on Tuesday at Glasgow Met when the Nikon Bags failed to arrive. This was not the fault of Nikon, by the by, but the as usual incompetence of City Link, a firm I've been unfortunate to have dealings with in the past. You'd be better off strapping anything you want to send to a carrier pigeon in my professional opinion!

Mind you, our bacon was well and truly saved by Bernie, one of the wise and venerable technicians at Glasgow Met, who found some branded bags in storage. You are a scholar and a gent sir, we salute you! Read more on "This year's must have fashion accessory..."!

• Student Turnout - 8/10. Good numbers, and pretty keen looking too.
• Number of questions asked - 4/10. Still only a couple, and mostly technical in nature.
  
• Quality of Tea and Cakes - 9/10. Aided and abbetted by a birthday cake.
• Number of Lecturers who also had 40th Birthday's that day - 1/1. Happy Birthday Gerry.
• Ability to handle the assignment - 8/10. Superb pics, but let down slightly by their paperwork in a few places.
• Ability of Tom to break the audio-visual equipment before he's even started using it - 9/10. Wait for the AV technician next time Tom, there's a good chap.

The View from the front at Glasgow Met

• Student Turnout - 8/10. Lots of happy, keen people on a rainy morning
• Number of Questions asked - 2/10. Only the one question asked, so no major points there
• Quality of Tea and Cakes - 9/10. Very fine indeed. Particularly the Carrot Cake.
• Getting around the Building - 1/10. Get those lifts fixed.
  
• Ability to handle the assignment - 9/10. A frankly awesome opening to the season. Superb results, and very good consideration of the business side too.
• Ability of the college to bail us out with natty plastic bags when the Nikon ones failed to arrive - 10/10. Cheers for that guys, we would have looked quite daft handing over piles of brochures to people and asking them to hold them all together.