Creative Professional Practice - Evaluation

Evaluation

From all the seminars, lectures and tutorials over the last term, I have learnt many ways of putting yourself out there as a professional rather than a student. I have learnt many things that can impact you as a photographer by the look of your social media, website and business cards. I was given improvements not just by lecturers at university, but the students at the college I was working with for 4 weeks. I learnt information regarding CV’s too, which isn’t just useful for now, but later in life too. I could improve my website by filming Ibbie’s world videos as they give me the potential to pursue a career in the YouTube industry. From certain workshops, I learnt about the other students too, it was interesting to see what they wanted to pursue a career in and what they thought was important to put on their own CV’s. I got to view other student’s websites for inspiration for my own and I was impressed with how their websites were looking. This module taught all of us, not just me, how to promote ourselves, to get more jobs and how to reach out to clients. Especially if we want to pursue our dream career. One key thing I learnt about was elevator pitches. I learnt to be more confident and relaxed when pitching. I discovered myself to be prouder of my interests and I started to show it when presenting my pitch. If I could do anything differently, it would be to take on board more advice about my website and my business cards. I wanted to make sure they look professional enough so I can pursue either the YouTube industry or a career in sports photography. In Conclusion, the media profile assignment was useful for now and in the future, I will keep the advice on board when updating my website or even my brand.

Creative Professional Practice - Social Media

Instagram

Instagram is one of the biggest social media platforms around. Used by many people and businesses, Instagram is a great way of getting yourself out there and getting clients/jobs. However, just uploading one picture a week, will not get you jobs. If you know the techniques of getting likes/comments and followers then there's more chance of you getting out there. One key way since Instagram was established is using hashtags. You need to use the right ones, the ones that are commonly used and are more popular. For example, the hashtag 'likeforlikes' is commonly used. It really works and many people will follow the hashtag and like your photograph/video. You also need to get the timing right. Don't upload when the majority of the people in your country are sleeping or at college. Do it at the time you believe is right and experiment with it. 

My Instagram - @autofocusphoto

I have had my photography account for over 2 years now. At first I found it difficult to gain followers and likes. I then started my blog and shared my blog posts on my account. I realised, I needed the right time to upload. So, I decided to release my blog posts out at 4pm and I would then upload 1 photo each day from that post at 4pm on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Out of the three social media platforms I use, I would say Instagram is my favourite one and most popular platform. I would say it is easier to gain followers on Instagram than Twitter and Facebook. I try to be consistent to show my work rate, so I try to do a blog post whenever I can and to get the images edited and ready to go. 

Twitter

Twitter is also one of the most popular social networking platforms out there. Just like Instagram many use it to share photos and many have issues with Instagram dropping image quality and therefore focus on Twitter more. Similar to Instagram, a way of gaining followers, getting likes and retweets is by using hashtags. Hashtags for photography are well used on Twitter, again timing is also key. It is easier to gain followers on Twitter from around the county and the world than Instagram. Once you have a good following on Twitter and you are well known or verified, you will get plenty of people liking and sharing your work and therefore getting more jobs. 

My Twitter - @autofocus_photo

My twitter isn't the most popular, however, I only created this account last year and since then have tweeted 365 times. With social media, if you don't have the popularity, you have to keep working hard to become one of those known accounts. I would say, Twitter isn't the best for getting clients and jobs unless you have the right followers and the right following. If you aren't following the right accounts, then most likely your work won't be reaching the people you want it to be. With twitter, once my blog has been published, I then go post the image with the blog link on Instagram and then same steps for twitter. 

My Facebook - @autofocusphotographyblog

Facebook for me is quite difficult. It is definitely harder for me to reach people to get jobs than Instagram and twitter. I still use it to share my blog, images and videos, however, I don't get much interaction from people like I do on Instagram. Many people now, do not use Facebook for businesses, so it would be harder for businesses who aren't well known to get popular and plenty of clients. You can also use hashtags on Facebook, but you still won't reach people so in my opinion using Facebook isn't the best for getting jobs. I have received job offers on Facebook, but only from family and friends of family. 

Creative Professional Practice - My Business Card

My Business Card - OLD vs UPDATED

I loved the design I chose and I stuck with it for my new cards, however I made a few changes. 

First, I made the massive mistake of not having my social media on my business cards. Especially since they aren't the same name as the brand. So that was the first change I made, to direct more people to my social media. Next, I removed my home address from the front of my card. I decided to only add a street address when I have my own studio or if not then I will only include the city like I have done so. I have then moved the text into the bottom corner, so it looks neater and tidier. Finally, I decided to add my specialities at the back of the business card. This is so anyone who picks up my cards are already aware of what my interests are in and if they are looking for someone in that interest then I could get myself a job. I have also changed my website URL to my official owned domain name - www.autofocusphoto.co.uk. This URL sounds a lot more professional compared to the free WIX URL I had previously. 

