The events
Redeye is delighted to introduce a new professional development programme created and thoughtfully put together to address all areas to consider when embarking on a career in photography. At an affordable price, we're keen to welcome creatives to get involved in this important training opportunity. The descriptions below outline what each session will explore.

We will bring a compelling and varied set of leading photography experts to guide you in this development programme. All speakers will be announced in the coming weeks.

It’s Your Business: Getting Started (Mon 4 Feb)

Everything you need to know to set up your business

Morning: Zoe Whishaw

Graduating as a scientist with a growing passion for photography, Zoe worked at Getty from its beginning before taking on senior creative positions such as European Director of Photography, Creative Director at Image Source, and Creative and Content Director at Gallery Stock.

Zoe now works as a mentor to photographers and will be covering the following: how to know when you’re ready to become a pro, markets for a professional photographer, characteristics art buyers and photo editors are looking for in photographers, creating compelling websites, when to find an agent and how to find a good one, and how to market your work successfully.

Afternoon: Andrew Thomas

After working in marketing for a large part of his career, Andrew then become a digital transformation coach, and now works as a growth expert on the Oxford University-run Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Programme, coaching entrepreneurs. As a trainer for The Google Digital Academy, he facilitates Google's Brand Solutions Masterclass to enable clients to shape their brand and businesses with a consumer-centric and digital-first mindset.

Andrew will be covering the viability of your business, developing your vision, strategy and goals, business planning and models, market research, finances and cash flow, and professional services including accountancy, the law and insurance.

It’s Your Business: Running Things (Tues 5 Feb)

Taking on projects, growing and improving your business

Session 1: Pricing with Paul Herrmann

With a background of editorial photographer with a social, political and arts perspective, Director of Redeye Paul has supported hundreds of photographers in every different genre to develop their photographic work and careers through a programme of events, courses, professional development, commissions, collaborations, business advice and information.

Alongside Redeye he’s set up a range of photographic organisations and projects including the Look festivals in Liverpool, the career development course Lightbox, the National Photography Symposium and the Northern Photography Consortium. He’s currently chair of the British Photographic Council, and is manager of the Photographic Collections Network.

Session 2: Copyright and legal with Nick Dunmur

A professional photographer for 30 years, Nick takes commissions and produces his own work. A member of the Association of Photographers having previously been a board member and chair, Nick is a business and legal advisor to members offering business and copyright guidance.

Session 3: Creative production, project and client management with Debbie Adele Cooper

Debbie’s photography revolves around socially engaged practice and public engagement, with influences from archive imagery and oral history. As well as having written large-scale public engagement and community projects, she has recently written and delivered projects for the British Council, NHS and District Councils. 

Debbie is currently artist in residence for Dartmoor prison, working with inmates on a Conscientious Objector Archive project, alongside working for the NHS on a mental health archive, running the Artist Development programme at QUAD, and is an Associate Artist at Nottingham Contemporary.

It’s Your Business: Pitching and Presenting (Mon 4 March)

Session 1

11am-1pm: Pitching to get new clients with Andrew Thomas

A marketing professional with over thirty years of experience extends back over thirty years, Andrew has spent most of career working at the global advertising agency McCann-Erickson in London and Manchester. Andrew has been key in developing the digital offering of the businesses he has worked at and has established himself as a digital transformation coach, with the aim of helping individuals and organisations thrive in the digital economy.

A growth expert on the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Programme run by Oxford University, Andrew coaches entrepreneurs planning for high growth. He is also a trainer for The Google Digital Academy, facilitating Google's Brand Solutions Masterclass to enable clients to shape their brand and businesses with a consumer-centric and digital-first mindset.

1-2pm: Lunch

Session 2

2-3.30pm: Public Speaking with Natasha Boojihawon

Starting her career as a creative producer and director at documentary production company Union Street Media Arts, Natasha spent a decade making social, heritage and educational films, therapeutically working with communities and delivering digital media training employment programmes. She is currently working on a documentary about homelessness, and a film about a political and cultural activist.

