Wednesday, April 7, 2010

What to expect when getting into fashion photography....

Okay I thought to start off my blog I would write a bit about what might come in your way if you are interested in fashion photography or photography in general. I'm just to list a few thing's that you should consider giving up (if you are a teen or around my age) and also as just an older person.

List :
-you will fuck up your sleeping pattern a lot with all the retouching. Let's face this, it's a 24/7 job. You will always be on email/phone working with clients or working on your port. Prepare yourself to a lot of long nighters and drink lots of coffee.
-when you first start working on your portfolio, not everyone will be willing to do TF (testing) for free. You are new to this so get ready to throw down some cash if you want to create a banging portfolio. Unless you have family members who are stylist/makeup/hair and all that fun stuff and can hook you up with connections. When I first started testing, sometimes I would style my own shoots and do makeup/hair on my own. But lets face it , you're the photographer and sometimes you are just good at taking images.
-TEST A LOT! WITH MODELS!!! Everyone. It will help you a lot and you will learn how to work with teams and being more organized and it will help your book so you can later on start fishing for clients!
-You will need a lot of dedication to this industry. You probably wont be as social with your friends and if you go to school you will need to learn how to balance the two together. It's going to be hard at the beginning but all the sacrifice later on will pay off if you are very serious about it. If you are a teenager expect to start maturing quicker , because most of the people you will be working with , will be older then you and most likely have worked in the industry for a while (aka model agents).
-You will have to spend money on prints/portfolio. If you dont want that to look shitty, a leather port (which i would recommend) is roughly around 300$ , PLUS you want nice prints of your work when you go to speak to agents. You want to look professional.
-When you first start, you dont need to buy a 4000$ camera. Most of the images you take will all depend on your vision and how you work on the set. Your equipment being more expensive will not make your images look better.
-You're an item, you're your own business, learn how to sell yourself well.
-For inspirations try to learn your photographers, where it all started , who shoots how, take tips and advices from other photographers. Assisting could help a lot in the lighting department. You learn a lot about the business itself by just assisting other photographers.
-NETWORK NETWORK NETWORK!!!!!!!


If you have anymore questions, dont hesitate to ask! I hope this helped you guys!

2 comments:

  1. All very true tips, nice job Hanna. I am also 17 and have been shooting seriously with models and clients for a little while now as you have. I can definitely back you up on saying you do mature faster and absolutely HAVE to be committed. You do lose a good portion of your social life and friends, and balancing school and your photographic work is EXTREMELY hard. Pulling all nighters is another very good point. I have been on shoots that have gone till 3AM or even some that have gone as late as 5AM even after a full day of school/work. Also as you said editing will also keep you up very late. Adding onto the assisting photographers point if I may: a lot of studios are always looking for interns to help them take care of things that help the studio run smoothly. This means everything from cleaning bathrooms, windows, and dishes to shooting product shots for clients, helping out other photographers, and everything in between. Most internships are unpaid, but in exchange you will receive the opportunity to assist professional photographers, you will learn TONS about equipment, be introduced to models and other people in the industry, receive help training you as a photographer, and give you full access to the studio for your own shoots. That said if someone is interested in beginning this type of work they should definitely build up a small portfolio and look around for local studios to see what there is to offer. Sorry for rambling but I think what you are doing is absolutely incredible Hanna I know how hard it can be at times. I really wish you the best of luck and hope to continue to see your work in the future.

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