Planning
Please see the below tips & tricks so that we can best prepare for the Photography shoot.
- Shoes! – Wear something comfortable, trainers, pumps, etc. If you're used to being office-bound, suddenly being on your feet for 7-8 hours of the day can be a surprise. It's best if you can enjoy the reportage day too - and this will help!
- Times – I usually arrive a bit before the start of the day (08:45 normally) to sign in and get acquainted with any staff I will be working with for the day. Where possible, it is also ideal to capture any worthwhile extra-curricular clubs… until around 4:00, but this depends on the school day.
- The Schedule – Please make a timetable for our shoot together (pinpointing the location, time, and subject of each shoot).
- The easiest way to do this is to print a copy of the whole school schedule & highlight the things that you would like to capture as a priority.
- Academic lessons can start looking the same e.g. Geography, History, Maths, English, RE - it is important to photograph some of these lessons with different age groups, but the images could be used to show off a range of subjects.
- Times for each subject – Please allow roughly 10-15 minutes per location/ subject, and bear in mind how long it may take to walk to each place. Sports would benefit from around 30 minutes as this takes a bit more time to capture a good range.
- Content - When putting together your schedule, please think about the shots that sell the facilities, space, and uniqueness of the school. The photography will be used to create a fresh archive of images, so it is best to make the most of it. The more fun and unique the content that we can capture, the better.
- Teachers usually appreciate a heads-up that a photographer will be there, so we suggest sending an email around a few days before. This is a good opportunity to ask if anyone has any particularly fun lessons going on! Where possible, please make sure to ask teachers to put on exciting visual lessons on the day… e.g. a Science lesson with only books when there could be rockets is a missed opportunity.
- A staff member will be needed to act as a chaperone for the day - I like to work in a team. Navigating the school, as well as being on the lookout for short ties, un-tucked shirts, and anything else which does not follow the school dress code. This means we can get the most out of the day, and get the smartest shots.
- Please try and work in coffee breaks every 2 hours (just ten minutes or so) and time for a bite to eat over lunch (this gives us both an opportunity to reflect on what we’ve done so far and refine what to do next. Working solidly throughout the day without any breaks usually means we’re exhausted and just end up missing things.)
- Permissions - Please ask your teachers to give their photo permission sheets a once over before the day so they know if there’s anyone who can’t be photographed - this saves valuable time on the day.
- Getting the extra shots… if you have a unique activity or experience you would like to capture, let me know. I’m up for anything & we will get the best shots if I can prepare. I’ve worked underwater in diving gear, in horse paddocks, up trees, on rivers, on the sea, lent off the back of speed boats, up in planes, and up climbing walls. If it can be done - I will do it with a camera!
- Drone - If your school is in a Drone Safe location (which is not near an Airport or in a big city), then I will bring the drone, and we can grab some extra still images of the school campus, and give us some extra perspectives on outside activities like sport.
What happens next?
- You will receive your fully retouched and curated image gallery, one week after the day of the shoot.
- Sometimes when I am really busy, say, at the peak of summer, this may be a maximum of two weeks.
- The online gallery will be online indefinitely, so there's no need to use your own storage.
- You are able to download the images in multiple different sizes for web, print, and social media.
- All the images are yours to use as you like, for any number of publications, newsletters, or online uses.
- If you are able to credit an image in a publication, please credit "Sam Peat"