My Survey Questions

After thinking hard about questions to use for my survey I decided to keep it very simple and straight to the point here is the list of the questions I have used with the possible answers:

How much would you be willing to pay for one 6x4 print?

1. Under £5
2. £10 - £15
3. £15 - £20
4. £20 - £30
5. Over £30

How much would you be willing to pay for one A4 print?

1. Under £5
2. £5 - £10
3. £10 - £20
4. £20 - £30
5. £30 - £40
6. Over £40

Would you expect photo print packages from a professional photographer?

1. Yes
2. No
3. Other (Please specify)

Would the price of photo prints sway you to decide on using a specific photographer?

1. Yes
2. No
3. Other (please specifiy) 

I think these questions are fine for me to get the answers I need to write my report. 

Pricing and costs

Our lesson this week was on pricing and costs which I found very helpful because of me deciding to write my report on this subject. Most of what was spoken  about in this lesson was helpful to me too as everyone had different opinions on what was right to pay.

There was some website that Jill said we might find useful so I decided to look at these in my own time 

one of them was the a-n The Artists Fees toolkit.

Quote from site - 'This toolkit takes artists step-by-step through a process to calculate an individual daily rate and prepare quotes for freelance work' - I found this extremely useful! 

Report Writing

For this module we also have to write a report, Last year I wrote a report on the ethics behind using photoshop to edit childrens photos.
I have thought a lot about what to write my report on this year and I am going to go with what people think is acceptable to pay/charge for prints within the photography business.

I'm going use the website www.surveymonkey.com to create a survey, I did this last year, I will get photographers and members of the public to fill in this survey so I can college data and results as to what they find acceptable to pay for prints, here is an example of one of my questions from my survey this year:

I have kept my questions very simple and straight to the point so that I can achieve the best results possible from my survey. I am going to post this survey onto many photographic Facebook pages, onto my own classes Facebook page and also on my photographic Facebook page. I have decided to post it on my own photography page because on there I have clients that have bought prints from myself so they will have an opinion on what they are willing to pay.

I also need to recap my memory on how to write a report Thankfully Jill has supplied us with a presentation of information about writing reports, I took notes from the presentation:

• Not an essay – a more structured form of writing
• Based on fact rather than pure argument
• Identify the purpose of the report – an overall aim with identified objectives of how to get there...This must be linked to your design specialism

The title of the report – this can be the question to want to answer or the overall aim

 Your name

 Module Title

Course

Date of hand-in 

• Acknowledge any help that you have received in collecting the information for the report

• List all the main sections of the report in sequence with the page number they start from
• If you include charts, tables or diagrams these should be listed separately under “List of Illustrations”

• A short paragraph summarising the main contents
• Methods used
• Conclusion reached
• Any recommendations

• Give the context of the report – what you want to find out
• State your objectives clearly
• Define the limits of this report
• Outline the method of enquiry
• Offer a brief background of the subject

• How did you get your research – there must be reference to both primary sourced and secondary sourced research.
• All students will undertake either interviews/ questionnaires or both. 
• How did you compare the data and how did you select your subjects for interview/ questionnaire

• Present your findings clearly and appropriately
• Graphs/ tables/ percentages/ diagrams 

• Analyse and interpret the data
• Explain the significance
• Identify important issues, only use fact
• Outline any problems encountered and try to present a balance view

• Bring together the main issues – do not bring in any new information
• Keep it clear
• List any recommendations – if appropriate

• Additional related information like the completed questionnaires etc..This should include an analysis sheet of all returned questionnaires
• Information that does not need to be read but can be consulted by the reader
• Include a list of all companies/ individuals targeted both via e-mail and internet

• Leave wide margins for binding – spiral binding is the best and most professional style of presentation if appropriate for your report
• Use clear headings
• Clearly label illustrations i.e. Table 1, so that they can be referred to in the content
• The first draft needs to be carefully read and checked, make necessary changes and present professionally

After looking through this presentation I am prepared and feel ready to write my report, I just need to collect more results using my survey.

My Website

I currently already have a website but its not exactly what I want it to be, at the minute its only showing off the photography that I do in my own studio, and advertises my packages from there. I want to change it to also show off some of my College work and personal projects.

I currently use Wix to host my website, its free but I use one of their domain names as I havent yet bought my own domain name, this is something I need to look into.

This is my current websites home page:

I chose a very minimilistic layout once again, but I do really like my website, the picture to the right is a slide show that changes every few seconds, as you can see along the top I have 'Home', 'Gallery', 'About', 'Contact', 'Services', 'Prices' and 'offers' Here is what each page looks like:

So this is the gallery page, as you can see all my contact details remain on the left had side and its only the right had side that changes, I like this about my website.

I think its important to have a section about yourself on your website so potential clients can get to know you before they book you for jobs, at the moment I have a photo of myself on there but it isn't very professional so I am going to look into get a studio a head shot done to put on here.

This is a page where people can contact me to ask any questions, even though I have my contact details on the left I still think its important to have a contact area on a website. 

Because I work alongside the beauty salon I have lots of different packages so I have listed them all in this section, I think this is important because if not you will be getting asked ALL the time what services you provide or you wont get asked to do jobs at all.

I think its extremely important to show your price list for your prints, I have found it very hard in the past to find a price list on other photographers websites, personally this puts me off using them, I have nothing to hide with my prices so I don't mind showing them.

Personally I think my website is good and does the job but like I have already said I want to show more of my work off, I think I will create a sub category to show off  'personal projects' .

