British Journal of PhotographyPlacement ReportTim Boddy

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Contents

4 0- Intro: My placement- context is half of the work6 I- Career tools8 CV10 Cover letter12 Online portfolio (inlcuding examples of previous work)18 II- Project Outline with images Section I - Canon 500D photos with social media tools36 Section II - House of Commons photos38 Section III - BJP Blogs40 III- Use of social media

0- Intro: My placement- context is half of the work

The placement that I worked for was photography industry magazine British Journal of Photography (BJP), an estab-lished weekly publication. In the four weeks that I was pres-ent, I was required to be present for normal office hours – 9:30am to 5:30pm daily - and work as part of a small team in the BJP offices, Soho. My role was mostly a journalistic one, and was required to write up news articles that would appear on the BJP’s website, as well as in the print version. Also, the BJP’s blog (www.1854.eu) I spent a lot of time writ-ing articles for. As time went on and with further training, I took on more responsibility in this area.

I was ‘under the wing’ of Olivier Laurent, the News Editor, who was responsible for setting work for me, and general guidance. Simon Banbridge (Editor) and Diane Smyth (Fea-tures editor) I also had a lot of contact with and assisted me. On the photography side of the placement, I was given a cou-ple of assignments that appeared in the blog.

I followed the Artist Placement Group (APG) concept that ‘Context is half the work’, which manifested itself in a manner of ways. The idea of this is to enter a buisness or organistaion (in my case the BJP) from the point fo view as an artist, to un-derstand it from a different viewpoint; not just from an oberv-ers pint of view, but to input ideas and development also.

A key aspect to proceedings throughout was the use of so-cial networking, through Web 2.0 media such as Twitter and Flickr, from both a personal point of view and for the BJP it-self.

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Curriculum Vitae Of

Tim Boddy

Personal Details

Address: Mobile Contact Number: 07592406850 81 Southerngate WayNew Cross Home Contact Number: 02086917489LondonSE14 6DW E-mail: tim.j.boddy@googlemail.com

Date of Birth: 13th January 1984 Higher Education and Key Skills

Dates: 2007 – Present Qualification: StudyingtowardsaBA(hons)degreeinDigitalPhotography(Year2)Establishment: London South Bank University

Key Skills Acquired

-AdvancedPhotoshopCS3andextensiveretouching -PrintonDemand(Onlinepublishing)-FulfillingofartisticDigitalPhotographybriefstoa -Bloggingandnetworkingdeadline,includingsoloprojectsandteamefforts -CriticalImageAnalysis-Website building and maintenance -Journalistic article writing and-New Media Studies Publishing-Final Cut Pro intermediate skills

Relevant Work Experience

• HeadofPhotographyformusicandculturewebsiteThe405.Mainactivitiesinvolvephotographinglivemusic,anduploadingtheimageswithaccompanyingarticles,combingmytwofavouritepast-timesinmusicandphotography.Theinputofcreativeideasforarticlesandthewebsiteisessential,aswellastheeditingprocessinvolvedwithchoosingimages.Ialsoamawriterandreview music events, albums and singles, and also ‘Feature’ articles.

• StillsPhotographeronthreeShortFilmsets,workingcloselywiththedirectorineachandtrouble-shootingwiththefilmcrewonthefollowing:FluxdirectedbyJamesCustance Nov2007King Jeff directed by Phil dale Aug 2007Party Girl directed by James Custance May 2007 ProductionanddesignfortheFluxDVDcover.

• StillsPhotographyand‘BehindTheScenes’forAnEveningWithBlowers(2008),includingshotsfortheDVDcover.

Profile

Iconsidermyselfamotivated,positiveandfriendlyindividual,andcapableofworkingandconnectingwithallkindofpeopleinateamworkenvironment.PhotographyismymainpassionandI’minspiredbyany-thingthatIfindinteresting,satirical,left-fieldandwondrous.Thestudyofphotographyalsointriguesme,asdoestheartworldingeneral.ArtistsandphotographersIlooktoforinspirationincludeSophieCalle,HenriCartier-Bresson, Rankin, Jeff Wall and Miranda July to name but a few.

Musicalsodominatesmylife.Iamakeenmusicfanandenjoygiggoingandseeingliveartistswheneverpossible,andfinditagreatwaytomeetnewandcreativepeople.Ialsoenjoyawiderangeoffilms,fromworldcinematothemainstream,andhaveagoodknowledgeofmovies.WhenIgetthetimeIlovetogetstuckintoagoodbook,beitfictionornon-fiction,andalsolovetodevourinterestingmagazinearticlesandblogs.Socialising,bmxingandprolongedthoughtareotheractivitiesIenjoy.

