Evaluation

Evaluation

In this assignment we had to explore the uses of self-promotion and the different ways it can be used to advertise companies. We looked at the various ways from billboards to Office equipment (pens, mugs ect) to clothing (bags, t-shirts, hoodies). We also explored how we can use these in everyday situations to help promote your work and gain more business in turn.

We first made logos as these can be used on promotional items, something to associate with the company like McDonalds with the giant M and KFC with the old man’s face. I have used this logo on the websites we joined and also used it in one of my self-promotion items (the sticker book). We also made a banner with our company name on for our blogger account.

For this assignment I made business cards and a sticker book for my self-promotional items. Business cards can be used to promote the services of your company at events as well as be given to potential customers so that they can contact you at a later date. The Business cards feature an address, a telephone number and a twitter username so that the business cards can appeal to more people so that people without the internet for example can still get in contact with me. Makes the company more accessible to everyone no matter the age.

I also made a sticker book and inside are stickers of both my photography and my logo. These can be used during promotional events as well as used to cover the seal on envelopes as an added plus, like how some companies use a stamp this will be my own twist on it. The age range for the stickers is primarily young children who take part in photo-shoots or can be given to at promotional events as stickers are something small children generally enjoy more than say young adults and older.

All in all whilst I can see the use of self promotion I feel that it is somewhat too expensive, especially for companys or free lance photographers that have just started and are lacking in money that companies and photographers that had been running for a while would have. Unless it is made yourself  it is quite a costly thing though I suppose that it will be worth it in the end should you aquire more business and therefore more money.

Self Promo In Rotherham

Here are some examples of how businesses in Rotherham have self promoted themselves on the streets and in the general area of their business or shop or actually within the shop themselves. 

 Bill boards.

This was quite effective as they attract attention from passing traffic and public on buses or walking along. This one works quite well due to the bright colours against the dull background and the contrast between the green and red. 

Could be easily damaged though by water and such, graffiti ect ect. Good if in a high and busy place were lots of traffic go by and can see it. 

Shopping bags.


Seen everyday by people on streets, in shopping centres and used by most people on a regular basis to transport things from one area to another. Good way to advertise a company, the more people who use the bag the more interest is gained.


Rip easily, not considered 'green' in society today. Could use cotton bags (bags for life) but are more expensive to produce then plastic carrier bags. 

Collapsible Signs.


Good for advertising a small company, local advertising on the streets by the shop/company. Blackboard versions have offers on, can easily be changed where as these versions can't.

Bit of a hazard, can easily be knocked over by passing pedestrians. Easily ignored too, sometimes in places where you don't really see them or are so obvious you jsut ignore them anyway.

Format Festival, Derby

The Format Festival in Derby, UK is one of the UK's leading international contemporary festivals of photography and related media. For 2011 the theme was Street Photography and in some cases the venue often matched the images on show, as the venues where sometimes slightly run down and dirty which matched the subjects in the images that were also run down and dirty. 

Dougie Wallace

Dougie Wallace (b. Glasgow) has lived in east London for 15 years but spends a lot of time traveling abroad in search of subjects. His work has been widely exhibited internationally. He has been shortlisted as a finalist in the Travel Photographer of the Year awards, the results of which will be announced in December 2010. His awards include The Gallery Prize at the 2008 Foto8 Summer Show.

Wallace's work was exhibited in the QUAD building at the Festival, being exhibited on the stair well of the building rather then in a gallery space. Instead of being lighten up by spot lights or artificial light it was lit up by natural light that came through a large window by the stairwell. 

His images were of people commuting to their daily lives: work/school, through the windows of the transport though the main transport featured in each image seemed to be buses. The photos not only document the faces of the people traveling but also the reflections that, more often then not, distortion the reflections gave the subjects faces. Adding to a mystery about them and makes the audience question things about the person, like who they are, where they are going and generally think the questions you sometimes think when on public transport and make assumptions about the people also traveling with you. 

His website: http://www.dougiewallace.com/

Brett Van Ort

Brett Van Ort was born in Washington D.C. and raised and schooled in Texas.  His photography focuses on the landscape, the outdoors and how humans use the environment both to our benefit and detriment.

His work was exhibitied in the Silk Mill on large wooden boxes, the front of the boxes showing relaxed pictures of nature, landscapes and water ways but opened up to show explosive devices (such as mines and grenades) that had had an effect on the landscape so many years earlier. This created a stark contrast to the images on the outside of the box, which were calm and peaceful, to the pictures of the grenade on the inside and information of the damage the explosive would do to a person and the cost/years it was use. 

I liked his work due to the high contrast between the photos and how they were created and formed by man and also the horror the information on the inside gives which changes the way you see the image and almost the feel of it. 

His website: http://www.brettvanort.com/

My farm cake and cupcakes... again!

My farm cake and cupcakes... again!, a photo by jdesmeules (Blue Cupcake) on Flickr.

Dangerous frog

Dangerous frog, a photo by GlossyEye back from Bahamas on Flickr.

I like the composition of this picture, the way the light fades out into black around the edge and also the way the orange stands out brightly against the body of the frog and the dark bark it is on. Helps make the frog the focus. Bright colours make the image seem somewhat surreal, like the frog is a alien or something. Orange is not a colour we normlly associate with them whihc adds to the affect.

Portfolio - Portraits

Open publication - Free publishing - More photography

Context

Context can effect the meaning, the situation and - to put it bluntly - is something in something. This can't be any truer when it comes to galleries and the work they display, whether it be photos, sculptures or paintings.

If we take The Graves, in Sheffield, for example. Overall the gallery is quite traditional, the type of gallery you would expect to exhibit more dramatic pieces. For example, when we went to view the gallery Fay Godwin's work was up and due to the dramatic landscapes that she took, the high contrast, it fitted in well with the over all mood of the place as did the deep red walls it was displayed on. The Graves was also exhibiting paintings, primarily of landscapes and regal figures which added to the more upstanding, posh feel to the place. The somewhat elaborate and gold plated frames of the paintings also added to this as well as the towering doors and walls.

Another gallery in Sheffield would be the Site Gallery which is on the opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to gallery space. Where The Graves has wide open spaces and the colours of the walls often reflected or added to the mood of the art on display, deep red for Fay Godwin and a mild green for the portraiture, the walls in the Site Gallery are just plain white. Moreover the Site Gallery exhibits pieces of work on canvas and projected onto the walls - such as short films - which is more modern and almost more down to earth.then The Graves.