Lessons along the way
Just under two years ago, Ads and I made the decision to move from Bristol to Manchester at the same time that I took the sharp plunge into self-employed life. This was pre-covid, but only by about four months so as you can imagine the timing ccouldn’t really have been worse what with new career chapters and having no real network (bar my cousin and her housemates who are now our cherished little Manchester family).
That being said, here we are now. My little business survived the droughts of the lockdowns and the tumultuous periods of ‘what the hell am I doing’ that ensued each time they lifted. In fact, in some ways it thrived and I want to start a journal entry on a few of the steep learning curbs, mistakes and key decisions that have placed me where I am today - still cautious, but with the confidence of having a business born into covid that made it out the other side with a decent enough profit.
Where to start? The mistakes. The first I made was not charging enough. Everyone makes this one right? You vastly underestimate the time and energy that you pour into one shoot or client and totally overestimate how many of said projects or campaigns can be squeezed into each month. You discount for every new client because - well, because they’re a new client - and you forget to account for all the essentials such as your unpaid holidays, taxes, the meetings, phone-calls and all the planning and prepping that you invest into each new campaign. I think you get the gist. I still fall into some of these traps today so I’m not perfect even two years in but I stick to my guns a lot more, I don’t undercut the market (research research research your pricing!) and I only make exceptions when I really want to work with an emerging brand that aligns with my own creative vision.
Another steep learning curb for me was networking, I was leaving a really good network of creatives and brands in Bristol for a city where I knew next to no-one and so I knew I had to get feelers out there right away. In the first few months, when it was permitted, I went on 1000’s of coffee dates with anyone that would have me. Sumeyee and Charlie were the first to take me under their wing, and give me some insider info into the creative network that is the lifeblood of Manchester. I’m still super grateful to them both! I met with photographers, stylists, models, I joined Whatsapp groups and pretty much reached out and said hey to everyone I came across who’s work I admired. Socially it’s a bit exhausting but when you have those burning questions about invoicing or whether a brand is good to work with it’s invaluable to have people who you can ask and of course collaborate with down the line.
One of the best decisions I made from very early on that I cannot emphasise enough is saying no. It’s in my nature to be picky anyway, that’s just who I am, and this selectivity has served me extremely well because it meant I carved out a niche with my work really early on. I decided I wanted to work with jewellery and accessories from the very beginning as I knew I would be playing to my strengths as a detail-oriented photographer. I reached out to a few brands but Mikaela was the first to get back to me. She invited me to shoot with her and Sarika and capture her then new ‘Good Fortune Collection’ (it’s still one of my favourite shoots to date!) and after that it was a case of stepping stones to the next brand, the next campaign - making sure the results all felt individual but carried my same signature style - learning as much as I could from each new shoot.
I am picky with the clients I take on and what I shoot but it doesn’t end there. I am also picky with what I allow into the frame of my images. I am always working to a colour palette in my head and even when I’m not shooting I am always asking myself ‘why am I drawn to that kind of surface or texture’ ‘what is it about the way this shadow falls that is visually appealing to me’. Constantly challenging yourself and digging deep into the ‘what’ and ‘why’ is a great way to make sure you can better understand and communicate your own vision. I make lists on my phone all the time, screenshot film stills and of course have reams of Pinterest boards. In my head I imagine these little rituals as condensing down the essence of my work, making it stronger and easier to resist the urge to be pulled away by a new style or the temptation to emulate someone else. Saying no really has it’s place in the creative world and I hope this inspires you to do so more often!