Creative Professional Practice - Business Cards Research

Business Cards Research

I found this photography business card as an example. I saw the use of text with headings in their specialists area. I thought this is a good idea. It saves time for any potential clients, for example, if a client picks up your business cards and they are looking for a photographer in one of your key areas, then there is more of a chance of you getting the job. All they have to do is take a look at your portfolio and if they like it then you will get the job. On my last business cards, I did't think of this idea, and when I upgrade and edit my business cards, I will use extra text to inform people my specialist areas. 

What Should Go On A Business Card?

I wanted to make sure I have all the correct information on my business card and to make sure I don't forget any vital bits and pieces that can make my card even better. From researching I found that:

1. Identification and Contact Information

• Name and business name (if you have one)
• Basic contact information such as an email address or phone number
• Something that tells people what you do – designer, photographer, web developer etc.
• Website URL to showcase your work

2. An Image That Shows What You Do

3. Plenty of White Space - Cramming loads of images or text on the front or back will look to messy and unprofessional. 

Creative Professional Practice - Website Development

Website Development and Justification

From my old website, I made a few changes to the top bar. Firstly, I had added a YouTube logo under my website to link my channel. This will make it easier for any viewers to check out my video work. I have also moved the positioning of the text with ‘Rikhil Majithia’ and ‘Photographer and Videographer’ which is now in a more suitable position and is easier to read than where it was positioned before.

I have also added a new tab. ‘New York’. This includes my images from my first trip to New York with the university. Once my images from the second trip have been edited, I will carefully select the best images from the trip and upload the best shots. This will allow other people to research my work and they may use it for their research.

I have also used one of my videos for the home page, playing on a loop. I used my crystal ball video as it is one of my most popular videos with nearly 2000 views on YouTube. However, using my footage from filming videos for ‘Ibbies World’ I will make a little showreel and have it on a loop for the home page to entice the audience viewing my website. This could potentially lead to receiving job offers in the YouTube industry in the future. The only issue with this, is that Wix are currently working on background videos with sound, so at this moment in time, the looped showreel will not have any sound.

This is a gallery I created on Wix. I decided to go with this cool and funky slideshow of a small portfolio of what my interests are. The slideshow is something different to what you usually see and therefore I went ahead with this choice. I wanted to present my work in a different style to most photographers and I think this gallery style showcases my photography style.

For the New York photographs, I decided to have a gallery, in which once clicked, it opens up into a bigger file with a caption. This makes it easier for the viewers to view the photographs. The captions are a small title describing the image. I didn’t want to write too much about each photo, keeping it quick and simple. The simple side of things matches my editing style and how I work as a photographer.

I then decided to use a different style gallery. This one is more common to my portfolio gallery. This one is more common because you are able to view an image at a decent size whilst being able to see the other images as a little thumbnail. It is also easier to navigate as it scrolls down and you can click and choose the image you want to view.

I have my own blog using blogger and I found a way to link my blog into my website and have it as another tab for the audience. This will boost up my blog numbers and also get more coverage globally. There wasn’t much choice of how the blog looks on the website. It would be nice if you could see the image on this screen, but wasn’t an option. However, it does mean they have to click on the individual blog posts to read my blog and view the images from each post.

We had a seminar around websites. One piece of information that was useful was not to mention I am a current student at De Montfort University so I had removed some text to make myself sound more professional rather than a student. If a potential client found out that I’m a current student then, this would give them an advantage when booking me for any jobs. Instead of paying, they could just promote my social media rather than paying for the job and that puts me at a loss.

One final change I had made to my website was finally purchasing a domain name. Unfortunately www.autofocusphotography.co.uk was taken so I was at a standstill, stuck between two domain names. They were autofocusphoto.co.uk or my name - rikhilmajithia.co.uk. In the end, I decided to go for autofocusphoto as it is easier to spell, type, and matches my instagram username. However, in the future, if anything ever happens to my business and I end up changing the whole brand, I can always purchase my name as the domain as it is a unique name, 

I believe my website matches my personality as a photographer. Simple but also complicated in different ways. I wanted to keep the colour scheme, the fonts all simple and suitable for my business. I would then keep this colour scheme for any extras such as business cards, like a uniform. Everything I updated, changed and removed from when my website went live last was for a reason. I had new images to show, removed text to make myself sound more professional and made text clearer to read.