Business Cards

I already have business cards but I am currently running out so I have decided to look into creating some more with maybe a new design on and look at getting some flyers printers and other promotional items, I always use vistaprint.co.uk as I find them very reliable and reasonably priced. I also like vista print because as well as having many layouts to choose from you can start from scratch and create a completely unique business card.

They have a range of photography business cards here are a few :

Although I really like these business cards they just aren't they style I want to go for, I want something fun and quirky. 

I really like this one and I think its got the quirkyness I am looking for! 

Here it is filled in with all of my details:

I really like it so I have ordered 500 of them, I always carry a fair amount in my camera bag and in my purse and I also leave some out in the beauty salon I work at and also in local Children's clothes shops, nursery's and also venues that host weddings. 

While looking through vista print I found lots of other promotional things to match my business cards such as mailing labels which would be good when sending letters to clients:

There was also pens which I think would be good to give to clients when they come for meeting with me say for the wedding and things, giving them a pen is going to remind them of me every time they use the pen:

Along with these things there are lots of other things to match, I'm really impressed with how they match my business cards, I will definitely look into getting some' of these other promotional items. 

CV writing

I currently already have a CV but I created it on my own without looking at guidelines and things so I have decided to look into some tips for a successful CV and create a new one,

Here is my current CV:

Although I think my CV is okay I am going to do some research and change it a little bit :

1. Keep it real!

Usually a CV should be no more than two pages – and that's two pages of A4 paper! Employers spend, an average, just 8 seconds looking at any one CV, and a surefire way of landing yourself on the no pile is to send them your entire life story. Keep it punchy, to the point, and save those niggly little details for the interview.

2. Tailor it

We've all done it. Whizzed the same CV out to lots of employers to save time... Stop! Take the time to change your CV for each role that you apply for. Research the company and use the job advert to work out EXACTLY what skills you should point out to them. They will appreciate the obvious effort.

3. Include a personal statement

Don’t just assume an employer will see how your experience relates to their job. Instead, use a short personal statement to explain why you are the best person for the job. This should be reflected in your cover letter as well.

4. Don't leave gaps

We are a cynical bunch and leaving obvious gaps on your CV immediately makes employers suspicious – and they won't give you the benefit of the doubt. If you’ve been out of work it can be a worry but just put a positive spin on it. Did you do a course, volunteer work or develop soft skills such as communication, teamwork or project management? If so, shout about it! 

5. Keep it current

You should keep your CV up-to-date whether you’re looking for a job or not. Every time something significant occurs in your career, record it so you don't later forget something that could be important.

6. The error of your ways

Employers DO look for mistakes on CVs and if they find them, it makes you look really bad.

7. Tell the truth

Everyone lies on their CV, right? NO! Stop! Blatant lies on your CV can land you in a whole heap of trouble when it comes to employers checking your background and references. The last thing you want is to start work and then lose your new job for lying. You also may get caught out at the interview stage when you suddenly can't answer questions on what you claim to know. And that can be VERY awkward!

8. The maths

This may sound dull but by backing up your achievements with numbers it makes selling yourself much easier. When writing your work history, don’t just say that you increased sales; tell them you increased sales by 70% over a six month period. Get it? Big numbers are especially good (although don't forget point 7 of our list!).

9. Make it look good

We live in a world where image is everything, and that also goes for your CV. Take some time to pretty it up... Use bullet points and keep sentences short. Use the graphic design trick of leaving plenty of white space around text and between categories to make the layout easy on the eye.

Sourced from


I think these tips are really helpful I am going to put these tips into my new CV:

Body Language

I already know quite a lot about body language as we learnt a lot about it when I studied Acting before coming here. I decided to research into a bit more, I think this is a good thing to look into because I will be working with the general public a lot and stylists and what not so I should know about body language.

• The closer they are, the warmer they are thinking of you. If you move slightly closer to them and they move even closer to you, they probably really like you or are very comfortable around/by you. But this could also mean that they have a special comfort with you. A strong friendship or they consider you a member of their family.
• Overly tilted heads are either a potential sign of sympathy, or if a person smiles while tilting their head, they are being playful and maybe even flirting.
• Lowered heads indicate a reason to hide something. Take note if someone lowers their head. If it is when he is complimented, he may be shy, ashamed, timid, keeping distance from the other person, in disbelief, or thinking to himself or herself. If it is after an explanation, then he may be unsure if what he said was correct, or could be reflecting.
• It should be noted that some cultures see this as a sign of respect.
• Tilted heads mean that they are confused or challenging you, depending on their eye, eyebrow, and mouth gestures. Think of how a dog slightly tilts its head when you make a funny noise.
• People who look to the sides a lot are nervous, lying, or distracted. However, if a person looks away from the speaker, it very well could be a comfort display or indicate submissiveness. Looking askance generally means the person is distrustful or unconvinced.
• If someone looks down at the floor a lot, they are probably shy or timid. People also tend to look down when they are upset, or trying to hide something emotional. People are often thinking and feeling unpleasant emotions when they are in the process of staring at the ground.
• Some cultures believe that looking at someone in the eyes is a sign of disrespect, or is only done with intimate friends or family, so this could explain why someone is avoiding eye contact with you.
• Dilated pupils mean that the person is interested. Keep in mind, however, that many substances cause pupils to dilate, including alcohol, cocaine, amphetamines, MDMA, LSD and others. Don't mistake having a few drinks for attraction.
• If their eyes seem focused far away, that usually indicates that a person is in deep thought or not listening.

I found these point really helpful, I found them at -    http://www.wikihow.com/Read-Body-Language