Free-Lance Photography

Running head: FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHY

Freelance Photography

Christopher Morley

University Of Phoenix

Freelance Photography

Working as a freelance photographer has given me the opportunity of doing a wide range of photographs including portfolios, weddings and catalogs. As a Photographer, I have accumulated a number of years of experience and the needed technical skills in order to produce a professional photograph. I must have the ability to arrange whatever I am shooting so that the subject stands out clearly in the finished picture. Cameras, lenses, and lighting are some of the standard tools I use in photography. When doing a location job, I also require a light meter to properly gain the right lighting exposure. My love of photography began in high school, where I began to develop my skills. I began taking different photography jobs here and there, which consisted of portfolio work, head shots and catalog work. A year and a half after graduating from high school I decided to attend El Camino College. At the time I had no real direction in many of the classes I was taking. After a couple years I finally decided that photography was again the direction I wanted to go. I began working towards my Associates Degree in Photography. After finishing my prerequisite classes, I began taking the photography classes that El Camino had to offer, by this time I had already been working at a professional level for a couple of years. Knowing my excelled level of experience, Daralin Rowan, who is the head of the photography department, gave me the opportunity to help teach the classes I was taking. I graduated in 2002 with my Degree in Photography. There are many skills one needs to know in order to be a freelance photographer. Some of these skills include knowing how to frame a subject, being able to give direction and understanding light. This is just to name a few techniques. I learned a lot from my classes and the opportunity to teach others, but I feel the majority of my knowledge came from my time working hands on in the studio and on location shoots. As a photographer I specialize in studio work. I feel most comfortable in this area of photography because it's my comfort zone. Working as a freelance photographer means that I am often involved in many different types of situations. For example, working in a studio setting means I have more control of my surroundings, such as lighting, shadows and the type of backdrop I use. Studio photography is easier because you can create the exact environment you desire. Soft light, hard light, hair light and background lights are all under your control. So if the pictures come out wrong, I have nobody to blame but myself. Working on a location shoot means going to the client and the atmosphere they choose. This has its advantages and its disadvantages. One advantage of working on location is the ability to work with natural lighting, which typically means there is less set up time involved. A couple of the disadvantages of working on location are crowd control and not having the ability to control the weather. I have experienced problems with working this way when it came to crowd control. In the past while working on a modeling job, I have had spectators that have tried to be in the pictures, disrupting the work flow. Another type of location work that I have dealt in is catalog shoots, this type of work deals with taking pictures of still life items to be published in a magazine for profit. This is exceptionally easy to do, but I have often found there is little room to set up and work in. A third type of photography is wedding photography, although it could technically