Interviewing A Professional Photographer

I interviewed Addie Mannan, a fashion and portrait photographer based in Portland, Oregon. I had a very good experience with my interview. Ms. Mannan was so excited and "honored" to be interviewed for my project. She gave me a lot of very valuable information for the career research project. In addition, she gave me some advice for the future. She said, " Learn to take criticism constructively and not take it personally.  There will be a lot of disappointment and learning curves in this business, but keep at it.  Experiment with different avenues and be willing to try different things with your photography, you might be surprised at what you find you are good at or that you enjoy doing. Collaborate with other artist, you can learn a lot from other creative people.  Look at other photographers as your colleagues, not your competition, [it’s] a smaller world in this industry than you think and having good relationships with other [photographers] leads to recommendations for work. " These are a few of Addie's photos from her website: Addie Mandan

Focusing on Light

This week's assignment was all about light. I tried thinking out of the box on how I can harness light in a creative way. I borrowed a prism because I was inspired by rainbows that come from them. I decided to experiment with the shapes and light patterns that are created by prisms. I also was inspired by shadows and the patterns that are created by things like leaves. This week I really like the way some of my photos came out, and I am beginning to think about what I want to explore with my final project!

Landscapes

This week I started shooting landscapes for assignment 8. I really liked shooting landscapes and I was very happy with how most of them turned out. I went around to a bunch of different parks and to local beaches. I actually got a few photos of decisive moments, like a previous assignment we did. This week I feel more confident about what I am submitting in comparison to other weeks.

Long Term Goals

In History of Photography today we talked about early fashion photography. This topic is very interesting to me, and I was looking forward to covering this part of history. I have a definite interest in fashion photography, and I have been considering a future career in it. So, for me, it was very interesting discussing the history of fashion photos. Then, in Photo Seminar, we talked about short and long-term goals. I began thinking about my long term goals, and where I want to find myself in the next 10 years. I would love to either pursue fashion or fine arts photography, and I see a definite overlap in these fields. As I continued to think about my goals, I have realized that I might really enjoy working for a fashion magazine. I plan to continue after Suffolk at FIT, and I hope that in the next few years I will find myself in the position of an internship, maybe even at a magazine.