Ben Roberts Lecture

I attended a Lecture by Ben Roberts, talking about his work and how to get to where he is. I thought he was a cool guy with interesting pictures and interesting things to say..

Here are the notes I made from that Lecture:

Ben Roberts
He started by shooting simple portraits - he asks why does he want to shoot them? just shooting mundane pictures of people that he thought were interesting. sent them to a magazine FADER then sony contacted him - but he felt it was too soon.
Things can happen really quickly - in the last 3 months things have exploded.
Contact photographers - now and again - saying you liked their work etc - he kept in contact - an assistant job came up and got it because he stayed in touch - did wedding photography - it pays to do stuff - used the wedding money to go shoot project - like the project in a Gold Mine in Australia.

Work is not just making money but having a point of view.

Syndication - agency - he gives them the photos then they sell them for him - sold two picture to GQ in US - 500$ for two pictures printed half a page - pays 28 euros a month for picturetank

If you see an opportunity then take it.

He became a techie at Bournemouth uni - free environment, nice people - because he was in this learning environment he got better freelance jobs - worked for a company called flipflops.

Shooting a lot of editorial - Te picture can only be used for one thing in a given time but after the time runs out the pictures can be sold elsewhere.
Having an actual job helped to keep him motivated.

Insurance is good -really good-

He spends most of the days hustling - all day - wake up send emails till lunchtime, have a small break for food and exercise - do work (emails - retouching) until dinner time - have another small break, then evening retouching or website stuff

He feels that for your work you should get paid - if a company wants your work and they have money, and they pay their staff, then they should pay you too.

Starting an assisting job - realistic for a photographer to not pay you a couple times, but after they have had you as an assistant a few times then don't be afraid to ask to be paid, as if they keep asking then obviously they like you.

As a photographer, don't be afraid to dress how you need, like feel comfortable in your clothes.

When asking for an assistant job - tell the photographer about themselves a bit - tell them about what you can and can't do, don’t make it look like an email that you are sending to 30 different peoples.

Profile on CV - say exactly what you are - don’t pad it out with "motivated" and "time management" and any bullshit.
Good tip - find out who the photographers first assistant is and email them instead.

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Overall this was an enjoyable lecture and his images were clear and to the point, you could see his development as a photographer over the years. He gave lots of awesome tips in a down to earth manner.