I wanted to get the most from my work-based learning and i thought this maybe a good time to try out other areas of photography that i have become interested in over the last few projects.
My last project was based at Hotel Endsleigh were i photographed the gardens for my project the hotel is lovely and i have wondered about testing out hotel interior photography.
I thought this would be a good as it is something different for me and you will never no if your good at something if don't try.
I have been keeping a diary of events, what i have done day by day, how it went and any think that i need to consider (any changes etc). I have typed up my notes from each day so you are able to see what i did over my time of the work-based learning project.
work-based learning notes:
Day 1)
The first day included emailing the manger of the hotel to see if it would be possible for me to do my work based learning with them at the hotel. There was a few emails sent over a few days that lead onto me meeting with the manger to discuss the project.
Day 2)
I meet with the manger of the hotel to talk about my work based learning project, i talked thought ideas with her and also the paper work that i need to complete, we disscued my past garden project that was based on the hotels gardens and i talked about my ideas of carrying on with the filp book idea that i had used in the past project as i had thought of this maybe being a good way of promoting that hotel.
The staff were very supportive of the idea and the manger set me the task of photographing there 16 bedrooms.
The brief:
- To produce a series of rooms images which would be used to assist the reception team during the booking process.
- For the images to be suitable to be used to compile a 'mini book' the guests could purchase as a souvenir of there stay and to encourage further stays in other rooms.
- To have appropriate images the could provide better website-based information for potential guests.
We talked about other things such as the number of images they wanted form each room and we agreed on one bathroom image, one bedroom, and one detail image.
I was pleased with the brief that had been set and with the support of the hotel.
I took the opportunity after meeting with the manger to have a look around some of the rooms that were free that day so i could get a feel of what they were like and also see what the lighting was like in the rooms.
Day 3)
I had all ready looked at the hotels website and thought it would be a good idea to start having a look at what hotel endsleigh's compition had on there websites. I started to look at how they photographed there rooms what they should and i started to think about how i could make the photographs different or stand out more then others. It was very interesting to look at other local hotels and there images as i found a few that had images that had untidy bedsheets or photos that did not really show much of the bedrooms. All this research was going to be very helpful when doing the photo shoots.
Day 4)
I wanted to do a test photo shoot as i had not seen all the bed rooms, but i did know that they are all very different so i wanted to go and have a better look around this time and get some test shoots done.
I had arranged a day with the manger and i was able to go and spend the day going around the rooms that were free. I am very glad i did this as the rooms are very different from each other and i found there was a lot of funny angles and corners that i need to consider when photographing the rooms.
I was pleased with the test shoots that i had got and this gave me something to play around with until i did the main shoot.
Day 5)
This was a day full of wider research looking at other hotels in the uk and also i started to go thought the photos from the test shoot, this gave me a chance to see what i need do for the main shoot, i thought it would be best to hire out two LED lights and a wide angle lens for the main shoot.
Day 6)
Always keeping in contact with the hotel i aranged to do a main photo shoot on a day were there was a few rooms free, being a hotel i was fully expecting to have to do a few rooms at a time as there would be guest in other rooms. I spent the day photographing the rooms this was a very sussescesful shoot i managed to get a good amount of rooms done. The hotel staff were excellent everyone was very helpful and i was given a radio so i could contact a member of staff if there was any problems or when i needed to change rooms.
Day 7 and 8)
I spent the next two day looking tough and editing the images i was selecting the images that worked and checking to see if there was any rooms that i needed to go back to on my next shoot.
Day 9)
I spent the day doing another photo shoot, i had been playing around with the use of props, such as books, papers etc. This added a another effect to the images i wanted to make sure the photos did not look staged or fake. Every room is so different i was nice and changing for me to photograph it was really enjoyable and i was finding i was becoming more confident with every room i come across.
I was making sure i remembered what i had picked up in my research, it was very important to make sure everything was perfect and also making sure i was showing as much of the bed room and bart rooms as i could as people want to see what kind of room they will be getting.
Day 10)
Editing and photo selection
Day 11)
Final photo shoot, I spent the last day of the the photo shoot photographing the last couple of rooms and re visiting any that i need to go back too. The photographs so far had been very successful and i felt that i was really getting into it. All photo shoots so far i had been using the LED lights they give a nice light and they are also easy to carry and move around.
