The main thing I have learnt from this challenge is that your audience/ clients want to see your face and not just your products or services. My Instagram account has had more views in the last 30 days than it’s had in a long time. This challenge along with my weekly reels has made me become more visible. In fact in the last 30 days I’ve almost hit 12k views. So moving forward I’m going to try and make my account more of a mixture of reels, posts showing my face and the work I’ve created. So don’t be afraid to show the face of your business as well as what you offer.
My Super Power is Making people feel seen and confident in who they are. When it comes to finding clients all I care about is that you’re a nice person and, that we have the same or aligning values when it comes to work.
My top 3 are creativity, connection and motivation.
Photography doesn’t start with a camera it starts with a conversation. Graphic by: @emiliaclarecreates
Ten years ago today, I graduated with a BA in Media from Leeds Trinity University. Now, I’d like to reflect on what I’ve accomplished in the past decade. Here are some of my achievements and highlights.
During my studies, I developed a keen interest in photography, particularly fashion photography, which became the focus of my final project. This passion led me to enroll in a ten-week introductory photography course in 2015, after acquiring my first DSLR. I transitioned to mirrorless photography in 2021.
In June 2015, I joined the Preston Photographic Society, which significantly advanced my portrait photography skills and introduced me to various photography styles.
In 2016, I launched my photography website, www.lucyandthelens.com, and my Instagram account, @lucyandthelens, to showcase my work. While I only started creating Instagram reels in 2022, I strive to post new content weekly.
Joining the Preston Photographic Society encouraged me to participate in competitions and exhibitions. One notable exhibition was at the Harris Museum, where some of my photos were displayed digitally. I also have been part of the ongoing exhibits at Winckley Street Ale House, the lockdown exhibit and an exhibit we were asked to do by the council about a Victorian fair.
Here are a few of my photos that have been exhibited or placed in the top three in competitions:
In 2018, I returned to academia to pursue a master’s degree in photography at the University of Central Lancashire, which I completed in 2019. During my master’s program, we held exhibitions, including one focused on the Anthropocene and another final exhibition where I displayed three pieces of Sophie and a photo book on identity and performativity.
Over the past decade, I have been published in two magazines. My photo of Anna, titled “Ice Queen,” appeared in the Christmas issue of Through the Lens Magazine and remains one of my favorite shoots. I also had a set of photos of Katie published in Beautica Magazine, taken at a Lensor Creative event.
During the two years of lockdown, I found myself at my most creative. I revisited familiar places, capturing them in different seasons, and engaged in numerous Photoshop projects and FaceTime photo shoots. This period also saw my highest social media engagement.
One of my proudest moments came in 2019 when I was invited to photograph Cheshire Fashion Week through Instagram. I enjoy returning each year to work with both new and familiar models.
Another significant achievement was being invited to photograph the Mayor’s Ball in Preston in 2023, an opportunity extended to me by the then-mayor. For those who may not know, the mayoral office changes hands every 12 months.
A highlight of my career has been undertaking creative shoots for clients, such as EP covers for Sophie. These projects allow me to explore and push creative boundaries.
Back In November, I attended a captivating talk by Carly-Soulful Strategy on aligning brand strategy, with moms in business.
Selecting clients who resonate with your brand is pivotal.
It’s crucial to heed your inner voice and silence those who doubt your capabilities.
Crafting and sharing your brand story not only imparts insight but also fosters intrigue around your business.
During the session, Carly encouraged us to pinpoint values aligning with our brand and narrow them down to a core five.
My selections:
Creativity: Constantly generating fresh ideas for capturing people and concepts.
Connection: Actively engaging in numerous networking events to build meaningful connections.
Equality: Providing services fairly and ensuring accessibility to everyone.
Motivation: Thriving on high motivation, allowing for exceptional productivity when focused.
Uniqueness: Embracing individuality, as I believe authenticity is a cornerstone in business.
Creativity emerged as my top value, given its central role in my work as a photographer.
I’m curious to learn about your brand values. If you’re eager to delve deeper into aligning your brand, Carly is an excellent resource. You can find some of her resources at www.carlycowell.com.
The most important thing when starting your first job as a photographer is to just be yourself. People buy from personality so show them what they will get when they choose you and the right people will keep coming back.
Secondly be professional. This means being punctual, providing the client with what they asked for, being easy to work with, and respecting their wishes. Then make sure you deliver the images in the agreed time frame.
Thirdly don’t be afraid to ask questions. If you’re unsure about something, ask the client. It’s better to ask and get it right than to try to wing it and risk making a mistake.
Next, find a mentor or go to workshops and learn from more experienced photographers. A good mentor/ workshop leader will be able to teach you the ropes, answer your questions, and point you in the right direction when it comes to both the technical and creative aspects of photography. My favourite workshops are photography session days.
Never be afraid to experiment. Photography is all about trial and error. The more you experiment, the more you’ll learn about what works for you and what doesn’t. So go out there and start shooting!
Take some time to do your research before the day of the job. Look up tips and tricks online, talk to other photographers, and get as much information as you can do you can do the shoot to the best of your ability.
Finally, be patient. Learning photography takes time, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t see results right away. Stick with it, and eventually you’ll start to see your skills improve.
