Breaking Into Fashion Photography

TABLE of CONTENTS
Part I
Intro
Part II
How to Market Your Fashion Photography
Part III
10
Part IV
35
PROFILES:
10
Breaking Into Fashion Photography & Finding Clients: Featuring Josh Wool
14
Social Media Tips for Aspiring Fashion Photographers: Featuring Lindsay Adler
19
Establishing a Successful Photography Brand: Featuring Jonathan Daniel Pryce
23
How to Manage a Fashion Magazine: Featuring Image Nation Studio
27
What Fashion Photo Buyers Want From Photographers: Featuring New York Magazines The Cut
31
The Five Biggest Mistakes Photographers Make When Submitting Their Work By Marius Troy
33
Approaching Model Agencies By Melissa Rodwell
Conclusion & Resources
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Breaking into fashion photography
Part I
Intro
What is fashion photography?
hotography is a driving force in the fashion industry. Designers, editors and brands rely on
photographers to come up with exciting ways to present new collections so they can share the latest looks
with the the world, whether its from the runway, in a
catalog, on a magazine cover, or even through blogs and
social media.
Fashion photography is as much about selling a lifestyle as it is selling a piece of clothing, so theres a lot of
room to let your creative side loose. If youve made it,
it can be a glamorous, fast-paced way to make a living
complete with travel to exotic locations and celebrity
elbow-brushing. But its also a highly competitive industry concentrated in a few select cities, so those who
want to make it to the topor even just survivemust
be tough and prepared to work hard to succeed.
The kinds of clients looking to work with fashion photographers include magazines, advertising agencies and
fashion labels and individual designers as well as retail
stores, models and modeling agencies and fashion bloggers. Like any area of specialization, fashion photography has several niches.
This guide will help you find where you and your
work might be best suited, as well as provide advice
on breaking into the industry, where to find work, how
to market yourself, and tips from experienced fashion
photographers who have learned important lessons
along the way.
Types of Fashion Photography
Even though fashion photography seems like a niche

already, some of the most successful fashion photographers are the ones whose work focuses even tighter
on one aspect of the industry or a certain style of photography. Whether you focus on street style, like Scott
Schuman of The Sartorialist blog, a certain type of
clothing (think menswear, swimsuits or accessories), or
a type of subject (real people models, children or celebrities), narrowing your focus will help you define a style,
strengthen your skills and become the go-to photographer in your chosen area.
Lets start by breaking down fashion photography into
some categories. Each requires a little different set of
skills, but many fashion photographers cross over to
work in several areas.
Editorial
Fashion magazines like Vogue, GQ, Elle, and Harpers

Bazaar dominate the newsstand and are still one of
the most highly coveted outlets for fashion photographers. Fashion magazines devote dozens of pages per
issue to editorial fashion stories, and many other types
of magazines publish regular fashion stories, including city magazines, health and fitness magazines, and
digital magazines. Each story has a theme, like a type of
clothing, color palate, or environment. Whether shot in
a studio or on location, the focus is on producing an engaging narrative, one that compels the reader to linger
and study the pageswhile also showing the clothing
and accessories in a flattering way.
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Catalog
Catalog images have a very clear missionto show

clothing and accessories in a clear, flattering way that
will inspire shoppers to buy. While this could mean
very straightforward product shots, there can be a lot
of room for creativity in catalog photography. Just
like fashion magazines, some designers and brands
also aim to tell stories with their catalog photography
by shooting on location or dreaming up creative sets
and environments.
Advertising
Fashion advertising photography can mean a wide

range of things, from straightforward magazine and
digital ads to over-the-top billboard campaigns and
everything in between. It can encompass high fashion
concepts or look more like catalog work depending on
the brand and goals of a particular campaign.
Events
Another area of fashion photography is covering happenings like fashion weeks, runway shows or celebritycentric events for media outlets, brands, trend analysis
agencies and blogs. Skills in photographing live events
are critical, but successful fashion event photographers
also need to be knowledgable and immersed in the industry so they know whats important to shoot during
what can be hectic, fast-paced events.
Fashion vs. Beauty vs. Portrait
Its also important to note that there is a distinction

between fashion photography, beauty photography and
portrait photography. Fashion photography is ultimately focused on clothing and style, often shown on models. Beauty photography is about promoting cosmetics
or hair products. Since beauty and fashion go hand-inhand, the line can blur. Many fashion and beauty photographers are capable of shooting either, but usually
focus on one or the other in the way they market their

work. Portrait photography is more about providing a
window into a subjects personality. It can involve fashion and beauty as a way to prop the subject, but the main
goal is about capturing the person, not the clothing.
Creative Ways to Bring In Income
Aside from working for magazines, brands and ad agencies, fashion photographers with entrepreneurial spirits
find other creative ways to earn money from their work.
London photographer Jonathan Daniel Pryce, for instance, earns income through brand partnerships that he
features on his popular blog garconjon.com. Pryce spun off
another of his blog projects, 100beards.tumblr.com, into a
book, and he also sells select prints through his website.
Aleksandor Tomovic and his partner Stephane Marquet started the digital magazine BelloMag.com as an
outlet for their photography. Today, its one of the top
digital magazines out there boasting 4 million readers,
and theyre now in a position to hire other photographers to produce stories for the magazine.
Other experienced fashion photographers, like Melissa
Rodwell, for example, have found a niche in educating
up-and-coming photographers about the business of
fashion photography. Rodwell co-founded Breed.com,
a subscription website that offers exclusive content, tutorials, workshops and mentor programs to members.
editors and assistantsto produce the vision together.

The photographer is usually looked to to communicate
the vision, direct the shoot and make sure all the team
members are on the same page.
As photographers, we get a lot of credit for what we do,
but every single photo is a result of teamwork, says Aleksandar Tomovic, a Los Angeles-based photographer and
founder and editor-in-chief of BelloMag.com. Once
you find the right match, it becomes very easy. Once you
have your team, theyll do anything for you and youll do
anything for them. To find that team, Tomovic recommends working with as many people as you can, often on
test shoots, to find out who you work well with. This also
helps build your network. A stylist you work well with
may recommend you to her clients and vice versa.
Where to Live
The fashion industry is clustered in a few major citiesNew York, London, Paris, Milanso if you aspire
to work your way to the top, living in one of these locations is almost a must. Youll have more opportunity
to network, but these cities attract top talent, so competition can be fierce. If you base yourself in another
city with a smaller fashion community, you might have
more ownership over the market there and become a
go-to photographer when out-of-town clients need a
local photographer. But with a limited pool of fashion
clients, it may be necessary to supplement your income
with other types of clients.
Producing a Fashion Shoot
Producing a fashion photo shoot, especially for a big

campaign or magazine story, is no small feat. The vision for a fashion photo shoot is usually a collaboration
between an art director and photographer, but making
it happen involves working with a team of people
models, hair and makeup artists, wardrobe stylists,
Part II
How to Market
Your Fashion
Photography
o matter where youre based, good marketing

skills and a solid promotional plan are essential
to building a career as a fashion photographer. Here
are a few key steps to marketing your work as a fashion
photographer:
1. Build a Niche
All the photographers we talked to stressed that some

of the most successful fashion photographers are the
ones with a strong voice and unique style. The best way
to develop that voice is to shoot as much as you can.
This usually means shooting for free at first to hone your
style, build technical skills and amass up a portfolio of
work to show potential clients.
If youre a young photographer with no published work,
offer to take test shots of models for a local modeling
agency, then use a portion of the shoot to take some
shots youd like to have in your portfolio. If youd
like to break into another city, offer to shoot tests for
modeling agencies there. Find a young designer who
is willing to trade photos for clothing, or produce your
own shoots with friends, suggests Tomovic. Most of
those times you wont get paid and will actually spend
money and never make this money back, but the reality
is that, like any artist, you need to invest in your art
and be creative and show other people what you can
do, he says.
The most successful fashion photographers are the ones

