My Career

When i think about photography my first instinct goes towards fashion and portraiture. However, recently i have begun exploring more landscapes, but at the moment fashion is my biggest interest. I began studying and making fashion images since the age of 12 and all my life i have kept up with fashion trends and my own style all my life. I gained a connection to making these images as my connections with people began to expand due to the fact a lot of my friends are very stylish themselves and therefore made a lot of sense to capture them.

As i develop my work and my status in the industry i want to share my work in numerous places so my images and style become much more recognised. Once i have work in multiple locations and people from those areas are finding my work then i will start looking at expanding outside of local areas and connecting with more regional individuals, places and companies to continue expanding. 

In the fashion world a photographer can be vital but there is a variety of roles an individual can attempt. However, you could allow yourself to work in film as well as being an assistant to get your opportunity to learn the ways of the fashion photography world.

Photographer

There is a variety of options available whether that be in a studio creating images of models trying on clothes for a fashion companies look book or posters. By doing this you give yourself the chance to work much more intimate and communicate with your model. This can help in improving your people skills and make you feel confident when it comes to much larger shoots. A studio photographer can earn anywhere $36000 to $56000 which is huge if this is the sector you want to go into. For me personally i don't like studio work as it requires a lot of technical aspects such as lighting setups and you can be rushed a lot of the time and i feel as though i would enjoy a job where i set the time limits. 

This leads on to the other role which could be a runway photographer/ street fashion photographer. For these roles you are required more to not make bulk images for sites but to capture the outfits in their best form whether that is on the models at a fashion event or out on the street for advertisements. In my view i prefer making fashion work in the streets as the clothes i am using tend to be a lot of streetwear so shooting my models out in public helps to create a really effective image as it seems much more natural. Now depending on your initial skillset your salary can range from $30000 to $72000 but all depends on the company that hires you, the type of job and also what they value your skills at. However, you should never sell yourself short and always have a rough idea is to what you believe your work deserves when it comes to being paid.

Assistant

Now if you want to gain access to better roles in the fashion photography and you haven't got the right idea about how to promote yourself through your own work then you may desire to work along side a photographer to understand how the industry works. If i decided to follow this path i would begin working with a local photographer to understand how to run a business, find work and also work with clients as well. I decided to look at Google Maps and find local photographers who have shared their information online and began emailing a variety of them asking to start by doing some work experience for free with them to gain some initial knowledge. Should this work pay off i may end up being asked to stay on to do more work with the individuals. After my degree in the summer i shall be looking for little bits of work like this that i can then add to my CV so that later down the line a company that may hire me will see i have had plenty of work within the industry. But many of this work will be unpaid as it will be for experience but can later turn into a full time career.

In conclusion, i feel as though these will be the two main job roles that i will find myself in. By learning how the industry works i will be able to develop my skillset and will benefit me when i get to work for myself. In the long term i want to be working for myself and run my own company that will send out photographers for set clients that desire to work with one of our photographers. So by building up experience in anyway shape or form it will help in developing the ability of the other photographers we hire.