Dissertation Ideas Help

NatMoore

NatMoore

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Nat
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Hi Everyone,

It's that time of year on my degree for us to starting thinking about what we want to write for our dissertations for next year and create a powerpoint for our research this semester.

I'd really like to base it around motorsport photography but my mind has gone blank for ideas and I was wondering if any of you would mind suggesting some questions/titles that are different and interesting to write about?

I'd really appreciate any suggestions and thank you in advance,

Nat
 
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How about the closed loop and political nature of pro F1 photography would be very interesting.
 
Its important to think about what sort of job you want after uni, as your diss can be a great way to get a foot in the door of companies you might get work for.

I did my diss in 2011 and conducted several interviews with car manufacturers, motorsport promoters and teams. I ended up working at a large UK motorsport promoter and have kept relationships with the people I interviewed, which, now that I'm as a photographer, has led to more work too.
 
An analysis of the (£££) size of the motorsport photography market?

Look at commission rates, frequency of employment and overall size vs practictioners?

Should be enough to depress the crap out of everyone :D
 
RichardTaylor said:
I'm not 100% sure of what you are looking for, and I am just a hobbyst, howver this thread may be a starting point for "the dark side of the sport".

http://www.catchfencephotos.net/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=3626

or (and it is slightly a bit lighter)
Post #16 (safety) in this tutorial, of mine, on an intro motor racing photography.

http://digital-photography-school.com/forum/tutorials/190114-motor-sport.html


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Ooo! Good one and thank you for the links!

Studi0488 said:
How about the closed loop and political nature of pro F1 photography would be very interesting.
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I thought about this one but I thought finding journals and stuff could be hard.

sambloxxy said:
Its important to think about what sort of job you want after uni, as your diss can be a great way to get a foot in the door of companies you might get work for.

I did my diss in 2011 and conducted several interviews with car manufacturers, motorsport promoters and teams. I ended up working at a large UK motorsport promoter and have kept relationships with the people I interviewed, which, now that I'm as a photographer, has led to more work too.
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I was thinking of doing interviews too. Maybe combining these with Craigs idea I could get a good view from the people I already have contacts with.

desantnik said:
An analysis of the (£££) size of the motorsport photography market?

Look at commission rates, frequency of employment and overall size vs practictioners?

Should be enough to depress the crap out of everyone :D
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I think including this with another idea could be good even if it slightly depressing :D

Thank you for your help! :D
 
I had the same issue when choosing my dissertation topic but in the end I did somenthind different. As desantnik said something about the market? amateurs giving images for free and the consequences it have on the industry? Big agencies vs little ones?
 
Digitalize said:
All I can say is good luck! Need to start thinking about mine for next year soon, has to be completed in a years time! Scary stuff.
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Good luck to you too! Mines due in for the end of December but we start working on it now!

NFI said:
I had the same issue when choosing my dissertation topic but in the end I did somenthind different. As desantnik said something about the market? amateurs giving images for free and the consequences it have on the industry? Big agencies vs little ones?
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I think this is one of the routes I'm heading down. I need to have a broad topic since I have 10,000 words to do and this is becoming spot ton to be honest :)
 
I wouldn't get bogged down in the "giving stuff away for free" thing, I'd look at the marketplace - what sort of organisations use motorsport images and for what, how many of these are there, a survey of prices paid for the images.

Find some photographers, study their business model, look at their workflow, look at their profits.

Examine which areas of motorsport generates the most used images, compare them by value.

Remember that motorsport is everything from pay n go karting to F1, on road and off road, two wheels and four - all of those are different prospects for a photographer.

Have a look at how the market inverts as the money in the series increases - a team or driver in banger racing will possibly buy images from a photographer because they don't have the media attention, whereas Lewis Hamilton will never buy and image from a random photographer etc etc

Just some pointers!
 
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