London: Proffesional Practice Visits.

Gardeners World Magazine - Guy Bennington

This was the first time id shown my portfolio to anyone out side of college, but due to my train being late and me missing the connecting one, i didnt get time to worry about it. I wasnt sure if i should let him look through it and wait for questions, but i just talked him through each piece and that seemed to go pretty well.

He especially liked the beer can bees, and asked if id considered selling the design to boddingtons. As the magazine had just done a feature on bees, he was interested in my symbiosis project, and understood (without me explaining) what i was communicating in the signpost piece, so i was really pleased with that. He mentioned that with editorial work, it is 70% about the communication, which i took to mean that in some of my work, i need to concentrate more on this.

As i was in such a rush to get there on time thanks to the bloody trains, i left my promotional postcards in the hotel room. He was really positive about most of my work, and im definetly gonna remember to send him a few cards.

Container + : Luise Vormittag

I wish id have taken a voice recorder or at least made some notes as luise gave me some really useful advice that i am now struggling to remember. When i showed her my portfolio, she advised that i put my best work at the start (which i thought i had done), but she was much more positive about the Fear and Loathing project that im currently working on. She particularly liked the use of coloured light and the atmosphere of the iguana and bat photos. She also suggested that instead of putting together each element digitally, i could try making the whole image and photographing it, but did warn me of the difficulties of getting each aspect exacly right.

Luise then took us through the Container + portfolio, showing her huge range of clients. There was alot of self initiated work, which she recommends doing as it helps to develop your style, can be used in promotion and gives you fresh ideas. The problem with it is that theres no guarentee of earning any income from it, and the way she works requires her to employ several other people such as photographers, which works out very expensive if you dont get any work from it.

There are three people working in the Container + studio, one of which spends around 50% of her time on promoting the company. This was alot more than i thought itd be.

She suggested that i should look at a book called Tactile, which iv already seen, and the next one in the series, Tangible, which i havent.