with a strong voice and unique style.
2. Take to the Web
Once you have a body of work youre proud of, its

important to build an Internet presence that shows
your best work. There are many ways to do this, from a
traditional website to a blog to social media, and all can
be effective, but Pryce recommends focusing on a few
channels more heavily that fit your work. If you shoot a
lot of live fashion week events, Twitter could be a great
way to get noticed. If you have an ongoing project with
a narrow focus, a blog might be for you.
If there is one channel that photograhers cant ignore
today, it is Instagram. There are Instagram bloggers
that are Instagram-famous and have a million followers
and they don't even have a stand-alone blog or website,
says Pryce. Tumblr is also popular with photographers
and clients; for New York photographer Josh Wool,
a Tumblr blog is what got him noticed by PDN
editors, who named him one of 30 new and emerging
photographers to watch in 2014.
3. Direct Mail and Email
Despite the explosion of social media, traditional direct

mail, email marketing and even cold calling can still be
effective ways to get on the radar of potential clients. You
can assemble your own list of art directors and creative
buyers by researching online or at the newsstand, or sign
up for a service like Agency Access, which gives access
to a high-quality database. Wool sends a regular email
blast to potential clients and follows up with a personal
email requesting to set up a meeting. I generally find
that if I can get in front of somebody, I have really
positive results, he says.
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You need to have persistence, says Tomovic. You'll be

sending your work to magazine or potential clients and
you won't hear back from a majority of them for a long
time. But once you batten that door down enough, they
will come.
4. Work with an Agent
IV
While more and more fashion photographers, like

Pryce, are building successful careers without signing
with an agency, working with an agent is still a great
option. Agencies will be able to give you advice on
where they see your work placed in the market, says
Pryce. They will have a broader overview of what's
current and what other people are doing. Wool just
signed with an agency because he wanted to have
someone advocate for him and open some doors that
might not open from just an email directly from him.
Also, the fact that they can take care of the business
side is a huge relief for me, says Wool.
So how do you get an agent? First, do your research and
find agencies that specialize in the type of photography
youre interested in doing. Send each agent a brief
introduction email with a link to your work and ask
to set up a meeting. If you dont hear back, send a
brief follow-up email. If you still dont hear back, they
probably arent interested, but if you land a meeting,
use it as an opportunity to interview them as well. You
want an agent who you feel you can trust, who has your
best interest in mind and who is genuinely interested
in helping you build your career. Dont be afraid to ask
questions about how the relationship will work.
photo credit: Image Nation Studio
Profile
Breaking Into
Fashion
Photography
& Finding Clients
Featuring Josh Wool
fter hand surgery left fashion and lifestyle photographer Josh Wool no
choice but to give up a successful career as a chef, he picked up a camera
and started taking really bad photos. He discovered a love for shooting people,
and after moving from Charleston, N.C. to New York City two years ago, he
decided to try to parlay his budding photography skills into a new career. In two
short years he started to amass an impressive Tumblr following and was named
one of 2014 New and Emerging Photographers to Watch by PDN. Although
the heart of his work is portraiture, hes also been picking up fashion clients who
like his subtle approach. Josh shared how he broke into the competitive New
York photography scene and how he plans to build on his early successes.
How would you describe your style of photography?
A lot of people describe it as quiet, which is pretty accurate. I try to find genuine, quiet moments where you're really going to catch someone's personality. It's very simple
and clean. It's not loud and in your face. It's more subtle
and allows for more of a connection with the subject.
www.JoshWool.com
twitter.com/JoshWoolPhoto
instagram.com/JoshWool
JoshWool.tumblr.com
Did you move to New York to pursue a career in

photography?
It was part of it. I moved up on a whim, and I got offered
a chef job here, but very shortly after getting here I decided I didn't want to be a chef anymore. I had this idea
in my head before I moved that I really wanted to get into

photography and I figured if I was going to do it, New
York was the place to make it happen. I had some money
saved up and I sold my car. I spent the first year trying to
figure out how I wanted to shoot and what I wanted to
shootessentially finding a voice. Then the second year I
started feeling a lot more comfortable and started making
the pictures I wanted to make. Now that I have the photography figured out, Im focusing on the business side.
Who were some of your first fashion clients?
I have a friend who has a clothing line, and she asked
me if I could do a look book. Initially it was a trade but
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it pretty quickly turned into some paid work with her.

I ended up doing three or four for her and doing some
other assignments along the way. I also did a bunch of
ecommerce work for a high-end swimsuit line. It's been
a sort of slow, natural progression into fashion photography. I ended up doing some work for JCPenny and then
most recently I did a menswear line called The Hill Side.
There's been this trend in fashion photography of really

loud, flashy photos, and I think that is starting to shift.
How are clients using your work?

The clients that are approaching me like the style of
portraiture I do, and I think they want that intimate
touch. I think they're looking for something a little
different. There's been this trend in fashion photography of really loud, flashy photos, and I think that is
starting to shift. They want people who are a bit more
real. A lot of the work on my website is personal work.
I think the clients see that genuine honesty in the
photos and they want to bring that into their fashion
aspect of it. They want a way for their clientele to connect to the product.
How did the PDN article come about? How did you
get noticed by them?
One of the editors saw some of my work through Tumblr. Tumblr's been huge for me, just the reach that it's
given me. I think 90 percent of the work that I've gotten
is from people seeing it through Tumblr. Im also on Instagram and Facebook to help expand my online presence.
Do you have a strategy for what youre posting on social media?
I use Tumblr as a visual diary. I show things that I'm
working on from day to day. I try to post as least one
photo credit: Josh Wool
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photo per day, but it doesn't always happen. My Tumblr

has more than 20,000 people following it. It's a way to
to give people a reminder that you're there.
What else do you do to market your work?
I'm getting ready to start a big print push with postcards. I also do email promotions every month where
I push out 4 or 5 emails to different brands, marketing
directors, art directors, or photo editors.
Do you have any dos or don'ts for someone trying to
break into fashion photography?
I think the biggest piece of advice I could give to anyone is to be patient. It's not been an easy process. It's
accelerated at a pretty rapid rate, but day to day it feels
like nothing's going on sometimes, especially the first
year that I was here. It's easy to get frustrated and discouraged, but you just have to remember that it takes
time and it takes a lot of work and a lot of endurance to
push through it. A lot of people come to New York and
nothing happens in the first six months and they get
really discouraged and they quit. That's not a good way
to start a business. You have to be dedicated to it and
be willing to put in the work on the promotional side
of it as well as have a product somebody wants to buy.
Also what I've found is that people really just want to
work with people they like. There are so many talented
photographers out there, especially in New York. It's so
saturated with creative people that your personality really
comes into play a lot of times. For some clients, it comes
down to whether they want to spend time on a project with someone they like or someone they don't like.
That's the biggest mystery that I've figured out so far.
It's also saying no to things. It sounds sort of counterproductive, but I shot a few things when I first got here that
I really wish I never did and wish that my name wasn't
on. It's hard to turn down a paycheck but if you can't live
with it at the end of the day, if you're not proud of the
work, then it's not worth doing. It's not always the best
decision financially, but for me I can sleep at night, and
I'm proud of everything I put out. That's a big one for me.
Do you have a dream client or type of client?
I would say in the fashion world, I'm definitely moving more towards menswear. We'd all love to shoot for
Vogue or New York Times Magazine, but for me at this
point, there are some menswear companies that I'd
love to shoot campaign work for. I'd like to get into
a more of editorial portraits for magazines. I'd love
to shoot for a Levi's or Converse, or even Red Wing
Boots. Products that I like and believe in would be
great. I think the big challenge for me is trying to find
that balance between art and commerce, and how to
apply the work into that situation. Finding the right
art directors and the right creative buyers, that's a big
thing for me right now.
How are you doing that? You say you get a lot of work
through Tumblr, but are you also directly contacting
potential clients?
My plan now is to change that from a very passive marketing plan to an active marketing plan, and really go out
and try to set up meetings. I generally find that if I can
get in front of somebody I have really positive results. I'm
just starting to do direct mail promotions. I signed up for
a service that gets me into a database of email addresses
for creative directors and art buyers. So I'll send out an
email blast, and and from there I'll send them a personal
email expressing an interest to work set up a meeting. I

