Why Don't You Do Photography?

[source]
With a new job comes the obvious questions – where will you be working? who's it for? what's it doing?

I find it a little difficult having done a creative degree that I still have to justify myself despite a few years working real, grown up jobs now.

My last job was in online retail and I used pretty much every skill I had going, including those learnt on my degree - there was a bit of studio and lifestyle photography involved - and that's great, jobs like that are hard to come by. With that being said, it doesn't mean there won't be a time to move on.
It was time to move on, the future of the company wasn't heading in a direction I wanted to join them in so I grabbed what I could at the time.

My new role as a 'Digital Marketing Executive' will hopefully help me add to the Marketing skill set that I want to build upon, while still allowing me to pursue the design aspects I was furthering in my old role. There probably won't be any Photography involved whatsoever, and I'm okay with that.

I guess when I left University I had idealistic views of freelancing or picture researching, then I also wanted to move out... I didn't really have the confidence to do those things back then and I'm probably much better now but at the moment, Photography is my way to de-stress and unwind.

Obviously I'll never say never and Photography is always going to be important to me, but my degree taught me so much more than how to take pretty pictures. Maybe, now realising at 25 that I'm more interested in Creative Marketing and Social Media makes me wonder whether it was the right degree to do but I will always maintain that 18 year olds don't know anything and certainly don't think about seven years down the line. It was right for me at the time and a degree is not a be all and end all of anything.

I think my 'career' has just ended up where it is by chance and while I hope I'll always be able to stay creative, I still feel kind of weird about justifying myself while making this new transition. Truthfully, if someone said I could take photographs of my cat all day, I'd jump at the chance but I can't see that being a readily available opportunity. Right now I'm genuinely just all good with 'doing me' and going wherever the next couple of years takes me. I want a mortgage and that grown up stuff, you know?

Photo An Hour: 31/08

Why not? I know I'm a little late. It's been a mental week, I can't believe that it's September now, what a crazy six months it's been. Moving out, getting my first paid job (albeit minimum wage), quitting that job and getting a real proper job with prospects, something I've been wanting more than anything for over a year. I guess I won't have much to complain about anymore.

7am Missing my train to work by seconds and finding out I can get one half an hour later each morning was a pretty good way to start the end of the working week.
I've since found that the later train is horrible.


8am On the bus, one of my favourite parts of my commute / Where I work is actually lovely, especially as it's decided to be sunny lately, it's easy to forget that it's a business park.


9am: My newly set up swanky Samsung monitors. ♥


10am: Working through the to-do list I set myself.


11am: Appropriate 'Elevenses'


12pm: Desk organisation.


1pm: Soundtrack for the day / Changing my mind about juice in cans.


2pm: Vue shoes at my new job.


3pm: What I spent most of the day working on.


4pm: Being able to use these in a practical way is the best.


5pm: Sorting out what to do next / Home time.


6pm: Catching the delayed but luxurious train home. One day I hope to finish an episode of The US Office.


7pm: Spaghetti and meatballs for tea.

---

This isn't 'within' the 'Photo an Hour' timeline, but I figured I'd share this with you anyway. #catladySoundtrack to the day:

I'm in the corner.

(via GIRLS Caps)

So, yesterday... I got a job! I am feeling a little less Hannah Horvath than I was the day before yesterday. This now means I can worry less about where my rent money is going to come from and that I won't be stuck in the flat on my own all day. I'm hoping that the hours aren't too bad as I would still like to get to see Moon on the odd occasion, but I'm sure everything will be easy enough to arrange and for now I'm just happy that I've got a job. I'm playing it up like it's something amazing, but really it's just a customer service assistant role with Vue. So I'm still an undiscovered genius, but now I have less money worries, plus I love the cinema and will now get free tickets for myself and everyone so it's pretty sweet. Tomorrow's my induction day so I guess that's when I'll be finding out more, it seems like it's time for another CV update.
As we're on the subject of job hunting, two additional things happened to me yesterday. The first was receiving the bluntest, rudest rejection email I have had throughout the whole time I've been applying for jobs, claiming my CV was too 'Photography-biased' and that maybe if I tried harder, I might have had a shot, yeah okay. The second was a lovely telephone call from Grace at Give A Grad A Go who provided me with a great morale boost regarding my experience and CV, just before I got the offer to start with Vue tomorrow. Maybe the former was just having a bad day, but I thought it was important to mention GAGAG as I've seen them floating about since graduating and I think they need commending on their stellar advice, service and overall polite manner.