After overcoming serious ill health, Natasha trained in naturopathy, nutritional therapy, psychotherapy, energy work, yoga, and coaching. She now works as a transformational holistic therapist focusing on optimising physical health, emotional transformation and trauma release. Natasha helps people unleash their highest potential through her online courses, workshops, retreats and one-to-one work.

Session 3

3.30-4.30pm: Getting seen online and presenting work via Instagram with Katya Willems

Formerly a social media trainer for journalists at BBC Radio 5 Live, Katya left to freelance, specialising in Instagram. She has been delivering Instagram workshops and one-to-one training to a huge range of small businesses for the last year.

The workshop will cover:

• How Instagram can help you showcase your photography and get potential business
• Simple tips on photo editing on phone apps
• Growing your presence on Instagram, including mastering the dark art of hashtags
• How to use Instagram to engage with new and existing follower
• How to analyse the success of your content
• Instagram stories and Instagram live
• Inspiring, accessible examples of photographers who have great engagement on Instagram
• Q&A and group discussion

5pm: Finish 

It’s Your Business: Writing and Fundraising (Tues 5 March)

How to write in an engaging way, entering competitions, funding bid writing and how to secure fundraising

11am-1pm: The artists’ statement with Laura Robertson

A practical workshop, Laura’s session will be packed with writing tasks that people of all backgrounds can get involved in. It will be a good challenge with lots of peer support and feedback, designed to reinvigorate your sense of purpose and energy.

The 'artist's statement' refers to any of your writing that reflects your photography. How can you write about your own work in a clear, creative and personal way? We'll be looking at examples of other artists’ statements, collecting words and phrases that best reflect your work, and practising writing in different tones of voice. 

1-2pm: Lunch

2-5pm: Monika Neall

Founder and director of impact consultancy The Pebble, Monika offers advice and one-to-one mentoring to individuals and organisations. In this workshop, she will guide you through how to write about your work in a way funders will approve of and how to adapt language to be successful in securing funding.

Monika strongly believes in the power of storytelling to strengthen your message and using narrative to full effect, whether launching a product or campaign, or writing copy to capture people’s attention. This will be an incredibly useful session for people learning how to translate messages, and especially for those responsible for marketing, campaigning and fundraising.

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It’s Your Business: Exhibiting (Mon 25 March)

How to exhibit your work to showcase your creativity and capture the public’s attention

Today’s session is an all-day workshop with Zelda Cheatle, designed to demystify the exhibiting process. Having built up a wealth of experience, Zelda is an expert curator and editor of photography. After practising as a photographic artist, she began her career at the Photographers’ Gallery in the 80s and worked with renowned photographers and artists.

Zelda set up her own independent photography gallery and publishing company in 1989 which she ran for 16 years, it being the first independent gallery of photography in the UK. She then established the first Photography Fund, collecting fine prints of the 20th century.

Zelda currently curates, reviews, and assesses photography, nationally and internationally. She will discuss the broad view of the field she has gained through her work as an independent gallerist and curator of international museums and galleries, explaining her experience of how financial aspects of all sides of the business operate.

The morning session will explore:

• How private and public galleries work in the UK and abroad: this will be based on Zelda’s experience, beginning the first independent gallery in London in the 80s, then working with galleries over the years as she built up a collection.
• Looking for places to exhibit, and negotiating for the use of the space: this will discuss how to think outside of the clean, white box and present some non-traditional methods to approach any gallery or institution.
• The issue of festivals, open submissions and group shows: from Format in Derby, to Organ Vida in Zagreb, or Unseen in Amsterdam. The highs and lows of these opportunities.
• How to organise yourself as an exhibiting photographer or artist: discussing how best to make a presentation or portfolio resonate, online and offline.
• How to plan an exhibition: how best to visualise, create space, think about text, size, scale, and how the work translates to people.
• How to design shows: selecting, printing, sequencing and juxtaposing work, learning how to edit, editing each other’s work, curated shows, book sequencing and layout.
• Framing and hanging, openings, catalogues, publicity and security: A weighty subject including how important it is to market the show or exhibition, how crucial the right framing and hanging are, and audience experience.
• Formats and publishing: catalogues, photobooks, Kickstarter, self-publishing, vanity publishing, serious researched catalogues, zines – there is a place for all, choosing which one is best for you.