And that’s it! These are just a few tips to get you started on your photography journey. The most important thing is to have fun and keep on snapping.
Like or comment if you’re excited to start your photography journey!
You may have seen my 8 photography techniques to try in isolation post.
Well as well as trying new things using photoshop techniques on the portraits in my back catalogue I’ve been going out with my camera during lockdown and photographing the places I go on my daily walks. The main place I’ve been to frequently is moor parl.
You have to really think about what we should and shouldn’t be doing on our daily walks. Should we be staying at a safe distance and asking people if they want to be photographed without going near to us. Is it ethical or unethical in this crazy time? How will people respond? Should we try contacting people to be photographed on there porches while we stay on the path? Is this okay or not? Its up to you as a photographer to decide.
So Then I started to think about what else I can do without taking portraits I decided to take my camera with me on some of my daily walks going to moor park 7 days in a row with a different lens every day to see what perspectives I could get with the different lenses.
There is the Petzval 85mm lomography lens which is great for portraits but without the luxury of asking someone for a portrait like I normally what can I do with this lens?
I also used a Nikon 35mm Prime Lens which is a very versatile lens for both landscapes and portraits.
a Nikon 18-55mm kit lens, a Sigma 10-20mm,
A Lensbaby circular fisheye lens which I love to create distorted images with. It seems to create a warped world view in my eyes.
It’s Friday and You know what that means it’s photo challenge day.
Last week I set my week 13 challenge which was another challenge from be a Super Awesome Photographer called Make A Scene. For this challenge I used toys and other objects as props to create a scene. Henry says to use a lamp to create dramatic lighting and experiment with backgrounds to make the scenes more theatrical.
This week I took out a selection of Sylvanian Familiies And A 50mm Lens and some other objects to create my scenes.
Here are this week’s results:
Lets Go On An adventure
Lets Go On An adventure
Lets Go On An adventure
Lets Go On An adventure
Stay Healthy Kids
Stay Healthy Kids
Lets Plant Kids
Lets Plant Kids
Lets Plant Kids
Lets Plant Kids
I Want To Ride A Unicorn
I Want To Ride A Unicorn
What Do We Read Next
Workout Time
Workout Time
Workout Time
Lets Play Chess
Read To Me
I Believe I Can Fly
I Believe I Can Fly
For next week in Week 14 I am going to be doing a challenge from Photocrafty: 75 Creative Camera Projects For You And Your Digital SLR by Sue Venables. Week 14’s challenge is Photo Message which is to write photo messages on a whiteboard and share them with people which I will be doing for 7 days over on my Instagram @lucyandthelens and I will share them on here and maybe some of the ressponses to them next Friday.
If you enjoyed this weeks challenge why not have a go at next weeks Photo Message challenge and tweet or Instagram to @lucyandthelens and don’t forget to #photomessage.
At the beginning of the year, I set myself 30 photography related goals. Currently, I have started 11 of them, and today I am going to talk about goal number 24 which was to begin using props within my photography.
My First prop of 2018 is a Crystal Ball because this is something I’ve wanted to try for a long time. Crystal ball photography is a type of photography that distorts your image, simularly to a fisheye lens except your subject will appear upside down inside the ball, which is the main reason it appeals to me. I also started following the #crystalballphotography on Instagram to find inspiration.
The first time I used it was sometime in mid-February when it snowed overnight, so I went into my garden the next morning and experimented with my Nikon D3200, my iPhone 8+, and my crystal ball.
I decided my sigma 10-20mm (wide angle lens) was the best one to use for this experiment, so I placed my crystal ball on my garden wall making sure I had foliage behind and shot at ISO 100 but kept varying the aperture and shutter speed to achieve a variety of different photos. I decided that the crystal ball in the snow tended to look better in black and white, so I adjusted this in the post-processing in Lightroom. I did this by taking down the contrasts and highlights and upping the shadows and exposure and then converting my image to black and white.
I also used portrait mode on my iPhone 8+ to test a variety of different types of lighting my crystal ball and edited these in photoshop express. My favourite set-up in portrait mode is the stage lighting in black and white as I felt it made the snow stand out.
The Second time with my Crystal Ball I went to Beacon Fell with a friend who held the crystal ball for me while I photographed some sunsets. Anyone who knows me knows that this is a type of shot I thoroughly enjoy taking so I couldn’t wait to try a new approach.
Finally the third time I took my crystal ball out it was also snowing except this time I went to Avenham Park using the landscape as my backdrop.
Here is a gallery of my Crystal Ball photos:
If you enjoyed my article be sure to keep checking out my website and for further reading check out what other bloggers have written about this topic in the links below:
Hey Readers I know I’ve not blogged in a while and I wish this was because I’ve done nothing. However it’s quite the opposite I’ve been doing so many things. I’ve spent almost all my free time outside of work taking images and editing them, but somehow I haven’t managed to get my blogs ready to go with them so I’ve been posting on my Instagram @lucyandthelens. While I will still be sharing my work via instagram today is the day where my lack of blogging stops. In Order to help me do this after a little bit of inspiration I decided to participate in 31 Days Of Building A Better blog which can be found on Problogger.com.
