Frede Spence // TWENTY TWENTY Agency

On Wednesday, we had a talk from Frede Spencer who runs the photo agency Twenty Twenty representing commercial and editorial work. He is also the co-founder of Photo Meet. He went through each of the artists who are represented by the agency and some of the work they each do which was very varied but each had a unique twist on the visual language they used to create the work. 
One he did mention was a Vespa advert created by Will Sanders in which he ''does what he has to do and then shoots for himself and his own portfolio'' which I thought was an interesting way of working, and a great way in order to deliver what a client wants but also work in your own creative way for yourself.  

A theme that run throughout majority of the photographers at the agency have skills in more than one creative field. Often the photographers can also produce moving images as well for example and he mentioned this is something that is looked for within the industry today. Therefore it's a good idea to aim to learn wider skills than just photography. He also spoke of networking and being open and approachable is a great way to be as a photographer. 

Another interesting aspect of Frede's talk was when he spoke about becoming an agent. He started by doing photography himself and assisting someone. After doing this, he realised he didn't want to do it but still wanted to work with photography. This is when he decided to open Twenty Twenty in order to be able to still work within the industry without being a photographer. This made me realise there are other opportunities in order to be able to work with photography and creative people without just being a photographer which I found an interesting aspect to be able to look into.

Other aspects he spoke about was Self Promotion, the importance of social media, what to do in order to get yourself out there, what he looks for which was helpful to know what you can do to make yourself stand out and the different jobs you can look into within the creative industry. 

The second section of the talk was Photo Meet, what it is and the experience of a weekend there. Talks with artists are put on over the 2 days also, but along with this it's generally a great place to hang out and get involved within the community. He spoke of how valuable the experience of photo meet can be and the different doors it can open from just attending. Portfolio reviews are just one of the benefits you can attend at the meet up, reviews are from industry professionals who you can book with from all different job roles (magazine editors, curators etc). At the end he also gave us specific information on Portfolio Reviews on what to do, how to put your portfolio together and what is looked for within them which was interesting to know.  

Lastly, two great pieces of information he gave to us that stood out to me in particular is to ''not worry about making a wrong move, just make it' and also to ''Be yourself and Be into it''  and see what happens from there.  

Photo book club // Matt Johnston Talk

With the morning being filled with a talk from Pablo, in the afternoon, we had Matt Johnston which interest lies with the photo book. From making my own photo book for my narrative project last year, it really interested me in the production of a book so this talk was a must.


Considerations on the photobook - its histories, status, and the construction of meaning through the multiple.

''The photobookwork, then, is a series of images - that is tightly knit, well-edited, organised group or set of images in a linear sequence presented in book form''  

Matt brought up some really interesting points about many aspects of the photo book and sequencing images that I wouldn't of thought of before and will be points to consider in the future when sequencing images and producing work with the potential to be made into a final book. Firstly, He mentioned the Photo Book Club which he runs, what it is and why he does it, and how its expanded across the globe in order to get like minded people speaking about different photo books. Then he went onto the photo book itself and how different meanings can be made just by adding or taking a photograph away from a sequence, or pairing two images which one way could mean something, and the other way round can mean something different. Images can be sequenced in many ways, some can just aesthetically fit together due to similar colours, shapes, compositions maybe, however this isn't the only way images will sequence. We can sequence through an atmospheric feel to the images or two images may not fit together aesthetically but as a series may add important narrative that the artist wants.  As viewers of images,narrative is often made through association which creates meaning. We make connections between images which allows us to read photo books however conflict can be added (images that don't quite fit) which disrupts our own readings. Following on from this, he added a quote to his presentation which I will add here-
''Keith Smith notes the international and ambiguous nature of these sequences implying two terms; the 'Random referral' - free association made by the viewer, and the '(directed) referral' - as an intentional relationship set up by the picture maker''  This was an interesting point that stood out to me in order to consider when producing a book. The viewer will naturally make associations that are out of your control, however as the artist, you can make decisions in order to intentionally make or disrupt associations that the viewers make when viewing your book. Also in terms of sequencing, repetitive sequencing (same layout within each page for example) can get too familiar and the viewer can get to predict the next page, switching layouts throughout the book can keep the viewers attention for longer. Another important aspect that was said was also when sequencing our own work, we need to take a step back and disconnect ourselves in order to see a wider picture.

At the end of the talk, we did a workshop, in groups we had a go at sequencing images that Matt had brought in. For the first task, we were given a small amount of images to sequence and create different narratives. In the group, we made a few different sequences in which each told a slightly different narrative depending on the way we ordered them. 
For the Second

For the Second part of the workshop, in the same groups we were then given a larger amount of work from one photographers various series and then sorted and arranged them into sequence. Firstly we started with sorting the images that matched aesthetically into groups. Then we started to look at how these groups worked together. After sorting the images, we were then given sentences to add to the pictures on what we thought went together to create a narrative. The final task were to sequence the images into how they would be presented in a book, using any of the images and also adding in blank spaces.