We love to explore the different careers of the Fashion Industry to help you find your own place. We talk with amazing girls who work in fashion and today I have the privilege to bring you the story of Alexandra Cameron. I found this talented UK-based photographer, on Instagram and I immediately was impressed by her beautiful and professional photos. Her work is pure art and inspiration for all of you who want to become photographers.
I asked her to share with us some tips on how to become a photographer, from what to study to building your portfolio and finding your first clients until shooting with the multi-million blogger Zoella.
Visit her website and find her on Instagram
Tell us about how you started your photographer career, your studies and everything that led you to the path you are walking on today.
I dabbled in photography as AS but found film photography quite slow and couldn’t quite connect to it. I switched to studying film and cinema and followed on to study it at uni, in my final year I got my first DSLR after becoming obsessed with photo sharing sites like Deviant Art and Flickr, the rest is kind of history! I just couldn’t put my camera down, I just wanted to create beautiful images and it’s still all I want to do.
How did you build your portfolio and how did you find your first clients?
I think it was a case of just shooting all the time, trying to achieve the look and style I wanted and learning as much as I could from doing. I then started contacting agencies and working with models, shooting weddings and doing private commissions and really most jobs that would come to me. It was all a slow progress but social media certainly helped and I just started getting more regular clients and bigger jobs! As typical as it is to say and as cheesy as it is, I’m just glad I get to call this my job, cause it never feels like it really is, I enjoy it too much.
Did Instagram and any other social media platform help you find clients?
I started in the industry before Instagram but even Facebook helped back in the day, and photo sharing sites like Flickr etc, the introduction of Instagram is amazing, because so many people are on it, it means people who like my work are all there in one place, it’s a wonderful platform to interact with people who enjoy my work. Off the back off Instagram I have got a lot of work and it’s also allowed different clients to see my work which is wonderful. Twitter again has been priceless in terms of networking, I’ve photographed some of my heroes through Twitter.
How did you manage to find your photographic style?
I can’t say it was a conscious thing, it’s just something that’s developed over time, I actually sometimes worry that have such a distinctive style means I’m not really trying new things or ways of editing, it might look nice on an Instagram feed but I would like to try new things. It is always nice when someone recognizes an image as mine though!
How does a photo shooting work and what are the deadlines? (Inspiration, photography gear, organization, editing etc…)
Editing can take time but I have found most clients like a quick turnaround time. Shooting differs with most shoots to be honest, it’s hard to describe a typical shoot. Inspiration comes to me in different ways too, mostly it will be a location and the light that inspires me though.
You photographed some of the biggest bloggers and influencers like Zoella. What is the secret to realize a great photo shooting with a blogger?
Pure luck and wonderful people who are up for just hanging out and being creative ?
Do you have any advice for anyone wanting to be a photographer?
Shoot as much as you can! Also try starting a 365 project, taking a photo a day for a year, its hard but you learn so so much and people are excited to follow your journey.
Photos Alexandra Cameron
