Link to FMP

This post is surrounding the development of my professional career in different aspects, I want to link over to my Final Major Project that I am currently completing. This project is a self set brief, focussing on something that means a great deal to myself, I chose to focus on a diversion from my usual portraiture/ documentary. The project is surrounding still life and food photography in a local metal working forge, looking to praise two of the elements of the industry that have been passed down through generations. 

The project outcomes had to be of a professional quality, with the photographs being of high enough quality to be hung in a gallery. In order to produce such a professional standard series of images I chose to set myself a budget, this would be to cover the cost of the printing of the final photographs as well as the mounting and other costs that may occur. I believed that this would have given me a glimpse into how I will have to run a project once in the real word after university. 

Below is a look into how I found the most suitable and well priced printing company, taking many factors such as quality into account. 

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The amount of money that I have set aside for the body of work is : £300- £400.

I imagine my final images to be of a large size, either A0 or A1. I want to keep a sense of fluidity throughout the photographs, in terms of the size and print quality. I am not going to let the money issues impact my work because I really want to strive to produce a body of work that really puts my point across to the best of its ability. 

As previously mentioned, my preferred printing company are called BPD Photech, below is a price list for their printing services. (I have chosen the paper sizes that I can see myself using for this body of work) (Price is per print)

http://www.photech.co.uk/

A0 (Gloss): £56.40
A0 (High Gloss): £60
A1 (Gloss): £35.90
A1 (High Gloss): £40
A2 (Gloss): £15.40
A2 (High Gloss): £20

I will also include the prices for another well respected printers called DS Colour Labs.

http://www.dscolourlabs.co.uk/

A0 (Gloss): £49.99
A1 (Gloss): £18.99
A2 (Gloss): £13.99  

DS Colour labs prices are really competitive compared to BPD Photech, I am going to visit their shops soon in order to see how good quality DS Colour Labs large format prints are. I know that BPD Photech will produce extremely high quality prints and am more than pleased with the genuine 1-to-1 tailored service/ experience that they produce. 

I will also include the prices for another well respected printers called MCL Photolab.

http://mclphotolab.com/index.php

A0 (Gloss): £49.95
A1 (Gloss): £18.95
A2 (Gloss): £13.95

Again, MCL Photolab are extremely competitive and actually seem to be the cheapest. I have never worked with this company, this may be something that I look into in the future.

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It has defiantly been a worthwhile experience because I have learnt how to produce a professional standard exhibition using minimal money, or at least being cautious of the monetary issues. I have also learnt that exhibiting can be a costly overhead but sometimes it is defiantly worth spending money or spending over budget to produce something that is of a higher standard, who knows hopefully one day the hard work could be rewarded and one could be head hunted due to the hard work and money that you invested in your exhibition/ show.