Hello from Brum

M

Mathew Growcoot

Well-Known Member
Hi all,

Greg the web designer told me about this site last night and I've decided to give it a go!
I'm a professional news photographer working at a national press agency based in the West Midlands so I'm taking pictures almost everyday.

I've used talkphotography before, mainly for buying kit and looking for picture stories, so it might be good to actually get involved in a photographic community.
I'm also hoping to find some good pictures on here that I might be able to send to the national papers, so keep posting!
 
Hi Mathew, welcome to the forum
Greg mentioned you had expressed an interest in joining so its good to see you did
would be good to hear your experiences of working for the press etc ...
do you specialise in any particular area?
 
Welcome on board Matthew - interesting line of work you have!

Would love to hear about what you get to shoot, equipment choices, working day etc (just being super nosy!)
 
Hello all,
thanks for the warm welcome.
To Hamish - Yes gregs a good lad, nice job he's done on the site too. Were a tabloid agency but we'll do anything for anyone, we pre-dominantly do human interest stories, we do very little sport, bits of PR, anything and everything.
there are often many funny stories to tell in this line of work so I will keep you posted when something interesting happens!
And to Chris - We are all on Nikon here, I have a D3 abd D3s with a 24-70 and 70-200 2.8, that pretty much covers me, I use alot of off-cam flash (if I have time). Will have to fiddle with my profile and list it all, I'm traditionally Canon and have my own 7d :)
 
yeah, greg is a bit of a wizz with the old internet
i have previously thought about doing work for some kind of agency, but with one thing and another i have to much on to try and commit to anything else
how does it work? do you go to an office in the morning and then get sent out on jobs, or are you just on the end of the phone for the day?
is it your company?
 
well, if I post stuff that I do, then you might be able to get some ideas because were always looking for contributing photographers
yer i'm based in an office, but im out most of the time, if your on early shift you gotta be phoning in at 7am, to see if there are any jobs your being assigned to. Theres a bunch of writers in the office looking for stories, and they will speak to people on the phone for interviews but its the photographers who are on the front line, which means you gotta be good with people! Convincing people to be photographed who dont want to bem takes practice!
 
I've forgotten to say that I'm a born and bred scouser (very important) but in recent years have lived in Newcastle, Sheffield and London
 
Howdy Barry, liking the profile pic
 
Welcome Matthew,

Its not very busy here yet but is is frendly :)

Mark.
 
Mathew Growcoot said:
well, if I post stuff that I do, then you might be able to get some ideas because were always looking for contributing photographers
yer i'm based in an office, but im out most of the time, if your on early shift you gotta be phoning in at 7am, to see if there are any jobs your being assigned to. Theres a bunch of writers in the office looking for stories, and they will speak to people on the phone for interviews but its the photographers who are on the front line, which means you gotta be good with people! Convincing people to be photographed who dont want to bem takes practice!
Click to expand...


maybe i should look into it ... got the whole photos of people who dont want photos thing down from the event and wedding photography ...
 
looks alright ... that would bug me no end... take a photo you like and they use one you dont... did some photos my self recently for a company whos branding was in the background of a lot the images... the best photos are the ones that dont have the branding but of course they wont use them .... ah well ... cant win em all i suppose

you enjoy it then?
must be interesting meeting a lot of people who are going through things that are newsworthy?
 
Welcome Mathew to this very friendly forum that hopefully will one day grow up well oneday. Maybe us amateurs could learn a thing or 2 for your work. I am sure you will enjoy your time around here.

Darren
 
ah messy background, no attention to composition, but its a show.
yer i find they often dont use the best pic, but the client looks at pictures in a different light I suppose

its a good job, i'm a very lucky person, I really enjoy goin out and meeting people, couldn't deal with being in an office all day!
So how are you a half working photographer?
 
Darren Turner said:
Welcome Mathew to this very friendly forum that hopefully will one day grow up well oneday. Maybe us amateurs could learn a thing or 2 for your work. I am sure you will enjoy your time around here.

Darren
Click to expand...

cheers darren, im sure i'll learn a thing or two from the amateurs as well! there the ones with the good ideas!
 
Mathew Growcoot said:
ah messy background, no attention to composition, but its a show.
yer i find they often dont use the best pic, but the client looks at pictures in a different light I suppose

its a good job, i'm a very lucky person, I really enjoy goin out and meeting people, couldn't deal with being in an office all day!
So how are you a half working photographer?
Click to expand...

its a little bit of a play on words ... as in half working - half functioning. i made a comment on here saying that if i was half as good as the photogrpher i would like to be i would be happy ...

but it does also relate to my career - this is my business www.f8creates.com - we offer photography to our clients as part of packages, but i mostly sit behind a desk doing web based stuff. that wont last forever though, we are on the up and up and hopefully i should be doing a lot more event photography and product stuff in the new year... i also do the odd wedding, although im winding that down to 6 a year max ... i cant cope with more than that...
apart from that i run this place, have a photography studio in the pipe line, do a day a week in a camera/hifi shop and a few projects ... so yeah ... half working :)
 
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