---

I'll stop rabbiting on now and get the the real point of this post and that was to tell you that I might have gone and broken my clothes-fast after just under a month. Not a bad effort really, and in my defence, two of the items I bought were in the kids section and therefore super-cheap! You know what though, I might even pop out later and break the fast even more, although this time it's much more reasonable - I need dark, smart things of which I have none; smart, yes, dark, yes, but not the two combined.

Multi-way handbag, £12.49 eBay
I blogged about a similar bag last month and although I ordered it a couple of weeks after that, it only arrived yesterday. I have to say I'm slightly disappointed, but I think it might just need a bit of wearing in, as it's very 'out of a warehouse' stiff right now. It's useful to have anyway as I have a 'good' bag and an everyday bag but nothing for in-between so I'm hoping this is where it will come in, for the price I'm not complaining too much anyway. I'm also a bit excited that it doubles as a rucksack.



Dresses, Both £5.99, H&M Kids
These were a confidence boost, I took a bit of Gem Fatale scrimping initiative and ended up wandering into the kids section of H&M yesterday. I couldn't resist the cute heart print which I've seen everywhere lately, and I figured I don't really have anything block-coloured, so why not break my fast with these bargains (I didn't think they would fit anyway)? I got these in the largest kid-size 14y so that's nice to know. If you want a proper look, they're the same dress pattern as these ones on the website.


Belt, £6.99, H&M
This isn't super-exciting but I've not been impressed with my belt collection for ages, it was a toss-up between this minty one or the same one in coral, would it be wrong to go back and pick up the other one too, you can never have too many belts when you have as many dresses as I do.


Cropped blazer, £14.99, H&M
I mainly got this because of how 90s it is, but also because I was a bit bored of my other jackets. It's the perfect colour for when the sun decides to show it's face too.

---

Thanks to yesterday's good news I'm not half as sorry for these purchases as I was going to be. As it was the first time I'd bought anything in ages I thought I'd share them with you anyway. Have you found any bargains in the kids section before? I'm pleased more than anything, maybe I'll take the time to browse more often.

Dollah.

I handed over my receipts for my expenses today. What a weight, I was getting so stressed out over possibly losing them.

Today was a very good last day, I really enjoyed my time at Ink and it definitely beat stapling paper and reorganising cupboards.
They were also kind enough to give me a quick portfolio review, which I wasn't going to take advantage of because it's been ages since I've shown anyone any proper work, but I'm glad I did. I might actually try and persevere with this whole photography thing. Doing that has definitely helped towards how I'm going to lay out my online portfolio. I am so disgustingly aware of how long I've been saying that I'll do it, I just kept getting distracted with applying for jobs, now I'm going to make myself because it's just as important.

I hope that this experience and getting some new experience under my belt will help with keeping me motivated for a bit, I'm ready for the next step, and taking some time out next week.

Phoney Lyf.

Oh hai there! I've been interning at the picture desk at Ink for the latter half of the working week so I have been very tired. It's actually quite a nice job, the people are lovely and I get on really well with the other intern, as well as finding the work I have to do easy to grasp hold of.

So I'm really enjoying it, which is a shame because apparently the Job Centre don't want me to and would rather I was miserable and endlessly applying for jobs, so forget them.

It's been quite a weird week though, I mean I finally get this internship, which is both relevant and allows me to carry out work that will be potentially beneficial in the future (read; it doesn't involve filing or stapling) and I've been commissioned for a few freelance related things. Crazy that after months of applying for job after job and taking a 'wait-and-see-put-on-hold' attitude towards freelancing things have started to tick along, but I'm trying really hard not to count all my chickens.