Day 12)
Photo selection and editing, I started to pull out the images that i felt best showed off the hotel rooms, i put them a side and printed them off in the small flip book style that we were aiming for this gave me a much better view of how they look at that size. I was very pleased with what i had and arranged to meet again with the manger of the hotel so that we could go though what i had and cheek to see that she was happy with the work i had done, i was also ready to do some more shoots just incase i had missed something or there was any that they did not feel were suitable.
Day 13)
I had arranged to meet with the manger again so we could talk thought what i had done and show her the outcomes so far, the meeting went very well and both of us were pleased with the out come. I was very happy to hear that she was impressed with the photographs and that they meet what she wanted.
I have now been told that they would love to use the photographs and they will produce the small flip books for guests. We have talked about the next steps and i will be sending over the final photographs very soon.
My reflection:
I am very thankful to Hotel Endsleigh for letting me do my work based learning project with them, the staff have all been very helpful on my shoots and time at the hotel and everyone had also made me feel very welcome. This project at the hotel has given me a great opportunity to try out something different from what i am used to doing i am mainly a landscape photographer but this has got me interested in a new area that so far i have found very enjoyable. The experience has been great and i feel very lucky to have been able to do this work in such a wonderful hotel.
A few extra work-based learning days:
I was very lucky to have done my photography work at the hotel and i also had another great opportunity to get some more experience in something i had not done before, as part off one of the past projects my class had to hold a gallery exabition of our work, we all were able to put one photo into the gallery. As part of the experience it was down to us to create the way we set up the galley there was a small group of students that run the main creation team this ment we had some good leaders as it was students with an interest in that area.
Day 1)
I spent the day helping to set up the gallery flowing instructions form the creation team, this was a good experiences as it meant leaning about spacing the images and the layout. It is a lot hard then it looks it is not as simple as hanging a photo on a wall, I felt that i really took away a good experience from that day.
Day 2)
I put my name forward to do a days studding in the galley this involved me spending the day in the gallery talking to people that come into visit about the photography work that we had up on show.
This was a confidence boost as i had to be prepared to talk to people about my own and others work.
Overall experience:
In total i have done 15 days work-based learning and i can honesty say that i have enjoyed every moment of it, i have gained new interests and had a lot of new a fun experiences. There has been times were it has been stressful but only because i wanted to do the best job i could to try and produce the best results for the people i have worked for. The feed back from the manger at the hotel has really boost my confidence and i am very pleased with the final out come of my work.
I have added a couple of teaser photos below, keep an eye out for the others that will be uploaded shortly on my website katherinetruephotography.co.uk
work-based learning notes:
Day 1)
The first day included emailing the manger of the hotel to see if it would be possible for me to do my work based learning with them at the hotel. There was a few emails sent over a few days that lead onto me meeting with the manger to discuss the project.
Day 2)
I meet with the manger of the hotel to talk about my work based learning project, i talked thought ideas with her and also the paper work that i need to complete, we disscued my past garden project that was based on the hotels gardens and i talked about my ideas of carrying on with the filp book idea that i had used in the past project as i had thought of this maybe being a good way of promoting that hotel.
The staff were very supportive of the idea and the manger set me the task of photographing there 16 bedrooms.
The brief:
- To produce a series of rooms images which would be used to assist the reception team during the booking process.
- For the images to be suitable to be used to compile a 'mini book' the guests could purchase as a souvenir of there stay and to encourage further stays in other rooms.
- To have appropriate images the could provide better website-based information for potential guests.
We talked about other things such as the number of images they wanted form each room and we agreed on one bathroom image, one bedroom, and one detail image.
I was pleased with the brief that had been set and with the support of the hotel.
I took the opportunity after meeting with the manger to have a look around some of the rooms that were free that day so i could get a feel of what they were like and also see what the lighting was like in the rooms.
Day 3)
I had all ready looked at the hotels website and thought it would be a good idea to start having a look at what hotel endsleigh's compition had on there websites. I started to look at how they photographed there rooms what they should and i started to think about how i could make the photographs different or stand out more then others. It was very interesting to look at other local hotels and there images as i found a few that had images that had untidy bedsheets or photos that did not really show much of the bedrooms. All this research was going to be very helpful when doing the photo shoots.
Day 4)
I wanted to do a test photo shoot as i had not seen all the bed rooms, but i did know that they are all very different so i wanted to go and have a better look around this time and get some test shoots done.
I had arranged a day with the manger and i was able to go and spend the day going around the rooms that were free. I am very glad i did this as the rooms are very different from each other and i found there was a lot of funny angles and corners that i need to consider when photographing the rooms.
