As a 51 year old portrait photographer who has worked with hundreds of women to create portraits that make them feel confident and and comfortable in their own skin, I humbly suggest that your comment to "find an under 25 year old with a smart phone to take the photo. It will be fab" is rather glib and frankly isn't great advice. Not only will it not be as "fab" as a professional portrait, but you are suggesting putting queenagers, who have spent decades honing what we do, out of work! I'd recommend instead that an older female photographer would be sensitive to the concerns women over 50, and experienced with creating a portrait that will be truly empowering. That's something every woman over 50 should have :)
Further to my comment below, I have just seen a Women in Journalism (Eleanor is an ex-Chair) post about a professional photography event today. Prices seems reasonable and nice, varied shots. So I back pedal somewhat on my comment on costs and affordability.
Still think you could take your own with expert (not necessarily professional) help and advice, and no number of professional photographs will make you feel or be empowered unless your power and strength comes from within. Can be interconnected though.
Cmon. You know what Eleanor means. She is just being humorous and recognising a kind of universal truth that practice makes perfect and our girls have grown up in social media culture that, rightly or wrongly or both, encourages this.
There are lots of things we can learn from our daughters as well as teach them.
And many of us can't afford a professional photographer, even as a good investment. Out of paid employment for a while.
Personally, I don't feel the need for an empowering portrait to feel ok about myself as a woman or person, though I do honestly see where you are coming from and value the art and skill of photography in professional terms and also artistic ones. I also recognise thatyou, as a professional photographer would most likely do a better job, but how necessary would that be in this case really?
It would be a pragmatic matter to get a decent enough one to pass muster for professional purposes.
I have a first-class degree and postgraduate qualification and lengthy professional experience in modern languages and yet I do not expect to be consulted where quick bit of googling will actually do. Though I would recommend websites like WordReference for more serious translation help.
Just finding my own voice again at the moment, so bear with?!
This is brilliant. Thanks Eleanor and 55 Redefined. It would be brilliant to see a cross section of roles available as I am sure our community has huge and varied experience. Also good to remember that recruiters ( and us) need to be less literal as many of our skills are transferable. I always say my super power is getting s..t done and can apply to any role really!
As and when, I will get back to you with anything I can think of as an indication of what is good and what could be better, as you mention.
The main thing I would need advice on is how to account for an absence from the workplace owing to illness and yet put across how much one can grow and develop as a person and in skills, life and other, and as a potential new job recruit after years away. With honesty and in a way that can be taken seriously. One does not necessarily stagnate as a person or what you learn and can still learn over the years because one is not in paid employment or have been ill.
I am not in a position - yet - to apply for a new job, but this does help me and no doubt others look forward.
I was in a specialist type of job in the Civil Service for years as a translator and do not have much recent experience of what it is currently like in the workplace, though I do read, listen, keep up to date with the news, relevant articles and campaigns and take an increasingly active interest with myself and my three 20-sonethibg daughters in mind, so I can empathise and also rejoice with them in their experiences.
I have learnt about the growth mindset by osmosis, it almost seems. My daughters are familiar with the (relatively recent?) concept, and it is a useful term to put a term to inchoate but hitherto unexpressed or properly identified thoughts about my own chamging and evolving attitude to work and life in general that I could not somehow express or articulate properly without the words being coined for them. That's a linguist's point of view for you - I am bound to say that maybe! And it probably shows how long I have been out of the paid workplace too.
Dear Caroline - thanks for this! Hope it's helpful. We are only in the early stages of this partnership so any indication of what is good and what would be better would be great. I've asked them for some more senior jobs ... anything particular that anyone needs advice on? e
As a 51 year old portrait photographer who has worked with hundreds of women to create portraits that make them feel confident and and comfortable in their own skin, I humbly suggest that your comment to "find an under 25 year old with a smart phone to take the photo. It will be fab" is rather glib and frankly isn't great advice. Not only will it not be as "fab" as a professional portrait, but you are suggesting putting queenagers, who have spent decades honing what we do, out of work! I'd recommend instead that an older female photographer would be sensitive to the concerns women over 50, and experienced with creating a portrait that will be truly empowering. That's something every woman over 50 should have :)
Further to my comment below, I have just seen a Women in Journalism (Eleanor is an ex-Chair) post about a professional photography event today. Prices seems reasonable and nice, varied shots. So I back pedal somewhat on my comment on costs and affordability.
Still think you could take your own with expert (not necessarily professional) help and advice, and no number of professional photographs will make you feel or be empowered unless your power and strength comes from within. Can be interconnected though.
Cmon. You know what Eleanor means. She is just being humorous and recognising a kind of universal truth that practice makes perfect and our girls have grown up in social media culture that, rightly or wrongly or both, encourages this.
There are lots of things we can learn from our daughters as well as teach them.
And many of us can't afford a professional photographer, even as a good investment. Out of paid employment for a while.
Personally, I don't feel the need for an empowering portrait to feel ok about myself as a woman or person, though I do honestly see where you are coming from and value the art and skill of photography in professional terms and also artistic ones. I also recognise thatyou, as a professional photographer would most likely do a better job, but how necessary would that be in this case really?
It would be a pragmatic matter to get a decent enough one to pass muster for professional purposes.
I have a first-class degree and postgraduate qualification and lengthy professional experience in modern languages and yet I do not expect to be consulted where quick bit of googling will actually do. Though I would recommend websites like WordReference for more serious translation help.
Just finding my own voice again at the moment, so bear with?!
This is brilliant. Thanks Eleanor and 55 Redefined. It would be brilliant to see a cross section of roles available as I am sure our community has huge and varied experience. Also good to remember that recruiters ( and us) need to be less literal as many of our skills are transferable. I always say my super power is getting s..t done and can apply to any role really!
As and when, I will get back to you with anything I can think of as an indication of what is good and what could be better, as you mention.
The main thing I would need advice on is how to account for an absence from the workplace owing to illness and yet put across how much one can grow and develop as a person and in skills, life and other, and as a potential new job recruit after years away. With honesty and in a way that can be taken seriously. One does not necessarily stagnate as a person or what you learn and can still learn over the years because one is not in paid employment or have been ill.
I am not in a position - yet - to apply for a new job, but this does help me and no doubt others look forward.
I was in a specialist type of job in the Civil Service for years as a translator and do not have much recent experience of what it is currently like in the workplace, though I do read, listen, keep up to date with the news, relevant articles and campaigns and take an increasingly active interest with myself and my three 20-sonethibg daughters in mind, so I can empathise and also rejoice with them in their experiences.
I have learnt about the growth mindset by osmosis, it almost seems. My daughters are familiar with the (relatively recent?) concept, and it is a useful term to put a term to inchoate but hitherto unexpressed or properly identified thoughts about my own chamging and evolving attitude to work and life in general that I could not somehow express or articulate properly without the words being coined for them. That's a linguist's point of view for you - I am bound to say that maybe! And it probably shows how long I have been out of the paid workplace too.
Thanks, as ever, for this, Eleanor.
We need your voice, sometimes so we can find ours (again) too!
Dear Caroline - thanks for this! Hope it's helpful. We are only in the early stages of this partnership so any indication of what is good and what would be better would be great. I've asked them for some more senior jobs ... anything particular that anyone needs advice on? e