Fashion photographer AMA

I’ve been a staff fashion photographer in Los Angeles for about 4 years. Major company with over 1.5k corporate employees worldwide.

Ask me anything.

why do you lie about all the model heights?
why are so many models fat and gross looking?

We don't lie about their height. They are usually between 5'9" and 5'11". It's not a grand conspiracy...girls that fall in between that height usually have the 'legs to torso' ratio that look good in clothes.

Major agency models are never fat. If a girl puts on a noticeable amount of weight her agent doesn't send her on shit. We've called agents a few times to tell them about a model not looking as she should. It's a business.

i was talking about males

>males
specify that next time

What does a random day in your life look like?
How do you compare to the other actors in the fashion industry. Do you work for the model? Do you work for the brand? Do you work for the advertisers? Anybody else?

We have two types of shoots.

Look book shoots are mostly on location and resemble a film set. Lot of fun. Usually the quality of the clothing and model are high. More money is spent. We'll also use outside brand clothing. So a typical outfit will run in the 2k-3k cost area.

Other days we'll have to shoot through brand shoes or clothing. Imagine 60 skus on about 30 different outfits. That's a lot of fun. The stylist really shine there cause they are flying through outfits and accessories. mixing and matching. I really learned a lot about style watching them work. Watching a good stylist work is truly amazing.

I work directly for the brand. A lot of the team will shoot outside stuff on the weekends. B celeb shit....upcoming models...one of us has a moderately successful small brand. It's a tight team of photographers, stylists, and graphic designers.

But half the days, it's just a hang in the studio.

>We'll also use outside brand clothing.
That's not always allowed? I've read brands don't want that.
>I really learned a lot about style watching them work.
What have you learned? Can you elaborate?

Is this what you want or do you have another goal in mind?

How does one enter this industry?
or at least how did you

Which studio do you work out of in LA? I work for Sandbox/Dune in NYC and I shoot for Calvin Klein, MAC, Lands End, COACH, and Tommy weekly. I usually travel to LA twice every four months or so to shoot with certain magazines for the ever crumbling editorial looks and we shoot out of Smashbox.

Is this your primary setup? Because it sort of looks like a very minimal ECOMM setup that you typically see smaller brands trying to accomplish inside their own offices...

The agencies lie about their height, not brands, studios, or photographers. Only agencies promote the measurements of models. My girlfriend is signed with a small agency and is told to say she's 5'10 when she's really only 5'8.5. This happens regularly too. This is coming from a NYC agency.

Not OP but I'm the one mentioning I work in NYC as a fashion photographer. Go find a higher end photo studio that deals with ecomm and magazine shoots regularly in house or on location, and simply ask for an internship. Save yourself shit loads on art school and they will slowly teach you the basics of studio work. Eventually ask them or a photographer to assist(if trying to become a photographer) and assisting is one way to becoming a photographer. Almost like an apprentice. Ive even met stylists on set who started assisting photographers and switched. Also it helps if you live in either NYC or LA. NYC definitely has a more focused fashion world, as LA is more geared for entertainment/celebrity work like ads and such. Although some major brands are based elsewhere in the US, for example Nike has a big part in Chicago and Nordstrom has a big part in Seattle.

>simply ask for an internship

what? should I always give them a firm handshake and look them in the eye? what is this retarded boomer advice

Yo dumbass, I work full time as a freelance photographer. This is how I got in, this is how multiple friends of mine got in. How can you disregard advice over something you obviously know nothing about. I'm 26 years old. I started shooting my first campaign jobs when I was 22 by hanging around studios, assisting photographers, getting to know clients who were in the studio. I had an internship at a studio called Fast Ashleys in Brooklyn and then Milk studios in Manhattan.

Any interesting stories, relating to big brands/genius artists/famous people?

so you just started hanging around studios? why did they let you inside? didn't they think it was weird you were just there and ask you to leave? why would they give an apprenticeship to some rando who just shows up with no experience? don't they have hundreds of people trying the same thing with them?

inb4 you have personal connections (that's always the case)

You have to apply for internships. They aren't handouts or whatever. You apply, you have a meeting, a test day, and then you get a call back. It's the normal in NYC. I take it you don't live in the city or have tried to apply to intern at a studio before. I wasn't just hanging around, I was working. And in between working I was learning, chatting, and assisting in any way possible to help. After our day was over and the night crew was about to come in we were welcome to hangout and play pool or drink a beer. Your idea of "hanging out" at the studio isn't quite the same as mine. I would try this before trying to hate on it. It worked for me. It worked for a lot of people I know in the industry. Everyone is so fixed on thinking the photography industry is so private and hard to get into and it's really fucking easy.

It's not typical. If you're selling clothes you wont mix and match. But if we're doing shoes it works out. This is only for look books. Which are not shop-able when they are presented.

I got lucky. My best friend, who is my boss now, worked at this company when they were a start up. I heard they needed a photographer so I spent 200$ and shot a quick portfolio. I had no real professional work prior to being hired.

It's 1 of 4 studios inside a corporate building. I don't wanna call out the brand. This is the setup for waist down PDP shots. It's very minimum because speed is a priority. We're always trying to use less lights. The more important the picture the more complicated the setup.

very nice. well i can say i love using those d1's for those quick setup jobs, i wasnt ragging on it by any means, its just a familiar setup to me. do you typically use only one key light or is there a fill behind you? also i see that tethertools tether hooked up. are you using a tech or are you doing that yourself?

Oh...Yeah i wouldn't put it past them. We usually pull from Ford, HHM, Willhelmina...They are pretty honest about what they are sending. But we either cast right before or use the same few girls. So we know what we're getting.

If we get a girl that's a bit short, the stylists will have to fix their fit. It's a problem but not a huge one. Photoshop fixes some of those pains.

That's not bad advice. Go out and take some photos. You only need your phone, skinny interesting looking person, and a cool location. Photography is easy now. no excuse to not get into it.

Yeah we have a few A list celebs attached to the brand. A few big ones coming out. They usually don't let us shoot them. They get 25k a day photographers. But it definitely puts you directly in that world. You would be shocked at the amount of a/b celebs (and models) that want to hang out and do coke with you. Famous people see two different kinds of people. In crowd and out crowd. They see the out crowd as fans....but if you can sneak or con your way into letting them think you're "in" they'll act like your friend. They are usually pretty lonely.

He's giving pretty good advice. It's different than becoming a Doctor or a lawyer. Those careers have a set path you need to do. You can fake being good at medicine. But you can 100% fake being an artist. I've seen people get by solely on being charming.

Can't fake being good at medicine.