Today I’m back with a new great episode of The Glam Observer Podcast to talk about Fashion Photography!
When Holly McGlynn reached out to join me on the show, I couldn’t be more excited! Her work is absolutely amazing and you’ll for sure love her colorful fun photography style.
She works with some of the most fantastic fashion brands such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton,  Levi’s, Glamour, Tiffany and many other. She’s brilliant and smart, and she is committed to diversity in the industry, and one of the things I love about her is that where she has the choice, she works with models of ethnicities and body types that are under-represented in the fashion and beauty industries.
Today we talk everything about fashion photography, from the beginning of her career, to how to build your fashion photography portfolio at the beginning and why it’s so important, how to set your rates, how to get experience at the beginning, how she ended up working with the biggest fashion brands, her photography style, her plans for the future (that include Vogue) and her top 3 tips to make it as a new fashion photographer in this competitive industry.
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She didn’t go straight into fashion photography after she graduated, she was into fine art photography, event photography and then 7 years ago she realized she wanted to focus on fashion photography. She did some jobs for free to start. The first fashion photography job was a lookbook for a graduating student from the London college of fashion.
Her first paid fashion job was when she started doing street style for a company magazine.
I don’t really think you necessarily need to study photography either to be a photographer what you do need is a passion for it and just to work on your skills. There are so many resources available now, youtube courses, online course, you can assist a photographer and practise on your own.
I have always loved fashion photography, and read glossy magazines and I was creating work that I saw in magazines and campaigns for brands.
About building a fashion photography portfolio
Your portfolio is your beating heart of your career.
If your portfolio is not good you’re not going to be booked for any work. You should make sure that is the best work in your portfolio. You love all the photos at the beginning, but you need to be strictly about what you put in your portfolio. Don’t add a lot of photos that look the same. Get friends who work in the creative field to have a look at your portfolio and listen to them.
To go into your portfolio you need to do test shoots a lot. I still test occasionally when I have time. It’s important to find a creative team, find modeling team and test all of the time. At the start of your career, even if you only have 5-10 photos in there is completely fine. You should not have more than 30 photos in your portfolio, no matter how long you’ve been a photographer.
When I was starting out I was putting a lot of pressure on my test shoots; I wanted them to look like something Peter Lindbergh has shot for Vogue which was ridiculous….. if you’re organizing a test shoot go in there with the intention of making all of your mistakes. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes and be patient because your work isn’t’ going to look like a vogue editorial the first time you do a test shoot, but you’ll probably notice small improvements each time that you do a test shoot as well.
How to set rates at the beginning as a fashion photographer
You learn through making mistakes. You charge depending on the usage of the photos if they are going to be used in magazines or for global advertising. Get as much advice as you can from other photographers and other people in the industry.
On having another job at the beginning of your fashion photography career
Holly was working full-time in offices while building her portfolio and client base, and when she started making some money she went part-time and after a year she launched her full-time business as a fashion photographer.
How she ended up working with big fashion brands
All these little opportunities you say Yes at the beginning, you really never know where they could lead you. That’s why it’s important to be nice and polite to everyone.
How to get experience at the beginning?
Assist fashion photographers and you’ll not only learn the techniques but also what happens on set and you’ll learn how to speak to a model or a client which are essential skills.
Her 3 top tips to make it as a fashion photographer in this competitive industry
- Don’t give up
- Keep shooting as much as you possibly can
- Say Yes to every opportunities that come your way
I like that you talked about how a photographer should be learning from their mistakes and getting advice from other experts. That just means that hiring fashion photography for eCommerce websites should be people who have lots of experience in their belt. It’s because learning for lots of years can definitely hone their skills, but it would be great if a company finds a person who is still humble after all their success.
Nice guide and tips that photographer can refer through. Thanks for it.