My name is Graham Franks, I am a freelance photographer living and working on the South Coast. Some of you may have seen me already taking photographs at business launches and events around Sussex and beyond.

A major part of my work comes from supporting a wide range of business and their photo social media needs. Often this means attending a business or new product launch to photograph guests at the event and the product also if required. I then supply the images back to the business concerned for use on their websites and to forward to their particular publications. I usually work directly with a business or sometimes through a third party, a PR or marketing company employed to organise the event. Magazines like Sussex Life employ me too to cover events for their business clients. A number of publications know me so I am often asked to submit images directly to them with the relevant captions and press releases. With digital media this is usually done within 24 hours whilst the subject is still fresh and hasn’t become a history lesson!

The work takes me to a diverse selection of subjects. For example I have recently attended Bang and Olufsen in Hove for a product launch, South Lodge Hotel for the Chestnut Tree House Business Awards, The Sussex Beacon in conjunction with the E3 Group for the launch of their forthcoming Halloween Horror Show, the Theatre Royal for Sussex Life to photograph crime writer Peter James and the dramatization of his book Dead Simple. I can often be seen in the Grand Hotel or Metropole covering events, but my work has taken me to London too, having taken photographs on behalf of a company within the house and garden of No 10 Downing Street. A little bit of pressure there because I am not likely to be invited back for re-take if photographs are not quite right!

The skills of a social media photographer’s have to be agreeable, it’s not just about pressing the camera button. We meet people from all walks of life from business leaders to people in the public eye. I have recently photographed Lulu for Chestnut Tree House and the Archbishop of Canterbury at an event with his family. To get the best from the photographs trust has to be gained. Not everyone welcomes having their photo taken so having the ability to put them at their ease is a must.

It’s nice to work in a party atmosphere, dodging flying champagne corks, but as the social media photographer at an event I am not a guest... so I am off the wine list! Organisers of these events can sometimes be under pressure, the event may be a culmination of many months planning and expense along the way so they are looking for a successful outcome to all the work.

Why use a social media photographer?

• It brings the event alive and is a good permanent visual record of the occasion.

• Enables a company to publish images of their event on their own website and social media websites like Facebook and Twitter

• The company can use the images to publish the event in way to suit their needs: local press, magazines and trade magazines etc.

• A professional photographer can concentrate solely on the task of producing good quality images of the event both posed and candid of people having a good time.

• A professional photographer can take into account what is required for publication by magazines like Sussex Life

• Professional social media photographers develop good professional relationships with local media thus increasing the possibility of publication

• I know from my own experience and positive feedback after the event that the images published on social media or in the press helped to increase awareness and generate further business for a company.

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Graham Franks Photography

• Tel: 01903 733626

• Mob: 07904 840899

• Email: f8focus@msn.com

• Web: www.grahamfrankspics.co.uk

• Twitter: @f8focus