All aspiring professional photographers eventually learn that being successful isn’t just about your quality of work. Yes, you need to produce strong work, but success requires so much more than this. Finding success as a fashion photographer is a combination of many different (and challenging) elements — from developing a style to building a network and marketing to the right people. Today, I’d like to share some of the fashion photography tips I’ve learned in my 20+ years as a photographer to help quicken your path to success!
Develop a Style
Your style is your visual calling card. It is what makes your work stand apart from the competition. Your style is what helps make you and your work memorable.
In fashion photography, style is even more important than in most other photographic specialities. Many brands want photographers with vision or with a unique view of the world. Furthermore, when hiring for commercial campaigns, a client looks for a photographer with a style that matches the vision of the campaign.
What is style?
Style is a common thread that weaves throughout a photographer’s body of work.
Think of your favorite fashion photographers — the ones that inspire you the most and that have shaped your own vision. I guarantee they all have a distinctive style. While the concept of style is a bit abstract, you can usually break it down into three key elements.
- Subject matter: Typically a photographer’s style will develop an expertise around a certain subject matter whether beauty, fashion, portraiture, etc. You, of course, can be more even more specific in your subject matter. For example, certain photographers’ work become known for beauty, but specifically avant garde makeup.
- Visual elements: What are some common visual elements in the photographer’s work? Do they use bright colors and high key lighting? Do they tend to explore more shadows and slices of light? Do they use painterly color palettes and cinematic lighting? Visual elements can include color, lighting, composition, and more.
- Emotion elements: How do the images make you feel? Are they mysterious? Do they have risqué undertones? Do they make you feel joyful and carefree? Many different elements work together to make you feel these emotions, but many photographers explore certain emotive elements over and over again in their work.
If you want to see some fashion photographers with clear visual styles, check out:
As you develop a style, this will make it easier for you to focus on your target audience and do so in a more impactful way.
My story: My style is fashion photography that features precise light, graphic compositions, and portrays subjects with strength and elegance. No matter who (or what) is in front of my lens, these elements shine through.
Schedule “Creative Play” Days
Set aside regular time for practice and experimentation. The name “creative play” days sounds all fun and games, but it is a very serious part of your growth as a fashion photographer.
Creative play days are portfolio building days, but they are also so much more. Also known as “test shoots,” on these days no one is paid yet everyone works together to advance both career and portfolio.
Some goals of creative play days include:
- Create the type of work you want to be hired for – Research your dream clients, note the aesthetics that appeal to them, and create samples of this work. Your portfolio needs to reflect the type of work you want to be hired for.
- Try out new members of your creative team – Test out a new makeup artist, hair stylist, or wardrobe stylist. These days help you not only create art together but also to build a rapport.
- Experiment with new techniques – Typically, you don’t want to save your learning or experimenting for paid days. Setting aside creative play days gives you time (with no pressure) to try new lighting, test out new makeup, and to get creative.
- Create social content – Social media can be an important tool for getting more eyes on your work and engaging a following. Creative play days allow you to create content in the forms of stills but also behind-the-scenes reels and TikToks of your creative process.
My story: In 2010, I struggled to have a clearly defined vision or style. I set aside one day per week for creative plays days. It was over this year that I really grew my creative techniques and built a more cohesive (and memorable) portfolio. To this day, I still shoot at least once a month to continue to evolve my portfolio and stay on top of trends in the industry.
Make Connections
The connections you make are essential to your success. The creative team you work with (hair, makeup, wardrobe) will help to elevate the quality of your work and expand your reach to designers and brands. The companies and individuals you connect with will help you to start developing a name and network.
Just having fantastic work is not enough. The work will not just speak for itself. You need others to help spread the word and evangelize for you.
Even mediocre photographers can find themselves busy and working because they have built the right network of individuals. Those who really thrive have two key elements: an excellent quality of work and a superior network to help them to create the work or hire them to create this work.
My story: When I first moved to NYC, I reached out to a wardrobe stylist on social media. After putting together a few creative play days, she began to trust and appreciate my work and our creative collaborations. She had been in NYC for 20 years and offered to connect me with brands, professional athletes, and other creatives. My first year in New York, I was able to pay my rent and survive off of the connections this one person helped me to make. It really can be one person that can help make or break your transition into the industry.
Don’t Try to Make Everyone Happy
You can’t appeal to everyone – nor should you. If you try to make everyone happy, no one will be thrilled. You should aim to become an expert in your niche and style, and then attract the clients that are truly drawn to your work.
Take time to make your dream client list. Who are the clients you aim to someday work with? This does’t need to be this year, or next, or even the next! If you start making the dream list now, you can spend years (or even decades) working to make that a reality. How?
Make a list of your top 50 dream clients. Begin researching the right contacts at each company, sending out promo materials, try setting up meetings, create a body of work that appeals to those dream clients, collaborate with other artists that already work with the brand, and so on. Knowing the brands you are working towards allows you to focus your efforts rather than just creating work, sharing it to the void and hoping someone hires you.
Be purposeful and know you can’t please everyone — but you can thrill some.
My story: I promote my work through my different outlets. I send out print promotional campaign, shoot fashion editorials to showcase my work, have a very active social media presence, and more. The vast majority of people I market myself to never hire me or even acknowledge my work… and that’s okay! The ones that do reach out to hire me want my vision and skillset, and are willing to pay well. I only need a couple of clients per month to pay the bills when they are paying commercial rates. I pour my efforts into marketing to the right clients, rather than every possible client.
Give Yourself Time
No one wants to hear that it will take a long time to feel stable and successful in their career. It is just the hard truth. There are very few people that have a “big break.” Instead, slowly work at building connections and clients over time.
To be honest, most photographers I know in NYC took at least five years to feel like they were making real progress, and ten years to feel like they were “comfortable” or “successful.” Sure, it may happen faster for you, but that would be the exception rather than the rule.
Give it time. You aren’t a failure if you aren’t getting big jobs by year one. In fact, that would be astonishing. Pave your way to success one brick and one job at a time.
My story: I have been in NYC a little more than a decade. I still market myself and do test shoots. I am still constantly working my way up. Do I get every dream client I want? No. But that gives me goals to work toward. Don’t let your desire for overwhelming or overnight success overshadow the incremental successes that help you build a strong foundation for your career. It will probably take time (a lot of time) — and that’s okay!
Hopefully these fashion photography tips will help you get a bit closer to your dream client. You can see more of my work in AdoramaTV’s new docuseries, THE MASTERS.