I was pleased with the test shoots that i had got and this gave me something to play around with until i did the main shoot.
Day 5)
This was a day full of wider research looking at other hotels in the uk and also i started to go thought the photos from the test shoot, this gave me a chance to see what i need do for the main shoot, i thought it would be best to hire out two LED lights and a wide angle lens for the main shoot.
Day 6)
Always keeping in contact with the hotel i aranged to do a main photo shoot on a day were there was a few rooms free, being a hotel i was fully expecting to have to do a few rooms at a time as there would be guest in other rooms. I spent the day photographing the rooms this was a very sussescesful shoot i managed to get a good amount of rooms done. The hotel staff were excellent everyone was very helpful and i was given a radio so i could contact a member of staff if there was any problems or when i needed to change rooms.
Day 7 and 8)
I spent the next two day looking tough and editing the images i was selecting the images that worked and checking to see if there was any rooms that i needed to go back to on my next shoot.
Day 9)
I spent the day doing another photo shoot, i had been playing around with the use of props, such as books, papers etc. This added a another effect to the images i wanted to make sure the photos did not look staged or fake. Every room is so different i was nice and changing for me to photograph it was really enjoyable and i was finding i was becoming more confident with every room i come across.
I was making sure i remembered what i had picked up in my research, it was very important to make sure everything was perfect and also making sure i was showing as much of the bed room and bart rooms as i could as people want to see what kind of room they will be getting.
Day 10)
Editing and photo selection
Day 11)
Final photo shoot, I spent the last day of the the photo shoot photographing the last couple of rooms and re visiting any that i need to go back too. The photographs so far had been very successful and i felt that i was really getting into it. All photo shoots so far i had been using the LED lights they give a nice light and they are also easy to carry and move around.
Day 12)
Photo selection and editing, I started to pull out the images that i felt best showed off the hotel rooms, i put them a side and printed them off in the small flip book style that we were aiming for this gave me a much better view of how they look at that size. I was very pleased with what i had and arranged to meet again with the manger of the hotel so that we could go though what i had and cheek to see that she was happy with the work i had done, i was also ready to do some more shoots just incase i had missed something or there was any that they did not feel were suitable.
Day 13)
I had arranged to meet with the manger again so we could talk thought what i had done and show her the outcomes so far, the meeting went very well and both of us were pleased with the out come. I was very happy to hear that she was impressed with the photographs and that they meet what she wanted.
I have now been told that they would love to use the photographs and they will produce the small flip books for guests. We have talked about the next steps and i will be sending over the final photographs very soon.
My reflection:
I am very thankful to Hotel Endsleigh for letting me do my work based learning project with them, the staff have all been very helpful on my shoots and time at the hotel and everyone had also made me feel very welcome. This project at the hotel has given me a great opportunity to try out something different from what i am used to doing i am mainly a landscape photographer but this has got me interested in a new area that so far i have found very enjoyable. The experience has been great and i feel very lucky to have been able to do this work in such a wonderful hotel.
A few extra work-based learning days:
I was very lucky to have done my photography work at the hotel and i also had another great opportunity to get some more experience in something i had not done before, as part off one of the past projects my class had to hold a gallery exabition of our work, we all were able to put one photo into the gallery. As part of the experience it was down to us to create the way we set up the galley there was a small group of students that run the main creation team this ment we had some good leaders as it was students with an interest in that area.
Day 1)
I spent the day helping to set up the gallery flowing instructions form the creation team, this was a good experiences as it meant leaning about spacing the images and the layout. It is a lot hard then it looks it is not as simple as hanging a photo on a wall, I felt that i really took away a good experience from that day.
Day 2)
I put my name forward to do a days studding in the galley this involved me spending the day in the gallery talking to people that come into visit about the photography work that we had up on show.
This was a confidence boost as i had to be prepared to talk to people about my own and others work.
Overall experience:
In total i have done 15 days work-based learning and i can honesty say that i have enjoyed every moment of it, i have gained new interests and had a lot of new a fun experiences. There has been times were it has been stressful but only because i wanted to do the best job i could to try and produce the best results for the people i have worked for. The feed back from the manger at the hotel has really boost my confidence and i am very pleased with the final out come of my work.
I have added a couple of teaser photos below, keep an eye out for the others that will be uploaded shortly on my website katherinetruephotography.co.uk