Other Qualifications

Establishment: Norton Secondary SchoolDates: 2001-2003Qualifications:A-level– History – C Mathematics – C General Studies – C AS Level – Photography-DComputerStudies -D

Dates: 2000Qualifications:GCSE 9subjectsA-C

Employment History

Position: SalesAssistantatJPSStationers (Feb2003–March2004)Description: Servingcustomers,orderingandprocessingdeliveries.

Position: ShiftRunneratBlockbusterLetchworth (May2004–Sept2007) (Oct2007–Sept2008Part-Time)Description: Workingfull-timeintheretailsectoratBlockbusterEntertainment.Responsibilitiesincludedtrainingstaff,openingandclosingthestore,customerserviceandcashingupoftillsandsafe. Position: SalesAssistantatFoppCoventGarden (Oct2008–Jan2009)Description: Workingpart-timeatMusicandDVDoutletFopp.Thejobentailedstockmanagement,workinginafast-pacedcustomerenvironmentandextensiveknowledgeofmusic.

ReferencesPaula Roush(Lecturer:DigitalPhotography)28aCaxtonHouseBorough RoadLondonSE1 0AA020 7815 5418roushp@lsbu.ac.uk

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I- Career tools

The first point of call was to design a Creative CV that show-cased skills that I had acquired, and which was relevant to the placement I was targeting. A short cover letter was also included in the e-mail that was sent. In this e-mail I included a Creative Portfolio of my work on Flickr that I created spe-cifically for this, which was linked as a Slideshow.

Also included were a couple of examples of blog/article work that I had done for music review site The 405, which I work as Head of Photography for. This was of relevance, as of course the BJP run a blog, and the placement descrip-tion mentioned this as one of the key tasks. These can all be seen on the following pages.

Following this, a meeting was arranged to meet the News Editor in which we discussed the potential role of myself, and what the BJP was about in general. We had similar viewpoints when it came to the application of web 2.0 and how it should be utilised. I was then required to write a cou-ple of test articles there and then, one in a Blog format and then a short news story.

HiOlivier,

It’sTimherefromLondonSouthbankUniveristy,wespokeonthephonebrieflyinrelationtotheplacement.

A little about myself:Itakeanactiveinterestinthemodernphotographyworld,bothfromthetakingofphotos,totheanalysingofimages,andlovetobeinspiredbyotherphotojournalistswork.IalsohelprunamusicandculturewebsitecalledThe405(whichoriginatedasablog),inwhichIwritearticlesandcomeupwithcreativeideas,soamusedtotheworkingsofweb-basedmedia.Ialsocombineotherweb-basednetworkingtoolssuchasFlickrandTwitterwiththewebsite.SeemyCVforfurtherdetails.

Myphotography:http://www.flickr.com/photos/j_ymmit/sets/72157594392419525/show/

Acoupleofexamplesofrecentarticles:

http://thefourohfive.com/2009/02/18/http://thefourohfive.com/2009/02/25/the-deer-tracks-and-sad-day-for-puppets-the-social-230209/

Thanks,

Tim

Cover Letter

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Online Portfolio

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Examples of relevant website work

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As my placement was generally a journalistic one, the im-ages were not of high priority in the process; though I did get to do two interesting, and fairly unique opportunities to use photography. On what turned out to be of arguably more interest was the way in which the photographs were utilised, and the role they took on. Both were for the blog, which I also did a write-up for.

The first assignment where I could use photography was the photographing of the at the time unreleased Canon 500D DSLR. It came into offices, and I was required to document the ‘Unboxing’’ process of the camera. This involved taking step-by-step photos of the camera coming out of the box and being assembled.

It is not something the BJP had done before, but Olivier (the News Editor) thought it might be good idea, as these things can be very popular in the Tech. world, especially when it’s an exclusive as it was. I also got to have a play with it too and test it, much to my delight.

II- Project Outline with imagesSection I - Canon 500D photos with social media tools

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Once edited, I posted the photos on my own Flickr, and created a Set so a Slideshow could be put together. In the BJP’s blog, I created an entry and a few sentences, and then embedded the Slideshow of images in the blog itself, so visitors could see the images unfolding in front of them. So the images were available to view through

two social media channels; straight from the source on my own Flickr, and through the blog.

