Topic 8 - Audiences and Institutions - Reflection

-       How has your on practice been shaped, manipulated perhaps, by the makers of the technology you employ and/or the spaces in which you share your work?

The main space for me to share my work has been on Instagram. This has impacted my work as I will not really share a body of work or images in a sequence. The medium encourages the single image and the quick snapshot to encapsulate a moment.

I have shared work through my website but never feel I produce enough work in order to post it and communicate a rounded project.

-       What institutions do you wish to engage with to further your photography?

-       How / Will your skillset and practice need to develop in order to be accepted within that institution?

I want to engage with more galleries and physical locations to share work. Digital and online is quick and easy but it is not fulfilling and can be frustrating. I also think the magazine style publication would be somewhere I would like to explore sharing work, HAPAX is a good example of the type of magazine I would like my work to feature in.

In order to be accepted within the institutions I want my work to be shown in, I need more rounded and complete stories that have an interest to a range of different people, mainly in the photography world but also outside too.

I need to be proactive in seeking out opportunities and speak to people in these places. Paris Photo was a great opportunity to do this and I found the people I spoke to engaging and supportive. It certainly started to shift my expectation and stereotype of the industry being intimidating and cold, deep down I think I knew this already, however when you are in front of someone that you respect and admire it can be tricky to get over the concept.

-       If you do not consider yourself to be a ‘professional’ photographer, what do you think you need to do or achieve for this? If that is not something you desire or aspire to, how would you like to be referred to, and how will you achieve that?

To be considered as a ‘professional photographer’ I need to have my work published in a book which could be bought by members of the public. I do not think it is important that I earn money to be considered a professional, but I need to contribute to the global art-based photographic community in some way.