Review of Guest speaker Paul Hartnett

PAUL HARTNETT PHOTOGRAPHER
‘RAW STYLE, REAL STYLE’

Guest speaker AT NEW COLLEGE, Swindon
Paul Hartnett is a photographer of Street culture and the club culture scene, his work can be viewed at http://www.paulhartnett.com

He describes himself as a ‘Cool Hunter’ a ‘Social History researcher photographer’. Paul Hartnett started his photographic career in 1976 taking pictures of the punk scene, although his fascination with the camera started at a very early age.

His style is a’ Disco Mix of Visuals’. Looking for the unusual within people, if you see something that at first you find shocking, you should not move away from it, you should move closer and take a closer look.

Paul Hartnett visiting Foundation Degree students at New College

Pauls motto is ‘Less is more’ strip down you image then strip it down again until you reach the bare minimal. Choose only one accessory be it a single earring, a tie laces on shoes. Too much information is distracting.

He also gave useful tips on how to take a street photographer.
Most street photographers take straight on shots. Paul suggested taking a full length, then the middle section then the head and also focuses on the back where at times a lot of information about a person is hidden. The back is often forgotten. And to take your shots at different angles, from up high or very close in, if you want to focus on footwear.
Paul does not believe in ‘tarting up image’ with Photoshop, it should be seen as it was taken, which is something I strongly agree with. He said a cheap £1.00 camera bought in a car boot sale and using out of date film is just as worthwhile as any expensive camera.
Thinking out of the box and using your creative side sets you apart from others, again something I would strongly agree with.

During his talk he gave a fascinating insight into his childhood, information about London Fashion week and how ruthless fellow photographers can be regarding model release forms.
And how to ‘blag’ and ‘wing it’ as much as you can to get to where you want to be. But always do it with respect and politeness, act in a professional manner.

He also gave helpful ideas on how to sell your work. Don’t publish on the internet unless you want to sell. And suggested selling on Ebay but consider the title as this will draw the attention to your work first.
He also suggested sending the work to magazine and newspaper picture editors in the post rather than by email.

Picture Editors get a lot of work through email and tend to ignore them but by sending an envelope they are taken by surprise.
Apparently Wednesday is the best day to have your work looked at; 1 in 10 may get to hear back from them.
There are 14 000 photography graduates leaving Universities each year, and want to make it as a professional photographer, this makes it incredibly hard to get noticed, so try and come up with new and unusual ways which may get you noticed.
You have to be resourceful both within your work and how to get work.
Find your own voice and keep listening to it. Also something I would strongly agree with.

I found the talk with Paul incredibly worthwhile, he gave a lot of useful insights and gave some worthwhile tips for our future careers
I found him to be funny and full of character. I enjoyed listening to tales of his personal life, and a joy to listen to someone with a ‘human factor’ rather than just a professional businessman.
I found the talk touching at times and could relate to some of the things, I guess we all could

Thank you to Paul for his lecture and for taking the time to look at our work and to give advice and suggestions.

By Niki Cannon 28.02. 2012