just signed with an agency so I'm going to sit down with
them and talk about marketing strategy as well.
Why did you decide to go with an agency?
I've got momentum building with PDN and some other
things that have been going on lately. I had five agencies
contact me all at once about representation. The mar-
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ket is so saturated, so I did it to have someone who can

help advocate for me and possibly open some doors that
might not open all the way with just an email from me.
Also, because I don't have years of experience as an assistant or bidding jobs, the fact that they can take care
of the business side is a huge relief. On some accounts
the negotiation goes back and forth, and sometimes it
can sour a relationship before it even starts. For me to be
able to just come in and shoot and give the client what
they want is a huge draw. By no means am I thinking
that if I sign with an agent that it's all going to get easier.
I'll have to work just as hard on my end of it, but it's
someone who can provide guidance in a business sense
and give me ideas of how to market myself better.
Any other advice for aspiring fashion photographers?
You have to believe in yourself. You have to believe that
you can do it despite the odds. I think the biggest thing
that really helped me the most is having an original
voice and never trying to make somebody else's photograph. You see a lot of people who are doing the same
style of photograph, and it's all become very homogeneous in some ways. If you're doing something a little
different, it tends to stand out, no matter what style it
is. I think being original and not being afraid to take a
few risks here and there are a big help.
It looks like the risk you took is paying off.

I'm still blown away that I am where I am today. Some
things are starting to take off, and the PDN thing was
a huge surprise, so it's been rewarding. It makes me feel
like all of the scraping by and counting pennies to pay
rent is paying off.
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Profile
Social Media
Tips for Aspiring
Fashion
Photographers
Featuring Lindsay Adler
indsay Adler, a New York based fashion and portrait photographer,

knows how to do social media. Not only does she have a solid following
of over 37K on Twitter and almost 40k on Facebook, but she wrote a book on
how to make it happen.
Lindsays career really began after she sold her first
photo, taken on a family vacation to the Grand Tetons
when she was about twelve years old. The picture, captured with a Canon Rebel 2000, earned her $150 for
use in a calendar, and defined how she saw photography: not just a hobby, but a career. And shes taken it
seriously ever since.
like how much time they spent on social, and how they
grew their followings.
Lindsays success in social media is the product of both

gumption and follow-through. Heres how Lindsay established a voice, built an audience, and continues to
maintain a social presence that makes her fashion clientele pay attention.
And I try to judge, based on other people I follow,

what I find annoying versus what post volume it takes
to keep someone in my thoughts. For me I post across
channels probably three to ten times a day. On Instagram I try to post once or twice a day unless Im
doing something interesting. I like to post to Twitter one to three times a day, and on Facebook one to
three times.
How did you develop and execute such an effective social media strategy?
www.lindsayadlerphotography
blog.lindsayadlerphotography.com
facebook.com/lindsayadlerphotography
@lindsayadler
lindsayadler_photo
About seven years ago, in 2008, I wanted to understand

social media better. I knew it was going to be important. So I decided to write a book about it, even though
I didnt have the expertise yet.
I did research online and found people with the most
followers or popularly read blogs, and then I started
doing interviews. I didnt go into the interviews with
any preconceived notions. I asked people questions,
I wrote the book that same year, based on what those

people said. Then I just did what they taught me. I was
able to make it happen by doing my research and following up on it.
How did you tailor your social use for the fashion industry?
For the fashion industry in particular you always hear
that its who you know that determines success. For
successful use of social media in the fashion industry
you dont have to know a ton of people, you have to
make yourself known to them.
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And remember, youre not trying to get a connection

with a business, youre trying to make a connection
with a person. Whether its a creative director or buyer,
a photo editor or an editor in chief, theyre all individuals. If you go around tweeting at a magazine page as
your business identity it will just blend in or seem like
spam. If you can target the individual that makes buying decisions, thats your in.
And remember, youre not trying to get a connection

with a business, youre trying to make a connection
with a person.
How do you find those individual fashion photography

buyers on social media?
I havent yet found an easy solution. A lot of my searching doesnt happen on Instagram if Im looking for
someones Instagram account. I will search someones
name plus Instagram (or Twitter or LinkedIn) on
Google. Right now its just a lot of leg work.
What I also do is keep a doc, on my Google drive, of
all the places I want to work for and all the creatives at
those places, plus their Instagram accounts, their Twitter accounts, etc.
Right now Instagram is huge for fashion. It plays into
visuals. I meet models all the time on set, theyre usually between 18 and 20 years old, and they dont have
Facebook. They dont do it anymore. It blows my mind
because it seems like such a staple of interaction.
I also use Agency Access, which is a service that you
pay a premium for in order to get the names of people in certain industries that you maybe couldnt have
found otherwise. Once you have the names, the next
step is finding them on social media and connecting
with them.
photo credit: Lindsay Adler
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Once youve found fashion photography buyers on social, how do you interact with them?
I like to comment on someones photo, say something
insightful, or make a note of something specific. If
someone went to a gallery or a museum I can recommend another thats similar. When I have a picture
that I think they might like, I include them in the
description or tag them in it, and invite them to check
it out.
I also do research on some social channels like LinkedIn, and send a personalized message on other channels that are more welcoming. So when I want to
send a personalized message Ill go through Instagram. By looking at someones Instagram account I
can find out what they like, what they do, and what
theyre interested in. Then I can start a conversation
based on that.
Truthfully people love to talk about their lives. They
love to know people are paying attention and care
about them. If you can talk to them, if youve done your
research, thats going to catch their attention. If I can
say to someone that I was following them on Instagram
and loved that they were drawn to a certain aesthetics, I
can add that I think I could offer them what Id seen in
their photos. Something like that.
How do you decide what kind of content will work for
your own social channels, as a fashion brand?
Im constantly checking out where my clients are and
what theyre posting. Everything is always changing,
Facebooks algorithms are constantly changing. If I post
a status update on my Facebook page no one sees it. No
matter what I want to share I have to include a photo.
For example, if I post a status update of something

that I did, a cool shoot with someone, it might get two
thousand views. Whereas if I post a picture of me on
set, or a picture of my client getting her makeup done,
that might get eight thousand. Its night and day.
Facebook though is valuable to me, business wise, for

a few reasons. Even though Im a fashion photographer a lot of my business is portraitssingers and
athletes. I can tag people and have the potential to
get referrals.
Currently I cant post multiple photos in an album at

once, either. The posts that get the most views are the
ones that are posted directly to my feed.
For example theres a jewelry company that Id love to

have hire me. The other week I did a spec shot with
their jewelry. I got a model, photographed the model
with the jewelry, and tagged the company in the social
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post. It wasnt spam, because it was actually their jewelry.

