We had a lecture & tute today by Kate Vandermeer about different fashion career options and some psychometric testing. It's refreshing to know there's many options in the fashion/ creative industry and that often people don't end up where they thought they would, and that that's okay. Actually I'm surprised more people in my class didn't say they wanted to be buyers - I have a friend from Raffles who is absolutely desperate to be a fashion buyer. Then again, buying must be a hard job to find - who would give up getting paid for travelling and "shopping"?
The question of what I'm going to do next year is an interesting one. I am trying to self promote a little. Kate was talking about a foot in the door, and I think in a few little ways I have done that with the Big Fag Press and some photography. I have some photos of the Green Bans Art Walks coming out in June Art Monthly soon. I'm just not sure that photography's the way I want to go. To be honest I don't have a good ability to be objective about any of my work. I know that's actually a skill that you pick up somewhere along the way, but I think I can be heavily critical, and sometimes very afraid of EVERYTHING there is to learn in any particular field. I have this idea that a professional knows everything there is to know about something - but that's not always the case, especially not with creative people. If you know everything, you can't create anything new & original, right?
I think my psychometric test was more or less accurate. I am flexible, creative, autonomous and I do have a natural tendancy to try and manage other people (in part-time work, interning, etc). I thought about it a bit, and I think I now agree also that in a business sense I can be quite extroverted. The answer about me being a rationalist rather than a humanist was incorrect though, and my boyfriend agrees (and he knows me better than anyone). And I am definitely a planner - just not an effective one! (which I can probably work on). My two downfalls I suppose are a lack of initiative and determination towards business, and I think that comes from that sense of insecurity where if risks are being taken, I prefer them not to be on my shoulders.
I have an ABN, so I suppose I have a "business", but it kind of developed by itself, it is in no way my main source of income and I'm not sure how far I want to take it, or if I can manipulate it into being something extraordinary or original. My business was just a means of being paid for some work for tax purposes.
I do think some of the things Kate talked about apply to me though. I think what she said about keeping in touch with creative people and contacts, is really valuable. I know so many artists and photographers that I really should keep in regular contact. You never know when someone is going to have a skill or an idea that could help you. I just contacted a friend I haven't seen in ages, Berry Mak, (he's a wedding photographer). I need to ask him some basic questions about charging for photography jobs, file types and backing up work, etc. But I might also talk to him about my photoshoot ideas because bouncing my ideas off others is incredibly valuable to me. I'm not sure I'd have any ideas at all if I didn't voice them to other people.
As far as self promotion goes, I set up a profile on The Loop a while ago, and I've been adding projects slowly. Today I signed up for Pinterest because from what I've seen it's such an awesome tool to collate visual ideas, and especially mood boards for projects. I've also resurrected my twitter account, but to be honest I don't have an intuitive understanding of twitter like I do facebook. Maybe I should get someone to explain it. I also need to look into LinkedIn and Instagram, not to mention trying to link all these together and at the same time keep my private facebook page, well, private! The whole social media thing can feel a little overwhelming at times, I mean, trying to keep up with so many people and update so many things could be a full time unpaid job in itself! I do mean to keep up this blog throughout this year and beyond, though I like the idea also of having a separate blog just for photography.
Speaking of insecurities, I have a photoshoot with a friend of mine planned for Monday. For some reason I'm terrified I'll have forgotten how to use a camera overnight...
About Me
- Lou
- Sydney, NSW, Australia
- I'm an arts management worker/ artist/ designer. I work at Accessible Arts in administration and bookkeeping, but also work on various freelance activities from photography to graphic design. I'm Associate Partner at the ARI, the Big Fag Press, board member of Runway Australian Experimental Art and occasionally work at Bailey and Yang Consultants. My creative work has often been driven by social issues and commentary. This blog started as a way of documenting research for my honours year at uni, which I have continued, in order to gather inspiration for future artistic practice.
this was interesting to read, lou.
ReplyDeletei especially liked the bit where you admit that you have a tendency to manage people, even when interning (where you'd imagine that others might be managing YOU!)
but yes, you are very organised and you do have initiative.
i reckon the main difference between 'your' generation and mine is that you guys are actually thinking about all of this stuff, even before you've left university! it took us years (in fact, only recently) before it's dawned on us, the importance (and to some extent, the icki-ness) of all the things you're talking about here...
Haha, yes I can't help managing people, especially at work. It's not always a good thing!
ReplyDeleteI think it's because we're being made to think about this stuff. Plus the job market is SO much more competitive now, I mean you have to apply nowadays just to get unpaid positions, which means we're forced to think about how to market ourselves and be more hireable than the next person.