The Business Exchange Swindon & Wiltshire Edition 48: April/May 2020 | Página 16

SWINDON AND WILTSHIRE’S CREATIVES
Meet the creatives: a creative issue
By Fiona Scott
‘Creative’ can be a tricky word in business – for some it means something vague and woolly (how can anyone
have a career in that?), for others it points clearly to a certain type of business which has real value and for
others it refers to the little person sat at home making cards or jewellery – and this will often be a woman.
However, even if there are a bunch of people doing their
creative thing in a small way at home, the creative sector in
Wiltshire is diverse and worthy of celebration. Taken together,
the creative industries are thriving and are growing at five
times the average rate of the UK economy.
Given those statistics, it is also interesting to note the
emphasis in education and in business on STEM (Science,
Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) and the gradual
erosion of the ‘Arts’ from our school curriculum and from
our conversations. In Swindon, Carole Bent, known as
the Creative Catalyst and partner in David Bent Studio,
has begun a movement in the town to support the aims of
STEMtoSTEAM, raising awareness around the value the arts
bring to every community and every person. A pioneer to value
the arts alongside the other disciplines.
She said, “My strong belief in the strategic value and
growing importance of creativity in its widest sense underpins
my commitment to STEMtoSTEAM , locally, nationally and
internationally.”
Carole’s passion for the arts is borne out in the statistics. In
2017, the value of the creative industries to the UK economy
exceeded £100bn for the first time and by 2018 that had risen
to £111.7bn. The latter equates to around £12.7m per hour.
It is estimated there are now more than two million people
working in these sectors in the UK and 75 per cent of those
are outside London – one in eight UK businesses can be
classed as ‘creative’. The evidence suggests this rate of
growth will continue and even speed up further.
There are challenges though. Women are still not on a par
with men, particularly in more senior roles. Data analysis of
publicly-available information, about for example the film and
tv industry, has shown that there are more female pronouns
in use eg. “she” did this or it was ‘her’ role. That is until you
get to more senior roles including directors and producers or
executive producers. The percentage of women in the creative
sector has remained fairly static at around 37 per cent for
several years.
Let’s meet just a few of the characters who make up the
creative scene at home in Swindon and Wiltshire.
The photographers
Barbara Leatham of Barbara Leatham Photography, based
in Tilshead on Salisbury Plain. Barbara has been in business
for almost 13 years offering commercial, corporate and
branded photography. Neil Moore of Moore Photographics based near Marlborough. Neil
has run his photography business for several years and has his own
studio. He particularly enjoys photographing machinery of any kind,
landscapes, architecture, marine vistas and working within the
agricultural sector. He previously ran a website design business and it
was during that time he developed his photography skills.
Are you creative?
Absolutely. Each client is different, I
use my skills to capture images that
shows who they are as individuals, that
showcase their brand and values. If I
photographed everyone the same the
client might as well have gone to an
image library and bought off the shelf. Are you creative?
I would say that I and therefore the business
is creative by nature. Having worked with, my
then website design team, the photography
became an integral part of the service we
offered. As with great web design, the images/
photos used throughout a website needs to be
stimulating visually and tell the precise story
for that businesses, its products or services.
What does creative mean to you?
Having a good imagination and original
ideas, being expressive and often
thinking out of the box. Collaboration
with a client makes the creativity evolve
and you get great images unique to the
client.
How do ‘sell’ your creativity?
I like to talk to clients about the
multifaceted use of the images, not
only on their website, but also printed
materials, and importantly, social
media and PR. My background in
graphic design, and an understanding
of marketing always instilled the
importance of narrative in an image
for me, and I explain this before I do a
shoot.
I love to meet my clients before a
shoot and get to really know them, it’s
very personable.
I’ve been known to bring props,
anything that stops an image looking
stagnant.
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What’s the future for creative
businesses in your view?
For my industry personally, online
imagery is going to be even more
important than ever before. Businesses
should see great imagery as an
investment in raising their profile,
differentiating themselves and
projecting their brand and core values
to their clients. You have to stand out
from the crowd, draw people’s notice in
a positive engaging way.
What does creative mean to you?
Many of the projects I have worked on are
without a strict brief from the client. Therefore
I am tasked with producing images that sell
the product or service. To achieve this I need
to clearly understand the audience the client
is trying to target and therefore produce
a photograph aimed at them. In addition I
need to know where the photo is to be used,
whether I supply an image in landscape or
portrait format. To this end I can create the
photographs they can use in the medium they
require. In other words, I am creative however
there is still a process.
How do ‘sell’ your creativity?
I have over 20 years’ experience creating
visual solutions that have been used online
and in print. Creating successful images for
clients always puts a smile on my face and
makes me look forward to tomorrow.
With this experience I plan a shoot very
carefully. That way when on site I am efficient.
I use a tethered camera onsite so we
can quickly check the images match the
expectations and requirement, therefore not
wasting the client’s money.
What’s the future for creative
businesses in your view?
Now, more than ever it is important to stand
out from the crowd when trying to capture
the export market. Not only do we need to
produce/manufacture the best products,
we will also need to sell them. To sell them
we need to create images that appeal to the
demographics of the specific countries being
targeted and sold to.