For the last four years of my life I have been working towards my photography degree at the University of Huddersfield and my time on the course is coming to an end. This post is the final blog post for my last module and the aim of it is to talk about what it is that I will be aiming to do now that I am close to graduation.

Pet Photography.

It may be clear by now that I have stepped into the realm of pet photography and that I would very much like to form a career from it. After working with dogs and other pets throughout my final year, I have grown fond of the practice of photographing our beloved pets. Seeing the joy on the owners faces when the resulting photographs are shown to them is a priceless sight for me.

The aim is to go freelance and build up a network of clients who wish to have professional photos taken of their pets. Wether that be the pet on their own or with the owner aswell. 

Working with animals brings me joy and joy whilst working is something that everyone dreams of. If I manage to make a career out of photographing animals, it would be two of my favourite things combined. Only I would be earning money from it and possibly even a lving once the client base is there. 

Of course this will take some time to build before it becomes a viable source of income, so I do have some avenues i wish to persue alongside it.

Car/Vehicle Photography.

A few years ago I went to a car meet for the first time with the task of photographing the cars that turned up. The images only went to the owners but it was a good opportunity to try something new. During the shoot I began to realise that I was really enjoying the act of photographing cars. At the time I hadn’t thought of the possibilty of doing it as a job but now that I have had the chance to think about possible career paths, it has come to my mind once again. 

Recently, I have applied for a couple of roles that require a photographer to photograph cars that are up for sale. I would be working with a dealership with the responsibility of making sure that the cars are presented as well as possible for their website.

Furthermore, there is the opportunity to photograph cars on a freelance basis. A friend of mine managed to do so after also photographing at car meets and this gave me the idea to persue that. Once again this is something that would take time to build up but could possibly work alongside the pet photography business and make my professional practice multi faceted, creating the opportunity to sometimes do more than one job at a time if say an indvidual with a car and a dog wanted both photographing at some stage.

TempestTraining For Graduation Photography.

During my final year at university, an email was rolled out about an opportunity to work with Tempest Photography taking photos at graduations up and down the country. I decided to apply and a few months later received an email informing me that I had been selected for training. 

This means that I will receive two full days of training in commercial portrait photography and possibly have a job with them over the summer during the graduation period. This isn’t a path that I would have considered without the opportunity arrising the way it did but as I was accepted I began to see it as a possible career choice. 

Wether or not i am sucessful during the training period will determine wether I am selected to work with Tempest over the summer but regardless of that outcome, I will be fully trained in commercial photography which is a valuable asset to my CV when going and applying for future job roles.

Ecommerce.

Recently, I was asked if I would be able to photograph for a company owned by a family friend. The role would include taking photos of shoes ready to be displayed on the company’s website for sale. Again, much like the graduation photography, I hadn’t considered this type of commercial practice as a career path. It was only when I was asked if I would be willing to do it that I began to realise the potential of it. Throughout university, I haven’t been too keen on the cmmercial side of photography as a career path, however as I have come to the end of the course I have come to realise that maybe I should have explored that side of photography more. Therefore this opportunity to work for a family friend in an ecommerce roll would allow me to gain experience in ecommerce and sharpen my skills in that area, thus opening up further opportunities to work in different roles.

Anything and Everything.

The career paths I have talked about here are all the options I have explored so far but another thing I want to try is… 

Everything.

Throughout my time in education, on each photography course I have studied on, there has been an emphasis on trying new techniques and experimenting with them. I plan to carry this over to my proffessional career, by which I mean any opportunity that comes my way I will take. For me it doesn’t matter what the subject is or what i am photographing. I believe that in trying everything that I can will allow me to expand my skillset and allow me to possibly even find a career in something I have never even thought about. Having experience in as many photographic subjects as possible can only be a help to my career, opening up more options for me to consider.

Conclusion.

There are many career options I want to explore and will explore. My aim is to, as I said, try them all to find out what works best for me. Doing this will only help expand my skillset and give me as many options as possible to make a career from photography.