* The government has the power here, not me. 

* I need to meet the legal requirements of being self-employed. 

* I monitor my income and must declare it when it exceeds £1000 a year. 

* Although; it is also good business practice to ensure you are not operating at a loss. 

* Every time I have a booking, I will discuss pricing and payment schedule with clients and then invoice them. 

* I use the Money Manager app to record all income and expenses.

* The data is then transferred to a Word document.

* I am confident to manage my own finances; however, I am not proficient in Excel and realise this is a skill I need to learn in order to optimise my workflow.

* I sometimes ask for feedback from close family regarding design elements; i.e gallery cover images. 

* I will ask family to use the website on multiple devices. Listening to their feedback to help optimise the site for mobile use. This is crucial as over 55% of users access via a mobile device. (Statcounter, 2021)

* The website design and content has been informed by the research, but also reflects my own values, principles and identity. 

* I value honesty and transparency which contributes to the content and how it is structured. i.e I have published a price list online and made the pricing easy to locate and simple. 

* Some of these decisions are not in keeping with the conventions of other photographer websites, who often don’t publish prices; I learnt this during the research process.

* The purpose of the reading is to; 

- inform web design including colour, font and layout

- establish what content is needed

* The outcome of the research is a website that is;

- easy to navigate 

- appealing to consumers 

- generates leads and    revenue

- represents personal identity/values

* I have complete freedom over the content but the design layout is limited to the templates available in Adobe Portfolio. 

* I use Adobe Portfolio as it is included with my Photoshop subscription.

* Digital literacy required to transfer content from a free website that had ads.
 
* These ads made me appear unprofessional and weren't in line with appearing like a credible business, which are important values to me.

* Digital literacy required when linking external platforms to the website, i.e booking platform, email and social media pages.

* Customer interaction will include conversations about image requirements, location, pricing, and availability.

* I want to appear professional but also fun and easy to work with.

* I therefore opt to use more informal language. 

* Language used may differ slightly based on any existing relationship with the client and also the brief i.e
 - Client relationship -
A friend texts me - more informal language used vs a new client emails me - more formal language used. 
- Brief -
Photographing vehicles on location for a high end business vs photographing a sneaker collection in the studio. Formal language vs informal language based on brief.
 

* There are strategies in business regarding sales, but sometimes these conflict with my own values. 

* A hard sell might include calling a client several times to follow up, chasing leads and really selling yourself.
 
* I find this difficult to do as it conflicts with my core values such as integrity and transparency. 

* I do photography because I enjoy it not for the money.  

* I want this to be evident and this clearly influences my choice of language and interactions when it comes to sales, marketing and communication. 

* Photoshoots carried out by me, but always in collaboration with client. 

* Client may be present depending on location. 

* If the client is present there is some conversation, this is informal and centred around the product/business and the days shooting plan. 

* Research is always carried out prior to planning a shoot and includes; 

- Conversation with client about purpose of shoot and outcome. 

- Receiving digital mood boards from client 

- Reading about the client, looking at client website and social media to establish brand identity.

 

* The purpose of the research is to inform planning for photoshoot. 

* There will be a lot of internal dialogue such as; - What equipment will be needed? 
- Will props be required? - When/where will be the best time to shoot? 

* The outcome of the shoot is to create high quality images for the client. 

* The level of creative freedom I have depends on the client. Some clients have a clear idea of what they want, meaning I work to a brief and some don’t, so I have full creative control. 

* Once a location is established there is some map reading involved.

- Upload files to computer

- Create a client folder 

- Edit using camera raw and Photoshop.

- Save files in new format

- Transfer files to Canva and create ads for client

- Transfer all files to client using WeTransfer.

* The purpose here is developing images and adverts that the client is happy with, they must be in keeping with clients’ brand and customer base. 

* I am still developing my Photoshop skills and sometimes watch YouTube tutorials. 

* I am yet to see a Photoshop tutorial by a female photographer, that’s not to say there aren’t any, they are just less prevalent.

* This perhaps reflects the lack of women in the creative industries sector. It is a male dominated sector with only 37.1% being women. (DCMS Sectors Economic Estimates 2019: Employment, 2021)

* All files are delivered to clients using WeTransfer.