I've just come back from shooting some headshots of a little girl hoping to join an acting agency, a job I got through my flyer, and in a couple of weeks I'll be shooting a wedding, thanks to Moon's mum. I've also had an email from the people of the Kissimmee Convention and Visitor's Bureau in Florida letting me know that they've used a couple of my images from Flickr on their website, which is pretty exciting, Flickr can be so great sometimes, they were just holiday snaps and were taken around three years ago.

I've been trying to make the effort to take photos and having my phone on me all the time is handy for that kind of thing. It's very similar to what I did when I did my last lot of work experience.

One thing I love about the early mornings is the changeable skies, on the morning of my first day it was particularly beautiful, particularly considering how dreary it's been.

I was probably a lot more excited about this than I should have been and I had to sneak this, which is why it's blurry, so that I wouldn't look like a total nerd. I have my own phone!

It's quite weird to be working in Shoreditch, it always felt a lot further away before, but now I've been going there everyday, the journey seems a lot shorter. It's quite cool to be amongst all the street art and things, even if the only place I've eaten everyday is Pret, I'll try to make more of an effort next week. Here is what I wore on my first day;

Cardigan: H&M
Dress: Primark
Belt: (w/dress) Primark
Tights: Primark
Legwarmers: Marks and Spencer
Boots: River Island
Last night, my sister and I went to see the fireworks display down the road from us, but we didn't pay, we just lurked at the side of the road across from where they were actually being held. I think I did an alright job with photos but we had a pretty shitty view anyway. Tonight we're going to proper ones this time, with a bonfire, so it might be worth the money. Plus all of my sister's friends say it's the best. I'll be taking some of Hannah Curson's fireworks photo tips with me because she took some neat ones last night too, from being in a similar situation.
I love bonfire night, this time last year I played with sparklers and watched V for Vendetta for the first time, pretty bangin'.

Legitimate, understandable and completely connected business.

655.

I've spent the last week being nervous and frantic over everything, not for any particular reason but just because I've needed to and I feel slightly overstressed. I don't think my Nikon interview went that well, but I have the lovely picture desk internship to fall back on.

I'm quite worried because I've had a very bad sleeping pattern for a few days now and have a growing anxiety over getting up and going to work. I'm not worried about being able to but more worried about crashing early due to stupidity, I don't even know why I've had this bout of insomnia, I love sleep. However, going to bed at 3am and not wanting to wake up until 12 is unacceptable when you have a job, particularly when it's a job you want.

I feel a bit on-edge, a lot of people waste their time while being unemployed by playing video games and watching daytime TV, but I've spent nearly every minute job-hunting. I'm going to spend the next couple of days slobbing-out and properly relaxing.

I'm so worried about my driving situation too, how can I continue lessons when I'm away from home from 8 until 7 and will probably be knackered? Saturday lessons it will probably be and I don't know where that puts the remainder of my social life... I feel like I've been having lessons forever, but I'm only 9 lessons in, hardly enough to starting thinking about tests, is it?

I thought I would update this anyway, despite the lack of photos and information, like I said I've been feeling so rushed off my feet so hopefully taking the time to slow things down will put me in a good situation for when I start.

Crashing and burning.

At least my writing skills are up to scratch, because I'm fairly certain that's the only aspect of the interview I've just returned from that was a success. I've bought a custard crown to console myself, I've never had a worse interview. I already know the response/lack of.
"Ruth is a nice girl, who will be a great success in her life, but she's just not what we're looking for." The interview was through a customer at my mum's restaurant, it's so embarrassing.
It's fairly obvious why in terms of this role (a costs administrator), but it really is the story of my life for the last four months. I was told in this interview that were I to be going for a photography role, I would get it because my experience is awesome, I felt like blurting out, 'WELL THAT ISN'T THE CASE IS IT?!', but I wish it was...