To publicise the images, I used my Flickr through which I already had a network of friends on, and posted them to relevant groups. For the BJP, I was advised to e-mail a contact at engadget.com, a very popular gadget website, to inform them of the article. They linked the story on their site, and following this, my Flickr set and the blog received an astonishing 14,000 views in one day; that’s just over the amount in one day than I had had in the previous 2 years. To date, it has received 38,853

views. It is the single most views the BJP had ever received on their website, and something I was proud to be a part of.

Once edited, I posted the photos on my own Flickr, and created a Set so a Slideshow could be put together. In the BJP’s blog, I created an entry and a few sentences, and then embedded the Slideshow of images in the blog itself, so visitors could see the images unfolding in front of them. So the images were available to view through

two social media channels; straight from the source on my own Flickr, and through the blog.

To publicise the images, I used my Flickr through which I already had a network of friends on, and posted them to relevant groups. For the BJP, I was advised to e-mail a contact at engadget.com, a very popular gadget website, to inform them of the article. They linked the story on their site, and following this, my Flickr set and the blog received an astonishing 14,000 views in one day; that’s just over the amount in one day than I had had in the previous 2 years. To date, it has received 38,853

views. It is the single most views the BJP had ever received on their website, and something I was proud to be a part of.

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The second assignment was to document the Jessops All Parliamentary Photographic Exhibition at the House of Commons. Photos taken and sub-mitted by MP’s featured at the exhibition, as well as speeches and a reception. Personally, it was a great experience to be able to go inside the

Houses of Parliament and meet some interesting people, and to observe and photograph events.Inlcuded in the final image is a screengrab of the blog entry for the event.

Section II - House of Commons photos

The second assignment was to document the Jessops All Parliamentary Photographic Exhibition at the House of Commons. Photos taken and sub-mitted by MP’s featured at the exhibition, as well as speeches and a reception. Personally, it was a great experience to be able to go inside the

Houses of Parliament and meet some interesting people, and to observe and photograph events.Inlcuded in the final image is a screengrab of the blog entry for the event.

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III- Use of social media

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Section III - BJP Blogs

Included in this section is a Screengrab of the bogs which i wrote for the BJP

Included in this section is a Screengrab of the bogs which i wrote for the BJP

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Social media played a vital role on many levels throughout the place-ment, some of which I have touched upon on already. Twitter was at the centre-piece of this, and I’ll start by looking at my personal ac-count. As a group everyone doing a Placement added each other as ‘Followers’ on Twitter so that we could see what was going on at each other’s placements. We created a ‘Hashtag’, (symbolised by #pha09), and this tag would precede any news that was updated in relation to our placements; a useful filter so any placement activity could be easily seen.

At first, I had few Followers, but the more I ‘Tweeted’ (updating my Twitter), the more people became interested and would decide to follow me, as I was providing photography news. Every article that I personally wrote for the BJP, I would link in my Tweet, and I would also Tweet other BJP stories that were of interest. The ability to ‘Retweet’ other users Tweets was a useful tool, so if I saw something from another user that I considered relevant in the field of photogra-phy, I could let other people (my followers) know of this.

The BJP itself uses Twitter frequently. It was the best way to find out other photography stories or articles instantly – so if a story broke it would immediately pop up on the desktop of whoever was logged in, and respond to it if need be. On the other side, the BJP would link it’s own stories and articles in it’s Tweets, and as it has more than 1,000 followers, it is a good source of web traffic for the main site.

III- Use of social media

Whilst I was writing for the blog, each entry was updated through Twitter also. As time went on through my placement, I learned how to post on my own accords, as opposed to handing (or emailing) the article to my News Editor to do. In the final week of my placement, I was given total control of the blog. So not only could I post when I wanted, I could choose what to write about much of the time. It was rewarding to be trusted with such a responsibility from such a well-regarded publication.

To source out stories that might be of interest, I relied on a multitude of resources. The BJP follows many photography blogs/news sites, and was able to use some of them. I was given a list of interesting, up to date blogs to search through also, such as the PDN network, which the BJP has a good relationship with.

With this, I was also given the responsibility of posting Twitter updates through the BJP’s account, from blog articles I had written.

All in all, a variety of social media was used which would have been impossible to achieve without. The combination of Flickr, use of blog-ging, and extensive use of Twitter, often at the same time played a vital role. That’s not even including the what we now consider basics, such as E-mail and press releases.

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Twitter screengrab of BJP’s account when i was using it, featuring some articles written by myself.

Twitter screengrab of BJP’s account when i was using it, featuring some articles written by myself.

