Speaking at the Societies Convention 2015 | Pet and Animal Portraits
The Societies Convention is widely considered to be one of the most notable dates in the photographic calendar. It’s held in central London every January. This really is a momentous week, packed full of seminars, location shoots, masterclasses, superclasses and of course the tradeshow where we can all keep abreast of the latest products offered by our framing and album suppliers, lighting, and many other services which help us to run our businesses effectively.
The speaker lineup is always epic, including such names as Jerry Ghionis, the Yerburys, Kevin Kubota, Sue Bryce, Damian Lovegrove, John Denton, Lori Norstrom, Stuart Wood, Becker, Brett Florens, Melissa Love, CM Leung ….. and many more photographers from around the globe who will teach and inspire. It can be said that a few days at the convention will give you no better training in technicality, creativity, and of course business management. It’s also a time where distinctions are judged and normally there will be a couple of brave individuals putting forward their panels for Associate or even one or two long established photographers submitting for Fellowship. The failure rate is high and the stress levels palpable. The judging is open to public view – and what an experience that can be.
I am one of the speakers this year, my talk on portraiture is a little different because I’ll be talking about how I go about creating fine art portraits of pets and animals. I’ll also be discussing competition submissions and panel structure for distinctions and qualifications. Pet and animal portraits make up a significant part of my business, which covers west and east sussex, surrey and Hampshire.
As part of my role as a Fellow of the Societies I was recently interviewed by Professional Imagemaker magazine. The article was about how I approach animal and pet photography. If you have an interest in animal portraits I have a dedicated pet photography website: Pet Portraits West Sussex
I know that some of you reading this will be heading to London in January and I’m looking forward to seeing old friends and familiar faces.
“PET PORTRAITS ARE FUN”
But they can also leave you wanting to tear your hair out (in a good way). Animals are uplifting and entertaining, but they’re also a challenge to photograph