September 5, 2012
David Peterson is a Canberra-based photographer with a long standing career of shooting for the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) and is a former CIT graduate. He also has a fair amount of experience in architectural photography and editorial work.
Since being made redundant as senior photographer with ADFA a few years back, David has been working hard to establish his own business DORIAN PHOTOGRAPHICS Pty Ltd.
David is a well-established member of the Australian Institute of Professional Photographers (
AIPP) and the Australian Commercial and Media Photographer (
ACMP) organisations. His work has also been highly recognised and awarded within both.
I have known about David for a few months now, but didn't realise he was a Canberran. So when i found out it was him coming into class as guest speaker, i became quite excited and looked forward to meeting him. I REALLY did take a lot away from David as a person, for his approach to photography in general and for the level/quality of work he has created throughout the years.
I also felt David gave us students some renewed confidence to get out there and continue to photograph the things we like to photograph on a personal level. He mentioned that from his experience it is very important to do such things in order to keep yourself fulfilled away from the demands/repetition of commercial work. It also allows you to experiment and explore new genres of photography, which may actually then come to help you stand out from the rest creatively with your paid work.
WIN - WIN :]
We were given some honest insight into how to think of ways to make our photography work for us instead of against us in a positive way. Confidence and pride in what you do is key!
David also encouraged us to take advantage of becoming affiliated with the professional organisations like AIPP and ACMP (already am) for all the support and opportunities available as students, not to mention discounted rates on most things. We were also told not to fear entering our work into competitions as our skills continue to improve - something that i personally already have written down on my to do list. He said it is a strong way to get your name out their amongst the profession as well as to potential clients.
Developing an understanding of how to charge for your skills and how to balance jobs is also another extremely important thing to get our heads around, for this helps us maintain if not boost this level of confidence so that we can approach our work professionally. It also helps substantially to research your market to give yourself an in-depth perspective on who your potential clients are and how your work can benefit them in as many ways as possible to gain continued work within that area of business.
I took a real interest in David's mix of natural and urban landscape images, it really got me thinking about things in a fresh light and wanting to definitely purchase a longer telephoto zoom so i can "get in there more" from a distance to crop out unwanted subject matter. His architecture work is also quite amazing and the sort of style i try to shoot in. Again he has a very good eye for how things go together to compliment each other. Overall i think his style of photography and way of looking at the things around him is where i would like to be with my own photography and it is for this reason that i was really inspired by him.
After his presentation to us i made sure i went up to shake his hand and thank him for such a stimulating presentation. He thanked me for being so attentive and for asking a lot of questions. It was nice of him to also give me his business card and then accept my friend request on Facebook so i can keep informed with what he is up to-n-stuff.
David also left me with a list of fantastic new photographers to look up.
A terrific day all round.
Links:
http://www.flickr.com/people/dorian_photographics/