I followed up on the post with an email to make sure
theyd seen it.
Tumblr tends to attract more of the fashion bloggers,
and thats not exactly what Im targeting at the moment, but it could be a valuable outlet for others.
How do you track your success?
Facebook insights have improved dramatically so
that helps me to be able to focus my efforts. I also use
Hootsuite and Google Analytics, and the built-metrics
on the individual sites that Im using.
What metrics are important to me are shares, reposts
and comments. Likes are good but likes just tell me
that people have acknowledged seeing a post. Comments and shares say that someone has made an effort
to interact with my brand.
A lot of analytics Im looking for are how many eyes are
coming across my work and at what time of day, which
helps me to focus my efforts.
What about the recent changes to Facebook that are pushing some photographers to use their personal profiles again,
as opposed to pages, in order to have their posts seen?
I really enjoy my Facebook page as a chronicle of my
work and a way to share with others. I still use it heavily for that. Yet Facebook isnt about collecting likes,
its about engagement. While I use my Facebook page
to share my behind-the-scenes, what I am up to, etc., I
also use my personal profile. My profile I use to friend
potential clients and former clients as a way to build
and maintain relationships.
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Remember, the main goal of social media is to build

relationships, so your personal profile is important.
At the moment, when I post something to my business page, I still tag myself and share to my personal
profile to make sure my essential audience sees my
newest work.
Whats a definite win when it comes to posting for a
fashion audience?
People really interact with the behind-the-scenes posts.
Giving people a peek at how you workwhich other
photographers are always fascinated byshows clients
how you are on set. I always try to show some fun as
well as professionalism.
And video. Video gives another dimension to your
behind the scenes workflow, especially for interaction.
For me my behind the scenes videos are very popular and get re-shared by different fashion blogs all the
time. They dont do it with single photos, they do it
with videos.
The video doesnt have to be complex, an Instagram
video works to show what you're like. I did mine in
iPhoto, and its very formulaic. Id do a closeup of the
makeup on set, then the makeup being done. A quick
overview of the set. Then you see my face; a shot over
my shoulder and a shot of the model posing and then
a shot of me laughing with my clients. The end. Pretty
much the same every time.
You figure out what you want to share as your brand
and you put that in every video. Then you can put those
videos in a video tab or a behind-the-scenes tab on
your website.
Any surprises from your social posts?

My biggest job came from Pinterest. It was a huge budget. The clients were looking to build a mood board for
their company. And instead of reinventing the wheel
they just wanted to hire the photographer who took the
photo that their client liked from the mood board. So
they reached out to me.
The important thing about Pinterest is having your
work out there and tagging it well. When it comes to
tagging think of the words that describe the work and
what someone might search for. I look at whats popular
and descriptive, #summerfashion or #tropicalfashion,
for example.
and Dos?
Its really easy to keep track of contacts youve made on
set now if you tag them in your behind the scenes shots.
Everyone wants to be Instagramed, so all you do is ask
everyone on set if you can tag them in your picture. Then
you have this permanent record of who was on your set.
And dont feel afraid of sharing. A lot of photographers
are perfectionists and are afraid of never being good
enough, they always feel that they can be better. I feel
like the next photo I post will always be better, so if I
waited for my best it would never come. I realize that
its more important to put work out there than to feel
that Im perfect.
What are some definite donts for fashion photographers using social?
One major dont is posting something on social that
youre hoping to sell. You dont want to post anything
that looks too similar to the final product. Because
if you post a photo that looks anything like the final
product most magazines wont want to run it anymore.
You've already published it.
Make sure that when youre posting things from on set
it really looks like its on the setinclude a makeup
brush, a light, a backdrop.
Also dont complain. If any of your media outlets can
see you complaining then they feel like you're going
to bring that to your interactions with them. I see
photographers do way too much complaining. I see
it nonstop.
18
Profile
Establishing
a Successful
Photography
Brand
Featuring Jonathan Daniel Pryce
ashion photographer Jonathan Daniel Pryce first made a name as a

blogger in 2008 with Le Garcons de Glasgow, Glascow, Scotlands
leading street style blog. Now based in London, Pryce has continued to hone
his focus on menswear and street style through his blog garconjon.com and
the 100 Beards project, where he photographed a new beard on the streets of
London for 100 days. He shoots for major fashion brands and retailers, trend
analysis agencies and magazines like Mens Health, GQ and Esquire. Here he
shares how he used blogs, social media and old-fashioned networking to carve
out a niche as an on-trend menswear photographer.
How did you get started in photography?
I actually studied marketing, and I did a year abroad
as part of my degree in New York at the Fashion Institute of Technology. It was the same year that Scott
Schuman had his first exhibition with The Sartorialist,
the street style blog. I thought it was a great way to
showcase people and a city and have this narrative between style and what was happening at a certain time
and place. I took courses in photography to supplement
my degree, and when I returned to Glasgow, I set up a
blog called Le Garcon de Glasgow to document street
style in Glasgow.
www.garconjon.com
facebook.com/JonathanDanielPrycePhotography
twitter.com/garconjon
instagram.com/garconjon
I started taking photographs every day, which was a big

step between working in these extra classes and actually doing something where I thought there was a de-
mand to see work on a regular basis. It was probably the

biggest learning curve I had in photography. It started
to snowball quite quickly, because it was around 2007
when blogging was just starting. Brands were trying
to capitalize on this new thing without really knowing
how to use it. So I did a lot of brand collaborations quite
early on, which gave me insight into how clients wanted
to work with me and how great the opportunity of blogging was in terms of getting your name out there.
How did you start to develop your brand as a menswear photographer?
After I moved to London, I changed the blog from Le
Garcon de Glasgow to GarconJon.com and started doing only mens lines. I focused on menswear because
pinterest.com/garconjon
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photo credits: Jonathan Daniel Pryce
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it was something I was more interested in and also it

would stand out more and have a stronger voice. Then
I started the new project, 100 Beards, on Tumblr. Those
two things cemented me as being focused on menswear. That step forward naturally led to more clients in
menswear learning about me and hiring me.
How would you describe your work?
Because I started with street style, there are a few things
you can really see in my work. I think the subject is really importantit's really about the person equally, if
not more, than the clothes they're wearing, even when
I'm working with a brand. A lot of time with clients, I'll
either suggest using real models or I'll intentionally use
models who I think have an interesting story, or their
face tells an interesting story. I also try to shoot on location because I love using different environments, and
I love the challenge of working with the weather and
lighting. So I think authentic would be one of the key
words to describe my work.
Who are your main clients?
I work mainly with brands. I chose not to go the agency
route mainly because my blogs have been so successful,
which means I don't really need an agency to find clients. Although I don't do big campaigns because I don't
have an agent, I do a lot of really interesting creative
work directly with fashion brands or retailers. I also do
blog-specific projects. I work with brands to create content for my blog, which is exclusive to them and me but
isn't for their look book or for editorial for a magazine
specifically. The other work I do is all the traditional
work of being paid to deliver photos for a client.
I was aware of what was happening in the blogosphere

and I capitalized on that gap.
What are your tips for starting a fashion photography
blog today? How do you stand out now that there are
so many?
Choose to blog about something that you're really passionate about. That sounds like an obvious tip, but it's
true, because if you're going to build up a following,
or even just to get a blog looking good, it takes a long
time. It's a lot of time that isn't paid directly and you
don't necessarily get a huge response at first. The second
thing is to know the market already. For example, with
the beard project, that was just great timing, where I
hit a trend on the head and no one else was doing a
blog like that. So I was aware of what was happening in
the blogosphere and I capitalized on that gap as well as
something that had a larger cultural conversation going
on. It was proof that if you select a topic that you're
both interested in and also has a wider interest, then
this snowball will grow in size a lot faster.
Also work hard at it. Blogging is a good example of
the more hours you put in the more you get out of it,
so it needs to be consistent. You need to be building a
relationship with your readers and doing it as regularly
as possible. There's not point of posting once a month
because no one is going to come back and check.
How do you build a following?
Id recommend using as many social media channels
as possibleInstagram, Twitter, Facebookand also
experimenting with things like Vine and YouTube. I

