Georgina M.
About me
| Georgina M. | |
| History of Art | |
| English & History of Art Joint Degree | |
| Undergraduate | |
| Langwith | |
| 2007 | |
| United Kingdom |
My employment
| Photographer | |
| Self employed | |
| United Kingdom | |
| Creative arts and design |
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A day in the life of a Photographer in the United Kingdom
My career goals when I graduated
When I graduated I wanted to work in newspapers and eventually get a role working for one of the national papers or agencies. Sadly the newspaper industry has been impacted heavily over the last few years and there are fewer and fewer photographer jobs available now. As this started to become apparent it became clear the only way to survive in photography was to work for myself.
My career history
I left York in 2007 with a first class honours in English and History of Art and started an NCTJ in press-photography at Sheffield College. This course helped me find a job within 3 months of starting the course at the Peterborough Telegraph in the East Midlands. I spent 4 years on newspapers before taking voluntary redundancy and starting my own business.
What has helped my career to progress
Self-disciplne and strong work ethic, developed during my time studying at York and in Sheffield.
Courses taken since graduation
NCTJ in Press Photography
How my studies have helped my career
Studying for your BA means you have to work hard and learn to set boundaries for yourself. I use some of the more obvious skills attained from my degree in English and History of Art in the practical side of my job in photography, but the main skills I use are organisation and the knowledge of how to dig into a subject and explore it, the same way you do when studying a core-text in English or a painting in History of Art.
What surprised me about my career so far
The fact that it's all worked out fine!
Where I hope to be in 5 years
I eventually hope the expand my business into something bigger, but right now I am happy with how it's all going and would be quite happy for it to continue growing in the same way.
My advice to students considering work
Enthusiasm to learn and progress is key. Also leave your ego at the door when starting a new job and be open to learning how other people do things. The most valuable things I learnt in my job were taken from watching how my colleagues did them and tweaking them to make the same principles work for me.
My advice about working in my industry
With photography its important to know that raw talent on its own won't get you a job. You need the people and business skills too.
Contacting me
Happy to answer questions on the photography industry, I had a lot of help from people when I started out and would like to do the same for someone else if possible.
What I do
Self-employed photographer
How I started my business
I left York and became a newspaper photographer (I learnt all my skills from working on the student newspaper Nouse) and naturally progressed into my own business in 2012.
What inspired me
Wanting the freedom to work for myself in an area that I'm passionate about
Skills I use and how I developed them
Organisation and people skills are more important than the practical skills when it comes to running a photography business. The practical skills were learnt over many years (mainly at York on the student paper Nouse) and the organisational and people skills followed on by trial and error.
What I like most
Feeling proud to run my own business and making clients happy when they receive their images (especially wedding clients).
What I like least
Work/life balance is very hard to achieve as you are always in the 'work' mindset when you're self-employed. A day off sick or a day on holiday could potentially cost you future clients and work if you miss an important call or email.
What surprised me most
I thought it would be mainly taking pictures and having fun on shoots. It's actually more about working independently and being strict with yourself!
Next steps...
If you like the look of Georgina’s profile, the next steps are down to you! You can send Georgina a message to find out more about their career journey. If you feel you would benefit from more in-depth conversations, ask Georgina to be your mentor.