Photosmudger On the Road

Something here I meant to get published before the tour started, but for various reasons it never quite made it. I certainly couldn't find the time during the tour, but on a day like this, when my other alternatives include some very boring admin, it's suddenly very tempting!

Anyway, months back I asked a couple of art directors and a photographer's agent if they wouldn't mind critiquing some of the submissions from the assignment in 2008. Obviously, I also checked with the 7 students in question as well (Amie Parsons, Andrew Black, Jonathan Macguire, Laura Liebnitz, Rob Passmore, and Meghan Giboin and Chris Black), and so here we have 6 submissions to the brief, (Meghan and Chris were working together) with a full critique from the following 3 people, Marco Crisari, Emma Taylor, and Rich Davis. For a reminder of last year's briefs, check the drop down menu on the right - 2008 Briefs Analysed. before we begin though, here's a quick introduction to each "critter":

Marco Crisari


Marco Crisari is a former art editor of MacUser, Wired UK, Maxim, and Men's Fitness. Since going freelance in 2005 he has worked on many news-stand titles such as Loaded, Radio Times, Woman, Gardeners World, Shoot and, currently, Triathlete's World as well as doing contract publishing work for clients as varied as Royal Mail, Mazda, Marks and Spencer, NSPCC, Sotheby's, and many more. In his spare time he likes to pluck the bread out of the mouths of hard working photographers' kiddies by taking the odd snap - particularly under water. Marco came along to UEL on this year's tour to help with portfolio critiques and the assignment



Emma Taylor

Emma Taylor is a Photographer and Illustrators Agent at Vue, currently representing seven photographers. Although based in London Vue has a worldwide reach working with Ad Agencies across Europe, Asia and the USA. Since joining the company in 2004 Emma has run shoots for Peugeot, LandRover, U2, Doves, Oxfam, Galaxy and many, many more clients besides. When she’s not negotiating budgets, corralling models and coming up with new marketing ideas, Emma can often be seen wandering the streets of London with very heavy portfolio bags. Emma was around at Sheffield Norton this year, to give portfolio critiques, and help out with the assignment work.

Rich Davis

Rich Davis is a freelance Art Director whose experience covers RCN Publishing, Haymarket, and Dennis Publishing. He was until recently the Art Director of Inside Poker Magazine, where he had the "privilege" of putting some of the biggest names in the Poker world on the cover. He has an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of music, and his greatest achievement was persuading his wife to let their first dance at their wedding be "Oh Gino" by Dexy's Midnight Runners.

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...