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My own personal Twitter updates with #pha09 Hashtag

#pha09 Interview with the BJP tomorrow. Many appendages crossed...2:50 PM Mar 17th from web

#pha09 Finally, official placement news... start with Divus UK Gallery next week. Huzzah!4:19 PM Mar 27th from web

#pha09 Placement news.. start at BJP in a weeks time! Can’t get a placement for 2 months, then get 2 in an hour. Insert London bus analogy..6:15 PM Mar 27th from web

#pha09 Writing blog for bjp, in regards to video journalism. Video killed the PhotograPHER! (im not gonna use that..) or SHOULD I?12:03 PM Apr 6th from web

#pha09 BJP blog I’ve written: http://www.1854.eu/2009/04/... YAY.2:23 PM Apr 6th from web

#pha09 Police APOLOGISE for using Public Order Act against journalists. Big news, a rarity. http://tinyurl.com/df9clb (not written by me)4:37 PM Apr 6th from web

#pha09 BJP News article by me, new Nikon F lens mount film SLR http://bit.ly/145TZ10:32 AM Apr 7th from web

pha09 Another BJP blog by me http://tinyurl.com/cvwcwz Manipulations and photographic truth.11:07 AM Apr 7th from web

#pha09 Writing up a blog, then a news article of Leibovitzs financial troubles, at bjp offices. More importanly lunch time in soho, nom nom!1:27 PM Apr 8th from web

#pha09 BJP lead comment in the magazine out today on Police vs Photogra-phers: http://bit.ly/dikEy2:38 PM Apr 8th from web

#pha09 Leibovitz Bloggy goodness I’ve typed from BJP offices: http://tinyurl.com/afmafy4:08 PM Apr 8th from web

#pha09 ...and Belly dancing Bloggy goodness typed up too http://tinyurl.com/at9rr34:10 PM Apr 8th from web

#pha09 Nikon launch D5000: http://bit.ly/Lz0j3 What’s that? a D90 with a gimmicky flippy video screen? Oh, NIKON!12:57 PM Apr 14th from web

#pha09 New issue of bjp out today. Has articles written by me in it! Tell every-one! Wow!! ...oh shut yer face, it’s exciting for me.11:17 AM Apr 15th from web

#pha09 What are photos worth? $7, says an idiot judge: http://tinyurl.com/d846k25:24 PM Apr 15th from web

#pha09 Yet another g20 related video, police trying to use public order act against press: http://tinyurl.com/cexteg9:47 AM Apr 16th from web

http://twitpic.com/3e8kg - #pha09 Canon 500D unboxing at bjp offices - geek-centric twit. Normal people, ignore this...11:18 AM Apr 16th from TwitPic

http://twitpic.com/3e8m9 - #pha09 One more Canon 500D shot...11:21 AM Apr 16th from TwitPic

#pha09 Canon 500D slideshow i’ve created for BJP: http://tinyurl.com/dg2hy4 Have a comment people!! (I’m looking at you richard...)3:40 PM Apr 16th from web

#pha09 More bloggy photography goodness from BJP: http://tinyurl.com/c5bokl (History of Photomontage)3:13 PM Apr 21st from web

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RT @1854 Walking photocops: Photographic equipment used by police forces in the UK is coming to the US. More here: http://bit.ly/oKnF312:32 PM Apr 22nd from web

#pha09 Going into House of Parliament in a bit for BJP... editor’s gonna grill MPs about photo laws, yeah!!9:43 AM Apr 27th from web

#pha09 Just come back from Houses of Parliament looking at photographic en-tries by MP’s. Blog entry coming soon...2:26 PM Apr 27th from web

#pha09 Photographic competition and images from inside the House of Parlia-ment today: http://tinyurl.com/clqmm4 BJP-centric6:01 PM Apr 27th from web

#pha09 PS. Please comment on BJP blog entries I post this week! They left me in charge, the silly people!6:02 PM Apr 27th from web

#pha09 Panic hits New York thanks to Air Force One in the name of a photo op-portunity. More: http://bit.ly/1a4Z0z5:00 PM Apr 28th from web

#pha09 Recently uplifted Pentagon ban on coverage of fallen soldiers returning has been welcomed by most families. More: http://bit.ly/JmRGX11:22 AM Apr 29th from web

#pha09 Apple Store in NYC gets into worlds most photographed landmarks list, in a study on Flickr. My BJP blog entry: http://bit.ly/16dW5B1:31 PM Apr 29th from web