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How I was trained "before Photography" What I Did I left school in 1950 at 15yrs to become a Electrician. The Coy who were what I would call " "general house trades" employed me and started me in their shop and that was the closest I ever was to becoming a Electrician.
During this time I was sent out to manage a one man branch at which I failed miserably by my definition.
Then on to CMT for a 3 month stint in the Air Force.
After
this I left Ashburton for Wanganui there I worked for
RZRS for 6months & then a National shoe Chain and
served as a Auxiliary Fireman for room & board. Next was 12 months as a full time Fireman and I was to leave there when the National Chain Regional Manager looked me up & offered me a Branch Managers job.
With Shoes I managed stores in Levin, Dunedin & Papakura. Leaving, when a promised loan to build a house was with held. At
this time I was doing a little part time photography. Then I drifted, 3 days with another shoe coy who were trying to be big but did not have the go. 6 months with a National Dept store where I left after being offered a branch in another town and then a Ford Spare parts where I was for about 12 mths. The local Studio Photographer had the ideal way of disposing of competition and that was to find them a Studio to buy. After Des telling me for the umpteenth time there was a good Studio for sale in Pukekohe I wandered over one lunch time and started a chain of events that saw me in 1962 the owner of a Wedding Portrait Studio established in 1919. I moved the Studio from half plate to 5x4 then to 120. From a run down studio to one known all thro the district and when in 1971 where boredom was setting in again I did a whirlwind tour of USA to discover we were about 10years at least behind them it what we were doing. Back in NZ the week after the tour I did my first full colour weddings, one of the first in NZ. Then it was back to the states 10 months later to learn more and eventually to set up my own Lab when I was unable to get the quality I required. Most of the Pro Photographers knew me because of my activities thro the Assn... So I started getting requests for colour processing and I had to decide what business I was in Studio or Lab. The Lab got the vote..... somewhere along the line I had been told that the middle man made the money & I figured the lab had to be right in the middle. A visit on my first trip to the States I visited Misel's "Cash with order lab" and that set the tone that I was to follow. This placed me up among the leaders and so I was to carry on these visits to the States two to three times a year looking for speakers and Lab Techniques. After 30 years of working with photographers I decided to sell the business which I did to Kodak in 1993.
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In retrospect what I learnt There I learnt, to be understood, you had to speak clearly and listen to what the Customer said. It was there it became obvious to me that I would have to loose as much of the NZ accent that I had to be able to communicate well to everybody, I also learnt a little bit about all of the following subjects, Electrical, Plumbing, Auto electric, Tinsmith, Locksmith, Gunsmith, Radio Tech, Whiteware, and other retail. In the five years I was there I learnt things that I would use many many times since then.
There I learnt you needed to be trained, to do any thing well.
There I learnt to project my voice and would never again have to worry about not being heard and I learnt to strip a Bren Gun & resemble it faster that anybody else, Blindfolded. For some treason I have not used that skill since. At these jobs I learnt I would never work for the Govt again, all about shoes & their repairs and Fire safety.
I learnt at the fire brigade I needed to be doing some more with my brain, but I would have to learn another lesson before I was aware of this.
There I learnt how to pick staff, basic accounting skills & what it was like working for a head office. In Dunedin I stated to do Candid Photography for a local photographer. There I learnt to set the camera before I put it to my eye as the moment the camera was at my eye my subjects would naturedly think "he is going to take a photo" So I learnt to talk to the subjects in a voice they could hear & take the photo the moment the expression was right...which was fast.
I learnt at these 3 positions, it is hard to compete with a successful National Coy, the sort of things purchased on time payment, and the boredom of working in spare parts.
I learnt the hard way in how to take a portrait, how to photograph a wedding, but I could do good candids at Public Dances, 21st parties etc. which kept a good flow of clients visiting the studio to look at the photos and it allowed all of these people to get to know me. Of course who do they think of when they need a photographer. I also published a Photo News a local social magazine made up out of photographs from social functions all round the area. I involved myself in the Assn & Education of Photographers and by putting on seminars on subject I wanted to learn, & everybody learnt. Click here for a detailed list of events from 1962 Why Ivan takes the "Faces" photos A
side issue is when I went to China on a "Photo
Tour" I took a series of photos on a causal basis not
really expecting much, but my training over the years and
the "Candid" training allowed me to be well above
average with the images. I thought the results were
a one off and wondered if I world ever be able to repeat
them. (Since writing this I have decided to carry on taking photographs to please myself and will from time to time publish new countries on my web site) I decided in taking these photos I would take them for myself without any intention of trying to sell them and then I would not have to answer to anyone except myself. Possibly I have published the photos on my web site to substantiate my claim of "photographer", but I will give this some more thought!!! The unfortunate thing is that when I prove to myself I can do a something I get bored and then have to move on to something else ...however having said that there are still a lot of countries I would like to travel to with my camera. |