would say select three or four channels; I'm on all of
those channels and I'd say two or three out of those five
I use regularly. Instagram is a key one for nowI've
been on Twitter for six years and I've got 5,000 followers, but I've been on Instagram for a year and have
11,000 followers.
I'd also recommend connecting to other users who have
similar interests. Maybe you like red t-shirts, so follow
other people who like red t-shirts. Start a conversation
with them and ask them to retweet you or reblog your
posts to try to get their followers seeing what you're doing.
I also think people forget about connecting with people
in real life. I'll go for a coffee with other bloggers, or I
go to events, and if I see someone I recognize from Instagram, I'll introduce myself. As much as social media
is great, reinforcing it with real-life contact is invaluable.
What is your current strategy on GarconJon.com?
GarconJon.com is a place for me to keep a dialogue
going and keep my clients seeing what I'm up to. I post
mainly street style; the majority of photographs are
from fashion weeks in London, Milan and Paris. I also
post about products I'm interested in. This is a business
arrangement in a way because some of the products I
choose are from brands that I work with. I also shoot
my own editorial. That's my experimental workme
being able to work with models I want to or working
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with a stylist I'm interested in or just being creative and

fun, which always gives me fresh work to show clients.
Then the other stuff I post is brand look books, exclusive to my blog. It's where I work with a brand to shoot
something they wouldnt necessarily use as their main
campaign images but are still interesting and sharable
across social media.
How are you getting new clients these days?
I'd say 70 to 80 percent of them contact me. They will
recognize me or they will see me through a contact.
We'll exchange business cards and then I will follow up
and that will lead to them being a client. Or they contact me directly through email or Twitter. I've had really big clients contact me through Twitter. If there's a
brand that I'm particularly interested in, I'll send them
an email that says, I love what you're doing, I love your
clothes and I saw your shop, it's great. I'd love to talk to
you about what you're up to at the moment. That will
usually lead to a coffee or chatting.
The great thing about fashion is it's quite a small world,
so everyone does know everyone. Even though London is
a huge city, you still end up knowing five or six people in
common. I don't want to sound too flippant about it, but
in a way it's quite easy to build up more contacts because
I'm staying within the one industry. If I were to move into
trying to shoot for something different, I wouldn't know
where to go, but with fashion, once the ball starts rolling
it kind of keeps going in the right direction.
What are a few tips you wish you knew when you started?
When I first started, I wish I'd known what client expectations were. A lot of the time I get briefs that are really
broad, and that's great because creatively I can do what I
want, but that means I can potentially have 200 images I

love and 199 of them could not be what the client wants.
So pen down exactly what the client wants, over deliver
as much you can so they're impressed and want to work
with you again, but don't be taken advantage of.
On top of that, don't be scared to ask for money. A lot
of the time photographers work for free, and I did too. I
think it's definitely something that you have to do, and
I still work for free on things I want to do. But I know
a lot of photographers who have been working for free
for way too long. There's kind of an expectation in creative industries that it's something we like to do so we'll
do it for nothing, which is not right.
I think having a strong voice in terms of your style isn't
something you should shy away from. Early on I decided
that I wasn't going to try to be everything to everyone. I
can do studio shoots, event photography, street style or
location shoots, but I'm not going to put that all on my
website because I don't enjoy every one of those things
equally and I don't want to be seen as a jack of all trades
and master of none. If you take street style as an example, rarely do I show someone staring at a camera in the
middle of the street, which is what the majority of street
style photography is about. I tend to do something which
looks more like what you would find in an editorial in a
magazine. They have a more considered air about them.
credit: Jonathan Daniel Pryce
Any last tips for new photographers trying to break

into the fashion industry?
I think one of the main things, which sounds generic,
is don't be scared. When I would read Vogue in high
school miles away from the Vogue offices, I remember
thinking how far away it felt. But actually it's a lot closer than you think. Just put yourself out there.
22
Profile
How to Manage
a Fashion
Magazine
Featuring Image Nation Studio by Alek and Steph
riginally from France, Aleksandar Tomovic and Stephane Marquet are

the successful fashion photography team behind L.A.-based Image
Nation Studio, as well as the founders of bellomag.com, a leading digital entertainment and fashion magazine. We talked to Alek about why they started
a magazine, where fashion photographers should live, and how to bluff your
way to your first professional job.
You have a business background and Steph was a chef.
How did you decide to become a photography team?
www.AlekandSteph.com
My job at the business school was not very creative for

me. I was looking for an outlet to do something different. Steph, who is my life partner, didnt want to work
as a chef, so he worked for an airline for a few years,
traveling the world and taking photos. He was getting
published in some magazines and exhibits in Europe.
Around 2005, we decided that we wanted to put our
creative sides together and work as a team. We already
had a personal blog where we were talking about things
we were doing and publishing some of our photography. It was the perfect tool for self-promotion. As much
as I think blogs are becoming a thing of the past today,
at that time they were the best way to spread the word
about one's creative project.
instagram.com/AlekandSteph
www.BelloMag.com
www.appstore.com/BelloMag
How did you and Steph get your first professional client?
We kind of fell into it. We went to a fashion show and
met a French celebrity. I talked to him and asked if hed
like to do a photo shoot together. I told him I know

people at this amazing magazine, and they would love
to have him in it. At the time, I really didn't have it.
It was a bluff. I pitched the idea to a British magazine
called Refresh. They actually paid 5,000 euros for that
photo shoot to two people who had never done photography ever before professionally. With the money, we
bought professional equipment. Once the photo shoot
was done, it became a best-selling issue, and about six
months later, the British Museum contacted us and
said they'd like to use the photo in an exhibit. From
there on we went to photo shoots for Men's Health and
other European magazines.
Why did you end up starting your own magazine?
We didn't have enough places and enough magazines
to publish the photos we wanted to be taking. So we
started a magazine, and we called it Bello. We decided
to do it digitally because I had this vision that eventually in a few years there would be a tablet or something
that people would use to read magazines and books
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on. The rest is history because two years later the iPad
changed the market completely.
The magazine evolved and we moved from Paris to Los
Angeles. We met some very creative people and started
introducing celebrities in our magazine simply because
it was a switch in fashion photography. Most of the supermodels and people we were photographing before
couldn't bring as much interest and publicity to the
magazine as a celebrity could.
How do you balance your photography work with the
magazine?
The magazine takes most of our time. It's our baby and
something that we really devote probably 80 percent of
our time to. The other clients get 20 percent.
Does the magazine help you get other clients?
Yes, most of the people notice our work in the magazine, then get on our website and then contact us
through that. We also get some clients through Instagram and recommendations from people we've worked
with before.
Do you hire other photographers?
Yes, we do. We publish about 10 exclusive photo stories
every issue and probably six or seven of them are of
celebrities and three to four are independent fashion,
beauty, lifestyle stories or sports stories. We work with
photographers around the world. We do one or two
photo shoots a month ourselves and the others are done
by people we work with.
What do you look for in the photographers you hire for

the fashion shoots?
to make sure that whomever we are working with has

already done a similar kind of story before.
If the photographer is in one of the major cities where we

have our teams, we then look at the things they've done
before so we know what we can get as a result. If somebody's comfortable doing a certain style were looking for,
we'd probably go to that person first rather than trusting
somebody who has never done that style. This wasn't the
case before, but now as the magazine has grown, we need
If they are in a city where we dont have a team, then

they need to have a great team and great access to creative
people that they can work with to produce a photo shoot.
If it's somebody that weve worked with before, then
well either tell them our concept and hire the stylist and
approve the models, or we just tell them to run with it,
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and once the final product is done, we'll make a decision

