A photographer with more than twenty years experience. Newspapers, magazines, public relations and new media. Andrew is based in Manchester. www.andrewmoseley.co.uk
Back in 1988 the first pay packet I recieved was from my position as a black and white hand printer in a busy darkroom at Stevenson and Johnson Photography on Whitworth Street Manchester. Over the years I have had a familar relationship with the darkroom. I have had some of the funniest laughs in there, slept in there done things I should'nt then finally seen it pass into history as like an old friend I have mourned its demise. Imagine my excitement when now, like a phoenix it has once again risen in the basement of my house. I can carry on our frienship and special bond secretely, quitely walking down the stone steps where we can once again be together. This isnt entirely an illicit affair however, during the first year of my degree course if there was one area I perhaps found difficult it was working in a more considered manner than I had been familiar with working as a photojournalist shooting digital. The idea of having 16 weeks to produce a project seemed very alien to me after shooting on average 8 jobs per day. It is with this decision to investigate once again shooting film and process and print myself that I hope will "slow down" my working practice and also importantly allow me to retain full control throughout the whole photographic process to achieve the desired visualization I had at the beginning.
Last night (25.6.10) in Brabyns Park Marple Bridge. I particularly enjoy a job when you arrange to meet the client at your own home, walk 10 minutes down the road to the location and can even tell your children to look out of their bedroom window and they may see Dad at work!
Back from N.Y.C. New York the home of some of the greatest street photography, with Frank, Winogrand, Friedlander and Klein all working these streets I have wanted to visit for many years. I had never really considered the importance of seeing Robert Frank's famous work The Americans actually in America but it was apparent what an advantage this was when following a group of elderly Jewish women around the Metropolitan Museum of Art allowed me a relevant reaction from some of the people around when the book was created. What a fantastic exhibition it was too with Franks contact sheets and original correspondence all available for us to see. I never travel without a camera so as I was in the Big Apple I felt the urge to embark on some street photography myself which I've shared with you below, and in the opening image (which if you look closely you can see me in the reflection in cap talking to somebody whilst cheekily grabbing the shot of man with can in brown bag on the Statten Island Ferry.)
The trip was very productive also in meeting with our contemporaries at La Guardia College New York. The chance to chat to their students and critique their work was valuable to all of us, hopefully this is something that may continue in some form or other, with 1st, 2nd and 3rd year students all staying together in the same accommodation from Stockport also gave us chance to have a good heads up about what to expect in years to come.
I have recently embarked on a personal journey which will hopefully reward me with a Degree in Documentary and Fine Art Photography in 3 years. Although I already have over 20 years experience in Photography it has become my wish over more recent times to one day lecture in the subject I love. Having been out of education for so long now I am adapting to the University work flow of essays, presentations and briefs to fulfil, which brings me neatly to my first brief set Still life. Still life is a subject I have never had much time for, the photographing of flowers in a jar etc. never really doing it for me as a lover of photographing people and telling stories through my work. Never less I set out to think of a subject that would interest me and decided to choose a mundane object which is a universal symbol instantly recognisable but which may not be around for much longer and decided that Postboxes would tick these boxes. Upon photographing the second box I came across (which were randomly chosen simply by each one I passed on my way home)I saw a phone box to the side which I decided would also fit my self imposed criteria, and like post boxes under threat due to Royal Mails loose grip on the market, phone boxes appear increasingly redundant due to the 3 mobile phones we now each posses on average as a nation. Instead of simply photographing the exterior of the phone box, the thought of myself being the first person to enter the box since the last person had left intrigued me. What clues if any had that person left as to who they were? Maybe a telephone number,an address or a can of Special Brew. This led me to investigate what would be the best way of revealing a persons character without their being in the image. After some thought I chose to document peoples bedside tables, after all it is the personal space people reach to first in the morning and last thing at night, what would the contents or the state of somebodies table give away about their personality? Even taking people out of the shot, somehow I have found myself still documenting people and telling their stories!
Any Photographers please show your support for this campaign by the British Journal of Photography, you can access the full details at http://www.not-a-crime.com You do not have to be a Professional shooter to take part as this abuse of the Anti-Terrorism law effects amateur photographers also. Simply take a shot of yourself holding a card reading Not A Crime or I am Not a Terrorist and upload onto Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/groups/iamnotaterrorist. I shot mine naked but this is optional!! Increasing concerns about terrorism, paedophilia, health and safety, personal privacy and plain old paranoia about pretty much anything Her Majesty’s subjects get up to has resulted in a deep mistrust of photographers.
Police routinely invoke anti-terror legislation to prevent photographers from carrying out their work, and photojournalists are constantly filmed at public gatherings and their details kept on an ever-growing database. Tourists, particularly foreign tourists, are also targeted by police, as was the case with an Austrian father and son recently who made the mistake of photographing a building of an extremely sensitive nature—Walthamstow bus station. Put simply, Britain has become a no-photo zone, and so if you fail to comply, you may find yourself liable to attack, arrest or harassment. Recognising that Britain is not the only country where such a draconian anti-photographer culture is developing, the British Journal of Photography is beginning an international visual campaign to raise awareness.