The thing is, I am looking forward to being a picture desk intern, I really am, I can't think of any job that I have applied for that's come up that I've wanted more and I'm so happy I seem to have got it. However, the fact of the matter is, I need to sustain myself financially too and working for expenses isn't going to cut it forever. I'm seriously banking on this being a whirlwind and worthwhile experience.

"Over-qualified photographer and all-round nice girl seeks run-of-the-mill job to buy Christmas presents for family and justify buying an iPad."

My last attempt at freelancing is placing my new (and sexy) business cards on Supermarket noticeboards. I need to go to a networking event, I'm definitely over being intimidated.

Another weekend post.

Because at the moment I've been spending nearly every weekday applying for jobs and trying to keep myself busy, I very rarely feel that I should be allowing myself time to get out there and take photographs. It's kind of a sad opening sentence, but I believe it to be very true anyway. It does feel quite silly to tell people I'm not really looking for 'photography things' anymore and I can tell people think it's unimpressive that I still don't even have a normal job so it's no wonder that I'm really finding the whole job hunting experience both depressing and repressive, not to mention pretty stressful.

I have been seeing the weekends as my down time (as though I was a normal person who has a job), no one replies to application emails at weekends anyway. So, I took this weekend to spend some time with Moon in Beare Green. He is feeling equally downtrodden about being lacking in the job department, but he has the added pressure of a dissertation still to do! I got round to finishing 'New Life Stories', the David Attenborough book that Moon bought me for my birthday, I even brought my scrapbook thinking that Moon would have his face in his laptop. It turned out to be quite a good weekend though, we met up with some friends at the pub, had a nose around Crawley and went to a carboot. We also baked the most amazing cookies!

It was just really nice and I enjoyed myself, after probably one of the most boring/frustrating weeks so far, it really does suck not living with each other anymore.

Here are some photos both from last week which don't really fit anywhere else and some photos from the weekend, which is what this post is meant to be about.

This is my Job Seekers booklet, I hate how meticulous it is and basically everything it stands for. I thought I would share it with you in this post because I was unsure when I would have the chance to do so again. I signed on again today, but due to being early (which is meant to be good), it was another wasted appointment, so that was good...

From a passage in 'New Life Stories', it brought a smile to my face.

On the way back from Crawley we passed the road leading up to my old house. We did a creepy thing and drove up it so I could show Moon where I used to live. It was probably the best place I've ever lived and where I remember being happiest in my childhood. There are so many surrounding fields and it's beautiful - I lived in the house on the left, the one of the right used to be a manor house but is now posh flats. It was nice to see that nothing had really changed much.

This is the carboot that Moon took me to on Sunday, it really was great. I think it will be really useful when it comes to furnishing our first place together because everything was so cheap!

There was a lot of character there, which is why I got my camera out, obviously not because I generally love carboot sales. It was nice to document the area, even if I only had my 35mm lens on me.

I thought this black cab being there was quite intriguing, doesn't Stephen Fry drive one of these?

We didn't walk away empty handed either! We stumbled across a pitch that was selling some really cute Scooby Doo and Simpsons glasses that had been collected with Nutella. They were only 30p so we got three of each, you know, just for our someday home.


I think I enjoyed the carboot best, I also think that if I hadn't have been so ridiculously hungry (I don't even know), I would have enjoyed it more. I was also in a hurry because I wanted to have a quick chat with my Gran before I left back for New Malden. I think when I go next time I will try and be in less of a rush.

I've got a face-to-face interview tomorrow, first one I've had in a while, I hope it goes better than the telephone interview I had last week, I didn't get that job because they wanted someone who knew less...

Favourite recent links

Kaylah from The Dainty Squid posted a DIY Stawberry Nails tutorial, which I'll definitely be trying out when I get bored of my current manicure.

Gem Fatales London Fashion Week Vlogs are nice.

Signed up to Hello You Creatives by accident after a mistake while taking referrals from a graduate recruitment agency, but they actually post some really good stuff both on Tumblr and their Facebook. They also have Twitter, it's more fun and less serious but they do have a few opportunities available for creative people if you really look.