if we're going to publish it or not. That's how we test
photographers at the beginning. We tell them to send
existing fashion stories they've already done or something they want to produce for one of our upcoming
issues. Then the decision is made after the photo shoot is
produced. Its very hard to trust somebody unless we see
the final result or something that they've done before.
How do you find new photographers?
We don't go through agencies anymore. We find them
on Instagram or in some of the magazines that we follow. Or they see our work and contact us.
Producing a fashion shoot is a team effort that involves
models, hair and makeup artists, wardrobe stylists, etc.
Do you have any tips for finding a good team?
When you're starting, I always say to people to work
with as many creative people as you can. Just get as
many projects as possible, and very often you're not
paid for these kinds of projects, but use them as an
opportunity to work with as many different people as
possible. You have to try and see, and sometimes you'll
find that you don't click with certain people and sometimes you'll see that this is the right team for you. After almost six years here in Los Angeles, I have about
seven or eight different teams that I love working with.
Those didn't come to me by chance. I was looking out
for people. I was searching on PhotoShelter to see what
photographers were producing, and then I would try to
figure out what magazines they work with and which
people they collaborate with. Then I would approach
these people and ask them if theyd like to collaborate.
That's how I discovered most of the team.
I always say to people nothing comes overnight. It

takes years to find the right people, to become very
comfortable with your technical skills, with your art
skills and what you want to portray in your art. The
best advice I could give is just to be creative as much
as you can, every day, and work with as many people
as you can just to practice. Once you find the right
match, it becomes very easy. Once you have your
team, they'll do anything for you and you'll do anything for them.
Do you think fashion photographers need to be based

in one of the major fashion cities, like New York, Paris,
London or Milan?
You have to figure out what kind of industry is in your
city and also if there is any other industry that can be
brought from another city to your city. Because if you are
at odds with what people do in your city, it's going to be
very hard to succeed. If you're trying to become a successful fashion photographer, a few years ago I would say
never come to L.A. Now things are slowly changing. But
for anything fashion-based, New York, Paris, London or
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Milan would still be the best cities where most of the jobs
are. At the same time, those are the cities where the highest competition is. So you have to find a balance between
the two and find your place in whatever you want to do.
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Are there any things you know now that you wish you
knew when you were starting?
There are so many different businesses that need photography, and they all function in different ways. I just
wish I understood from the beginning that if you want
to make business out of it you need to figure out which
one you want to be part of and then work toward that
particular goal. Very often people end up doing events
and weddings because they don't put enough time in to
develop a particular direction. I'm not saying there is
anything wrong with being an event or wedding photographer, but I've seen so many photographers that
come into this business for something else and they end
up doing something that they don't want to be doing.
Whatever you decide you want to do, you have to go
into that direction if you want to succeed.
What tips do you have for someone who wants to break
into fashion photography today?
Fashion is a different beast from anything else out there.
Photographers have to be very brave if they go into the
fashion business. Competition is fierce and only very
few make it to become very famous and make a great
business out of it.
Remember that fashion is all about trend, and if you
are on the trend and you are doing exactly what people
want at that time, you'll eventually get there. There are
two ways to approach this. You copy what's already existing or you come up with something that you believe
eventually will become a trend. Then you become the

reference for that particular trend. I'm thinking about
Terry Richardson, who is a great artist, not because he's
an amazing photographer, but because he created his
own trend. Then on the other side, you have Mert &
Marcus. They didn't have their own trend, they copied
everything that existed out there and everything they
thought would be commercially viable and they became
so good at it that they became the photographers to
go after for people who wanted that kind of stylethe
real retouched, very overproduced, very over-the-top
and perfect and dreamy and colorful.
No matter what you do, the reality of this business is it's
going to be a lot about your connections and your luck.
Of all the photography industries out there, fashion is
probably one of the hardest to get in. You can easily get
in and do things for free or very little money, but to be
financially successful takes more than just creativity and
hard work. It takes a lot of networking and getting out
there and meeting the right people at the right time.
There's no way to approach those companies unless
they discover you on social media or you meet them
directly through somebody. When they are looking for
somebody new, that's where they turn to to find creative
peopleon Instagram mostly.
Is it easier for new photographers to get into digitalonly publications?

I don't think it's easier to get in digital publications
anymore as it was a few years ago because they have
started to become very competitive with other magazines, but I would suggest digital world more than print
simply because it will reach more people. I always suggest to people to go after as many magazines as possible
and as many publications and just get their name out
there and show what they can do.
26
Profile
What Fashion
Photo Buyers
Want From
Photographers
Featuring Emily Shornick from New York
Magazines The Cut
mily Shornick is the photo editor of The Cut, New York Magazines
dedicated fashion section that occupies a stand-alone website as well as
six pages in print. For just over two years almost every photo used for The Cut
has passed through Emilys desk.
We chatted with Emily to find out what shes looking for from photographers, where she finds new talent,
plus how she likes (and doesnt like) to be approached.
Do you actively look for new talent?
Yes, I am actively looking for photographers. Im always
trying to find something new and exciting. I noticed recently that I gave about 15 assignments just this month.
I would love to be approached by more photographers,
to be inundated by portfolios, actually.
Where do you turn for new work?
I go to portfolio reviews and I look at mailings (though
theyre not as effective as an email). I read a lot of photo
blogs. I love FlakPhoto, I love Feature Shoot and Paper
Journal. There are a million.
Headshot by Bobby Doherty.
Word of mouth accounts for a lot though, too. There

are Facebook communities for photo editors, and
email chains, and I have photo editor friends. If Im
looking for someone doing a particular type of photography and I dont know that area well, Ill reach out
to my friends. Which is why its important not to burn

bridges. Its a very small field and we all talk.
What about social media, do you find photographers there?
Im all over Instagram. I follow photo editors and like to
check out who theyre following. I follow lots of photographers and if I like their taste, Ill see who theyre keeping tabs on. Micro movements tend to emerge that way.
Instagram is great because it shows me how people are
going to work in the digital sphere, and what their images might look like on a small screen. I can also get a
sense for who a photographer really is, as well as the
photo community theyre participating in.
Too often in portfolio reviews photographers are catering to what they think a photo editor wants to see,
and they might have been given some bad advice thats
dictating how theyre presenting themselves and their
work. With Instagram I feel like Im getting to see a
more true version of a photographer.
I do also keep a Pinterest board of photographers, which
is like my visual rolodex. So when Im looking for someone new and fits the aesthetic, I check the board.
nymag.com/thecut
facebook.com/Cut
twitter.com/TheCut
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When youre looking to hire, what do you want in a

photographer?
I like people who are professional, who turn their contract in on time, and who take direction. They also have
to have a strong eye.
The ability to meet a deadline is number one, however.
When you're working in digital and something is half
an hour late, its really late. Its old news.
Another really important thing, which seems very obvious, is picking up the phone. If I find a story that needs
to be covered in two hours and a photographer doesnt
pick up the phone then Im going to call someone else.
This is not dating, this is digital photography. You cant
play hard to get.
I really appreciate people who are flexible. No one likes
to work with divas. And I dont respond well to people
who dictate how a layout should look, or who refuse to
shoot certain things because they dont think theyre
good enough.
Photographers tend to forget that though they have a
creative vision, they are being commissioned to do a job.
So if I send them out to do street-style photography
and they tell me that the people arent chic enough, well,
thats not their call. I dont like it when photographers
make editorial decisions for me.
Its important to be friendly. Photographers should understand that sometimes there are changes in editorial
and not to get angry.
I like people who are professional, who turn their

contract in on time, and who take direction. They
also have to have a strong eye.
Is a photographers knowledge of the fashion industry
important to you?
tography arentbut fashion isnt reportage, you have to

create or imagine an entire situation from the ground up.
I need to know that if I send a photographer to cover

fashion week they know that Diane von Furstenberg is
an important person to photograph. Or what the it
shoe is. If youre a photojournalist, youre not going to
be embedded in a warzone if you dont know what conflict is taking place.
Also, the seasoned fashion photographers tend to put in

the work of schmoozing. They go to fashion parties and
events, they operate in that world. They understand the
content and so can deliver something intelligent for the
audience that is consuming the product.
Also a demonstrated fashion awareness is important. You

dont have to know everyone or namedrop constantly. Im
not impressed by someone who says they know everybody. It helps, but its not required. I like to see a demonstrated interest in and knowledge of the fashion world.
How do you choose photographers to work with on New