In the afternoon, we will talk about:

• Suggested pricing for prints, and how to make it viable
• Who to work with, and where to sell your photography
• What edition to make, and what kind of photography sells the best 
• How to go about getting represented by a commercial gallery and partnerships
• Techniques on how to edition and number on digital and analogue.
• Time for your questions at the end

It’s Your Business: Publishing (Tues 26 March)

How to publish your work, to convey the content through print, and which formats to use

11am-1pm: What sells and why in Manchester's Magma bookshop with Tim Bell

With extensive experience on what stockists look for and what authors offer, Tim will talk through the ideal product to sell, how photographers should go about making a photobook, and how to market it to sell to shops. He will talk you through every step of the process, right from the beginning and how to make contact when the book has been produced.

Tim will also cover how much books usually cost, how to work out the price and business model you need to ensure your work sells, and how to make a profit. He will be bringing along from examples that have sold particularly well at Magma and explain why that is, which will be followed by some time for your questions.

1-2pm: Lunch

2-3.30pm: the artist-made book with Michelle Rowley

Michelle is a printmaker and lecturer on the BA Fine Art course at Wirral Met College and has her own work in the Tate Gallery artists’ book collection. With a specialist practice in printmaking and artists’ books, she is a founder member of Hot Bed Press, Salford. Michelle has been making book works since 2006 and exhibits her work at artists’ book fairs, plus she teaches book arts practice.

This session will look into artists’ books practice and the possibilities of handmade editions, photography and the book. Michelle will discuss current practices, artists’ book fairs, small edition self-publishing print options, public collections, publicity and promotional platforms. She will also bring a selection of books for participants to looks at, some templates for simple design, and her most current publication to explore portfolio printing formats and software.

Michelle uses photography and printmaking in her practice to develop visual research approaches to her subject matter relating to our cultural relationships to landscapes and land use. A recent MA at UCLan has caused Michelle to develop a multidisciplinary approach in her work incorporating film, photography, sculpture and publishing.

3.30-5pm: Photobook workshop with Alan Ward

Alan Ward is an designer, artist and collaborator based in Manchester, UK. His book design credits extent throughout the spectrums of photography and art for individuals, institutions and publishing houses. This session will be a very interactive environment to explore editing and sequencing images for publication in a photobook. Participants should bring a series of images (at least 20 if possible) for editing into a sequence, they should also think about some images that fall outside that edit that might be worth a second look. Please also bring your favourite photography book to include in that discussion. This is an opportunity to have a dialogue in a relaxed environment at the end of the day around what you would hope to achieve in a book, its narrative, edit, format and audience. 

The session will be entirely tailored about the participants, so it’s a fantastic opportunity to get personal feedback and to take a deep dive into your work.

For those new to a Redeye professional development course and want to see what it's like - Redeye are running an It's Your Business Taster Session as part of HOME's PUSH festival on Tuesday 22nd January 2019 from 19:00 - 21:00. For tickets visit HOME's website here.

Who is this for?
This will be an essential, proactive and helpful series of sessions for anyone starting their photographic career or wishing to develop their practice in a new direction.

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Where
All sessions will take place at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Engine House, Chorlton Mill, 3 Cambridge Street, Manchester, M1 5BY.
The venue is fully accessible but for more information, click here.

When
The six sessions run across various dates in February and March - see above for a breakdown of dates.
Each day session runs from 11am until 5pm.

Tickets
Tickets can be booked via the relevant links below. A full day session is as follows:

Redeye Paid Members: £20
Concessionary Rate: £30
Full Price: £40

Please note you must be signed in as a Redeye Member for the link for Members to become visible.  To find out more about becoming a member go to our membership page

Please note our terms and conditions including our refund policy. 

Image credit: Henry Iddon