on photography as a career
answers to your photography questions
This post is not my usual sprinkling of sunshine and nothing-but-everything moments, it’s for those that are into the mechanics of photography as a career. As promised on Instagram, here is the slightly longer-form version of the Q&A session that I held via stories; I receive a lot of questions about photography and industry experience and I thought it might be useful to have it to refer to. It’s a slight deviation from my usual post, and I’ve hovered over the publish button because it’s very personal and I don’t want anyone to assume that I think I know everything as I really, really don’t. The answers are my own opinions/views, formed over the 20 years that I’ve been a freelance photographer.
What is the best career advice you’ve received as a photographer?
find your own way. ignore the voice in your head that thinks you should try and be like everyone else or that there is a definitive way to do things. find your way of doing things - this can be applied to every aspect of taking pictures; the technical side, the artful bit, the business, whether to focus on a single subject or diversify, where/how you share your work, whether you do it for love or money or both
to shoot the stories you want to shoot and then find a home for them afterwards (rather than waiting for the 'perfect' assignment to fall in your lap, go get it) nb. this comes with the caveat that you can at least make steps towards shooting the stories you’d like. Ambition and idea can be bigger than what might actually be possible physically, financially etc but putting the word out is a very good starting point to making something real
show the work you want more of. If you want to build a career photographing flowers then start by photographing flowers and people will commission me to do that. If I want to photograph cats but only show photos of flowers then people will ask me to shoot more flowers
How do I find work in this world as a photographer with no ‘contacts’ in the industry? Tiny social circle.
reach out to the people who commission image-making; photo editors, design agencies, publishers etc, let them know you exist and that you'd like to be considered for work, pitch a proposal or just say hi and make that circle bigger. look for relevant competitions, call-outs and submission requests for independent magazines. It will be different people/outlets based on the industry you're interested in but the chances are they’re always looking for people to bring new perspective and though you might not be right for a job or assignment right now, but you might be a good fit in the future
look after those relationships, do a good job when you get the opportunity and (see the answer to the previous question) show the work you want more of
How do you find the motivation to begin projects?
To be truthful, motivation is not something I struggle with. However, if I am finding it difficult to know where to start on something I like to make lists and sub-lists (as you well know by now) and draw things out. Out comes the Big Paper. I prefer to start at the end point and work backwards but if that’s not possible I break things down into small bitesize and crucially, achievable chunks.
What is it actually like, being a photographer?
It’s putting people at ease and working with them to build a connection, the sharing of myself with another and the investment of time and trust. It’s the recognition that it doesn’t really matter but at the same time it really does. It’s reading interviews and articles to find the things that might want to be paired with visuals, paying attention to the words that are being said and interpreting them in a way that does them justice, it’s weaving them into pictures that only exist because I make them. It’s travel but not always in the way that people think; it’s motorways, industrial estates, breathing in on winding country roads, checking the forecast and sun-tracking apps. It is constantly referring to email threads and switching between zoom/teams/facetime calls and whatsapp chats with no set ‘office hours’. It is moodboards and questions and spreadsheets and mileage and covering bases just in case. It’s a diary that fills and empties on a whim with a balance sheet to match, it’s all the bits of running a business that nobody taught me when I first learned about aperture and shutter speed. It’s putting my heart onto a page or a screen, it is being part of history and recording moments that won’t ever exist again. It’s standing in a field on a Tuesday holding a shiny silver circle, or finding the right amount of pour or splash and getting just the right amount of movement of someone wedging a ball of clay. It is always trying to see as well as look, it is knowing when to press the button and when to hold back, it is trusting my gut when trying something new and trusting my gut because I’ve been at it for two decades. It is being a part of someone’s world for a few hours and making a lasting document of that. It is more often than not a pretty cool thing to do for a living but always quite bizarre when I stop to think about it.
How do you usually get in contact with people that you want to take a photo of?
literal answer: email or DM usually, whatever seems most appropriate for that person. As a general rule I try to stay out of DMs for ‘work’ because I like to keep conversation threads easy to navigate.
the answer I think you’re looking for: I haven’t
hadmade much time for reaching out and making personal work over the last few years so the subjects in front of my camera have largely been directed by the clients that come my way - all enriching, engaging and a very good fit for me. I’m slowly finding the time to make more projects that I’ve had more of a hand in creating. In this case I am trying to figure out a) what I am interested in photographing more of and b) how to try and make those things that feel good to shoot, also contribute to paying my bills. A salesperson I am not, nor am I particularly comfortable at pitching but I am teaching myself to be more active in pursuing the stories I’d like to tell…I am forever learning and constantly reminding myself to follow my own advice.
Should I specialise in one type of photography?
I’m going to repeat an earlier answer:
find your own way. ignore the voice in your head that thinks you should try and be like everyone else or that there is a definitive way to do things. find your way of doing things
What’s your dream project?
I love variety so I don't think there's one individual dream project, however these things I know:
my brain works in series so book projects & editorial story telling make me happy.
give me mud and earth and trees and sky and making sculptures from things that aren't traditionally seen as sculptures and weaving stems and shooting through paper that I can see through and watching people work/ make/craft and tracking the sun as it moves across a wall and clothing/garments that remind me of oil paintings and celebrating textures and dead/decaying vegetation. Give me aimless wandering in markets and hopping on and off trains/buses in Scandinavia and textures and seeing how colours behave and noticing the different ways that people organise their things and is that really a photograph or was it painted? Give me all the quiet, life-affirming moments in Japan, the tingling feeling when you come in the from the cold and all the different lichens on the rocks and the way that fabric drapes on a body and reeds and grasses and making smiling faces of flowers.
I’m into feelings and trying to move people through my art so the projects I like to work on really celebrate that.
If these words are useful to you please bookmark the post for later and share it with those that you think might benefit from reading.
Beautifully put
Wise words!