York Fashion Week, for example?
Often people get into fashion because they think its

glamorous and they can date models, but when theres
a genuine interest in fashion as an art form, and a photographer has a knowledge of that universe, the work is
much stronger. Many people see the fashion world from
the outside as just a lot of snobbery, but theres a rich
history there. An informed perspective does come across.
What sets the successful, professional fashion photographers apart?
They have a defined brand. Fashion is such a particularly
creative enterprisenot to say that other genres of pho-
For a large event like New York Fashion Week we need

someone who is very professional and who has a bit of a
track record, because we invest so heavily in it. This year we
worked with Landon Nordeman, a PhotoShelter member,
for a few reasons. Hes very professional and I had seen his
work around (Id seen him in The New Yorker). And fashion
week is grueling for the photographers. They dont sleep.
None of us do. Its eight days long, and photographers are
on their feet for 14 hours every day. Then they go home,
edit, and get up at 7:00 a.m. to go out and do it all over
again, on only two hours of sleep.
I need to know that someone is capable of that, who has the
stamina, can be aggressive, and will work their butt off. Its
not luxurious work, its a challenging and chaotic environment. In fact, thats why weve hired a lot of war photographers to cover fashion week (Alex Majoli, for example).
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I also want someone who is going to bring something

visually unique. Its really easy to see a runway picture
from Fashion Week, theyre on the internet immediately
or in real time. People have already seen the clothes. They
need something more from these essays to be interested
in them. It has to be about the photography, too.
We also always look for people who have fashion
knowledge, have a sense of humor, and can make some
arresting, surreal photographs even among that insanity. We want photographers who will come back with
something to say. I want insight, not just a record of who
was there. I want to see how people were interacting.
What kind of assignments are you more likely to hire
new photographers for?
Fashion week requires someone seasoned, but with
street or party photography Im willing to take a chance.
Street photography is an established style at this point,
it has a look. Its more about the content than the photography, the most important thing is that the photographer have good taste in clothes.
A good way to get a foot in the door is with web. Budgets are bigger with print and its not coming out as frequently, so they cant take as many risks. Which makes
web a great way to start.
I have picked up specs before, too. And Im very open

to pitches. If someone has access to something and they
are prepared to do the legwork I might take a chance
and tell someone to send me what they get from a project. If the work is strong I really dont care how old or
experienced someone is. I think its really exciting to
find someone new.
How do you choose new photographers to work with?
Theres a number of factors. The photography comes
first, but a large concern for me is whether someones
photos will work well on digital. We do have six pages in
the magazine, but for the past two years Ive been working almost exclusively in digital. A significant amount
of our traffic comes from mobile, which means I have
to be looking for images that will look good on small,
two-inch-by-two inch, digital screens.
Whats the best way for photographers to get in touch
with you?
I get a lot of mailings but unless one image in the mailer speaks to me Im probably not going to go look at the
photographers website. I dont get a lot of emails, and
email is the best way to reach me.
I want to know where a photographer is located,

how to reach them, and what their work is going
to look like.
Today, people arent reaching out in the best way, in my

opinion. For example, I really dont like it when people
reach out to me via Facebook, thats crossing a line
for me. Recently I was selling a coffee table on Craigslist and a photographer pretended to want to buy it
in order to get my personal email address. Thats just
inappropriate. If that person had sent me a portfolio I
would have been happy to review it.
I do love to meet with photographers, but Im often
just too busy. Im the photo editor of a site thats doing
30 posts a day. And almost every one of the photos in
those posts goes through me. I dont physically have the
time to meet people. I dont like it when people cold call
or show up at the office.
So if someone emails you directly, what is it that you
hope to see?
I want to know where a photographer is located, how to
reach them, and what their work is going to look like.
So a quick introductory sentence: hello, my name is ...,
I live in (city), my work is about ... ( specialties, for
example still lifes, etc.), and then I want to see a couple of images. Im looking to get a taste of their style. I
like to see consistency, thats the most important thing.
And then I want a link to their portfolio. Thats perfect.
A lot of photographers get very hung up on having
books in a certain category. For example they think
they can only be a sports photographer or only an editorial photographer or only a fashion photographer. For
me, I want to see consistency, yes, but not necessarily
in a category or type of photography. Its all about the
style of the images. I want to be able to visualize the
images Im going to pay for.
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What do you want to see in a photographers portfolio?

Saturated color. I love black and white photography,
but its not ideal for this space or our editorial in general. Its also very important that their website say where
they live.
I recommend to most photographers that they show
they can work in digital if they generally work in film.
We have a really tight turnaround time, so if a photographer can only work in film Im probably going to look
for somebody else.
In terms of the aesthetic, Im looking for work that is
big, bold, and obvious. It sounds silly, but bright and
shiny, candy-colored, large shapes, things that can be
seen from really far away. Thats whats going to translate on a small scale. We will bump up the contrast on
pretty much anything that goes on the web. We dont
want subtlety. Im a fan of subtle photography, but thats
not what works in this space.
Im also looking for a sense of humor. We look for people who are quirky.
General advice for those looking to break in?
Dont be afraid to make personal work and establish
your art. No one is going to give you a chance until you
can prove you can do it.
30
Profile
The Five Biggest

Mistakes
Photographers
Make When
Submitting
Their Work
By Marius Troy, Co-Founder, Editor in Chief Breed
Networks
bout half a decade has past since I launched Ben Trovato, an independent online fashion photography publication, and I can safely say Ive
looked through ten thousands of emails and submissions from fashion photographers worldwide. Maybe even more. Ive always tried to go through every
single one of them, however, some photographers make going through their
submissions unnecessarily hard. Meaning an editor might skip the submission
altogether without even having seen your work. Here are the 5 biggest mistakes photographers make when submitting their work:
1. You didnt follow the submission
guidelines
This is probably the biggest mistake of them all. Failing

to meet submission requirements will most probably
eliminate your submission from the race altogether.
The guidelines are there for a reason, most probably in
order to streamline the process of reviewing the work
of hundreds of hopefuls. If you are serious about your
ambition to get your work published in a specific publication, you have to read and follow the guidelines listed
on their site.
2. You havent done your research
jointhebreed.com
facebook.com/jointhebreed
People attending my talks always have a good laugh

when I arrive at this point. The name of my publication Ben Trovato is an Italian expression meaning Well
Found, based on our mission to focus our posts on new
and undiscovered talent. It looks like a name, and I for-
give you (not really) if you thought it was the name of

the founder of the magazine.
However, if you were to submit your work to Ben Trovato, and you started your email by writing Hi Ben,
I wouldnt even read the rest of your email. Why? Because it shows that you have no idea who you are communicating with. It is completely unprofessional to
contact a publication without knowing who they are
and what they stand for. Do your research.
3. Your work doesnt fit the style of
the publication
Always make sure your work fits the specific publications aesthetic before shipping them your work. Submitting a gritty New York style editorial to a magazine
like Mirage would be a giant waste of time for both you
and them.
twitter.com/jointhebreed
instagram.com/breedfix
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4. Your email is too long
If youve done your research, you know who you are

addressing, and you know your work would fit perfectly
for the publication you are submitting to, dont send
them a long email with your whole life story. Keep it
short and to the point. Remember, the editor is probably skipping through a whole lot of these, make it easy
for him or her to make a decision.
Same goes for links to your portfolio, zip-files, heavy
pdfs, or a wetransfer download link. They dont want it.
Put your low res photos directly in the email so that the
recipient can easily scroll through.
5. Youre mass emailing, and we know it
This point consolidates all of the above. Sending out

a generic email to a long list of magazines and editors
might land you a feature somewhere, but it will most
surely annoy a large amount of the recipients. This business is hard enough as it is, dont risk getting on anyones blacklist.
Conclusion
I stress this to aspiring photographers time after time:

