Writing My Bio

In this post I will look at writing a bio and any challenges I faced in the process. I have considered my Unique Selling Point (from a creative standpoint) as well as language used to present myself both professionally, yet not too formally.

Writing my bio was quite difficult for me. At first, I struggled with recognising the difference between a bio and an artist’s statement, which I am also partway through writing. Both require information about my photographic/artistic work, however, looking more closely I could see a bio is supposed to be less formal and introduce other information about me as a person.

Realising this helped me with the content of the bio yet I still found the wording problematic. I wanted to keep the bio professional as possible because professional photographic practitioners would be looking at it, though I didn’t want to sound robotic. As well as this I wanted to get across my passion for photography, without going into too much detail about my practice (because the artist’s statement would do that). In the end I think I have arrived at a bio that treads these lines quite well.

My bio as it stands:

I’m Johnathan Hall, a landscape and street photographer based in London. While I used to concentrate on the landscape as a subject, now my photography incorporates people a lot more as I have come to realise the link between the two. Photography is very important to me and I like using it to highlight points which matter to me personally. One of these is Deptford, which has been local to me for many years; it has transformed drastically from what I remember growing up. Documenting parts of this regeneration process in (Re)constructing Deptford has enabled me to perceive these changes more acutely, and at the same time I’ve gained insight into how I feel about such developments.

I am enthusiastic about art, particularly photography, and connecting with people who share these interests is one area I am looking to strengthen. London has been my main muse for photography and I appreciate its size and diversity and the opportunities this can bring. In addition to this, I am aware of networking possibilities in London and elsewhere, which I am looking to exploit moving forwards.

Further information about writing my bio:

One of the criteria for writing a good bio which the course suggests is having a unique selling point (USP). I had to think about this from a creative standpoint and I came up with the following (fairly broad) USP. I honed in on the fact that a lot of my work is based in London and more specifically local to me, with the example of Deptford as my latest project. Combining this with my passion for photography and my interest in how my local urban area is changing constitutes my USP. 

I to’d and fro’d about including extra information about how I work when making composites. I thought about including the following: I feel my methodical way of thinking comes across in my images with the resultant composites reflecting my attention to detail and considered process. In the end I omitted it as it was maybe too self-confident. I might add something similar in the future though because it shows what kind of person I am to work with and adds to the USP.

Perhaps my bio is a bit on the short side, it is two paragraphs but they are quite short paragraphs. Even if they are short, they are quite succinct too, and so get across enough information. This has its positives and negatives. In one sense it is quickly to the point for time-strapped reviewers or curators, who might appreciate the reading time. In another sense, some areas of my bio as it stands could be expanded on, so I may update the bio in the future.

Writing the bio has already come in useful so I am glad I have written (a version) of it. I have used it on my website to make it look more professional on the Info page. Also, I used it when entering the Belfast Photo Festival photo competition.