Over the next year we hope to gather thousands of self-portraits of photographers-professional and amateur—from around the world, each holding up a white card with the words, ‘Not a crime’ or ‘I am not a terrorist’.
Now here’s the tricky part: look at the results objectively. Don’t think about how you “should” be- think about who you really are.
If you’re more gentle than assertive, more laidback than driven, running a photo business could be a little tougher for you. Good to know ahead of time, right?
*If you’re not from the United States, the legal advice and business forms won’t help you, but the advice and questionnaires are still really good.
The Breakdown
Running a photography business should be amazing; shooting all day long, being creative, doing exactly what you love to do.
In practice though, most photo businesses are a lot less photo and a lot more business.
Photographers usually run into issues in a couple of basic categories:
Money: dolla dolla billz y’all.
People: dealing with other personalities.
Business: red tape, bureaucracy and other miscellanae.
Lifestyle: how happy you’ll be.
That’s why we’ve broken our pros and cons into categories, so you can figure out whether what you love about photography balances out what you hate about business.
1. Money Pros & Cons
Pros:
All your profits go to you
You can write off business expenses (new photo gear! plane tickets to Bali!)
You could become rich and famous
Successful photographers make a pretty good living
Cons:
Most people have to raise more capital than they expected
Expenses eat up a lot of money
It may be years before the business shows a profit
Variable income level and lack of financial security
2. People Pros & Cons
Pros:
No boss to report to!
No suits, cubes or corporate protocol
You can choose the people you shoot for and get rid of difficult clients
You can work by yourself
Cons:
Negotiating fees can be frustrating/ stressful
Clients can be nitpicky/ obtuse/ generally trying
Tracking down unpaid invoices
Cold-calling potential prospects, continually finding new clients
Some people hate working alone
3. Business Pros & Cons
Pros:
Work wherever you want
Set your own hours, take vacations whenever you want
You can’t get laid off or fired
Once you’re established, you can hire assistants/accountants/managers
Advancement opportunities are theoretically limitless
Cons:
No 401(k) or medical benefits
Legal liability, tax and insurance issues
Accounting may not come naturally to right-brain creative types
Long hours and 7-day work weeks are usually the norm
4. Lifestyle Pros & Cons
Pros:
Creative, artistically fulfilling work
You can choose what you want to shoot
You can travel a lot
Even if starting a business is risky, it’s still really exciting
“If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.”
Cons:
Staying motivated and organized is challenging
Being emotionally tied to success can make hard times harder
Wanna Give It a Shot?
Even if you know the pros and cons, you may still want to dip your toes in the water before you dive in.
Here are a few ways to try the photo biz life without actually starting a photo biz:
Find a photographer whose work you like; this can be a teacher, a friend, or even some random person whose photo credit you saw in a local photo mag. Call them up and get a job assisting them. That way you can see what the day-to-day business is like, and whether it suits you or not.
Volunteer as a photographer for a busy non-profit. Take on as much work as you can handle, to test how you do with large volumes of work, deadlines, and hectic shooting environments.
Send yourself on assignment: shoot whatever you normally do, but keep track of your time (before, during and after the shoot). Track how much money you spent on the shoot, and write yourself an invoice. It’ll help you get an idea of how much time and money it takes to complete a job, and how much you should charge to make your time worthwhile.
Find a mentor who knows what it’s like to run a small business. The Service Corps of Retired Professionals can match you with someone who’s been in the trenches. Or take some business classes- you might find you really like it.
A photographer will publicise the right to take photographs without 'harassment from police' as part of Antony Gormley's Fourth Plinth project in Trafalgar Square, London, this Sunday.
Steven 'Spike' Brown, from St Albans in Hertfordshire, has pledged to promote the photographers' rights campaigns, launched separately by Amateur Photographer magazine and the British Journal of Photography.
He will carry an Amateur Photographer rights campaign placard with him during the hour-long session on 2 August.
Writing on Amateur Photographer's website forum Spike said: 'If any forum members wish to come along and photograph me standing up for our rights… I shall be there from 10-11pm.'
The One & Other project, which began on 6 July, will see 2,400 people occupying the plinth for an hour each.
The Guardian newspaper says it plans to document the sculpture's project 'in its entirety' until its conclusion on 14 October.
Built in 1841, the normally empty Fourth Plinth is now used for specially commissioned artworks.
After receiving an OND in Photography from Stockport College in 1988, he quickly moved into news and editorial, and in 1989 he joined the Guardian and Manchester Evening News group of newspapers. Over the next seven years Moseley worked on a variety of assignments as a staff photographer, portraying some of the most powerful and influential people in the world. Known for his straight forward and honest portraits, he quickly became a photographer in demand. In the mid-nineties he left photojournalism and began working in the P.R sector quickly establishing a client base including major NGO's. He started work on a book project in 2006 photographing Manchester's famous. Andrew and his work has been subject to a BBC documentary and his work has featured in magazines, newspapers and the music press. He is now working freelance and wishes to turn his camera on more social documentary work, hoping to try and make a difference within his home city of Greater Manchester.
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