You cant afford to be lazy in any aspect of your business in this industry(!), at least if you have any ambitions of making it big. Most of this comes down to
common sense, and should be integrated in your submission routines.
Photo credit: Kesler Tran
Want more of my insight on online self-promotion for

fashion photographers? Be sure to check out my private
mentor program.
32
Profile
Approaching
Model Agencies
good models for your book and while youre not exactly booking big money jobs,
by Melissa Rodwell, Co-Founder & Partner Breed

Networks
your portfolio is at a place where pro models are the next step in furthering your
remember it was a pretty daunting experience to approach a modeling

agency like Ford or Wilhelmina. Youre at the point where you NEED
work and your career.

I am not sure why agencies can be intimidating, but
trust me, I do remember those early days and how afraid
I was of approaching them. Maybe its from the standpoint that the agencies have something you need and
you know that you dont have a lot of money to offer or
jobs on the table to make it worth their while to send
good models your way. But you have to start somewhere
so making those initial calls HAS to be done.
First of all, remember, not everyone out there is going to fall all over themselves to help you. And not everyone out there is going to think your work is utterly
amazing. There will be some agencies that really like
you and your work and will want to help you, while
others may not show that much interest. Thats okay.
Obviously, stick with the agencies that show interest in
having you test with some of their new faces and start
to develop a relationships with those bookers.
Contacting the Agency
jointhebreed.com
facebook.com/jointhebreed
Before you approach any agency you have to have a

website to refer the bookers to. First you call the agency
and ask to speak to the booker in charge of new faces.
After introducing yourself, ask him or her if you can
get their email so you can send them your website.
In the email to them, keep it short and sweet. Dont

send them paragraphs of personal information about
your life and your vision. They dont care. All they care
about is if your work is good enough for them to take a
chance with you by sending you some of their girls that
need to test for their books. So in your email, introduce
yourself, give them the link to your site, offer to come
in and show them your print portfolio, thank them for
their time and consideration and wish them a good day.
Thats all you need to do in the beginning. If theyre
interested in working with you, theyll email you back
or call you. Its that simple, really.
Developing Relationships with Bookers
In the early days, I clicked immediately with some

bookers and was able to really start testing with some
very good, professional models right away. And then
again, there were some agencies that just simply werent
that interested in working with me. Even today, I click
with some bookers and approach them first when I
have a job or even if I feel like testing. And then I send
out the casting call to the others. Some bookers Ive
met and Ive known for 20 years. Some bookers Ive
never met in person but we have a strong on-line relationship. I make an effort to go out and meet the book-
twitter.com/jointhebreed
instagram.com/breedfix
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ers at some point because I think its still important

to introduce myself to people in the industry. Its not
a daunting experience for me anymore but Ive developed a thicker skin at this point and I know deep down
that some people are going to love my work and some
people arent going to get it. Thats okay nowadays.
But when I was younger and more insecure, it was really intimidating. All I can say is that after time you
will become aware of this fact and it will get easier to
approach the agencies.
Facing Your Fears Head On
Most fears are conquered by just facing them down. I

have found through experience that overplaying a scenario that intimidates me in my mind over and over
again is far worse in my head than the actual situation
ends up turning out. Find the best local modeling agencies in your area and then start calling them one by one.
You can always ask the receptionist for the email of the
booker you wish to contact, sometimes they will give it
to you. Or you can ask the receptionist what the agencys
protocol is for potential photographers that want to test.
Some agencies have an open call day where you go in
during certain times to show your book. It just cant hurt
to ask. And youre not the first photographer who has
called asking to test their models. One thing that goes
without saying, and again, this is just my humble opinion, but I wouldnt try to get my foot in the door of an
agency you wish to test with by asking to do paid tests.
A paid test is where the model pays the photographer for
pictures for her book. Start out by offering to test for free
and after time, when youve built a good relationship with
the agency, THEN you can start asking for payment.
photo credit: Melissa Rodwell
Again, all of this is just my own opinion and advice.

Other photographers might tell you differently!
For more insight about breaking into the fashion photography industry visit Breed.
34
Part V
Conclusion &
Resources
f you think youve got what it takes to be a fashion photographer, its time to get shooting. Youll need confidence in your style, a strong command of technique, and a killer portfolio. If youre also a ruthless networker,
keen trendwatcher and smart businessperson, youll be on your way to a successful career and an exciting, creative life.
Resources:
Resource Breed: www.jointhebreed.com
Resource Fashion Monitor: www.fashionmonitor.com
Resource Model Mayhem: www.modelmayhem.com/education
Resource The Business of Fashion: www.businessoffashion.com
Resource 50 Fashion Photography Blogs: www.photography-colleges.org/50-fabulous-fashion-photography-blogs
Directory Production Paradise: www.productionparadise.com
Publication Ben Trovato: www.bentrova.to
Blog Fashion Copious: www.fashioncopious.typepad.com
Blog Fashion Gone Rogue: www.fashiongonerogue.com
35
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TABLE of CONTENTS

How to Market Your Fashion Photography

Establishing a Successful Photography Brand: Featuring Jonathan Daniel Pryce

How to Manage a Fashion Magazine: Featuring Image Nation Studio

Approaching Model Agencies By Melissa Rodwell

Conclusion & Resources

2014 PhotoShelter, Inc

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Your photography portfolio - elevated.

Breaking into fashion photography

What is fashion photography?

Types of Fashion Photography

Even though fashion photography seems like a niche

Fashion magazines like Vogue, GQ, Elle, and Harpers

Breaking into fashion photography

Catalog images have a very clear missionto show

Fashion advertising photography can mean a wide

Fashion vs. Beauty vs. Portrait

Its also important to note that there is a distinction

focus on one or the other in the way they market their

Creative Ways to Bring In Income

editors and assistantsto produce the vision together.

Producing a Fashion Shoot

Producing a fashion photo shoot, especially for a big

Breaking into fashion photography

o matter where youre based, good marketing

All the photographers we talked to stressed that some

The most successful fashion photographers are the ones

2. Take to the Web

Once you have a body of work youre proud of, its

Despite the explosion of social media, traditional direct

Breaking into fashion photography

You need to have persistence, says Tomovic. You'll be

While more and more fashion photographers, like

photo credit: Image Nation Studio

Breaking into fashion photography

Did you move to New York to pursue a career in

in my head before I moved that I really wanted to get into

Breaking into fashion photography

it pretty quickly turned into some paid work with her.

There's been this trend in fashion photography of really

How are clients using your work?

photo credit: Josh Wool

Breaking into fashion photography

photo per day, but it doesn't always happen. My Tumblr

photo credit: Josh Wool

email expressing an interest to work set up a meeting. I

Breaking into fashion photography

ket is so saturated, so I did it to have someone who can

photo credit: Josh Wool

It looks like the risk you took is paying off.

Breaking into fashion photography

indsay Adler, a New York based fashion and portrait photographer,

Lindsays success in social media is the product of both

And I try to judge, based on other people I follow,

About seven years ago, in 2008, I wanted to understand

I wrote the book that same year, based on what those

Breaking into fashion photography

And remember, youre not trying to get a connection

And remember, youre not trying to get a connection

How do you find those individual fashion photography

photo credit: Lindsay Adler

Breaking into fashion photography