Alice Sey @ Girl Management photographed by Jay Mawson
Hair & Makeup by Paula Maxwell
On Portfolios
“Hey – do you do model portfolios?”
That question is probably the one I’m asked more than any other, simply because more people are in a position to ask that than “Hey, will you shoot my high profile advertising campaign over a week in the Maldives?”. They see how I’ve made other girls and boys look and want a piece of it.
And yes, certainly for the moment, I do shoot portfolios. I’m good at them – I can bring out the good things in models, emotions and expression, fierceness and aesthetic. Power. I’m not so good at ‘polaroids’ – the static, wistful B&W head shots with hair swept back and eyes fixed straight ahead. Headshot, three quarter length, full length. Strappy top and jeans. I’m happy to leave those to the agencies to take in their basement – actually on a real polaroid (no skin retouching needed – the magic fairy inside every polaroid camera does that) or a point and shoot. I’ve chosen models for commercial work based purely on their polaroids – they’re the most valuable shots in a new face’s book. They tell me what I need to know.
On Blogging
No, I haven’t given up already – just been genuinely busy with jobs since musing On Glamour photography…so as a quick ‘filler’ post I’ll tell you what I’ve been up to.
Do you know how long an off-the-cuff diatribe actually takes to write? Literally several minutes, and I just haven’t got that time right now…
I don’t usually open my diary up – incessant Facebook posts about all the amazing things people are up to grate on me and I figure I can’t be the only one, but at least here you have the choice to read it or just go look at some photos instead.
On Glamour Photography
About a year ago my mother dropped into conversation that she’d told her friend I was a glamour photographer. I hit the roof.
I shoot commercial and editorial fashion, beauty, my cat and the very occasional sunset – but surely I don’t shoot glamour. Do I?
It doesn’t help matters that, as with most genres, there is no fixed ideal of what ‘glamour’ photography is – it’s simply another labelled bucket for people to throw things into. The connotations though are definitely slightly negative – “oh, he shoots glamour” is seldom spoken with the same respect that someone might say “oh, he shoots high fashion”. In fact it’s often on a par with “oh, he shoots donkey porn”.
I’ve tried before to think of a suitable term for that side of my photographic identity. Fashion models who want me to shoot in that style call it ‘edgy fashion’. Great, but vest tops, slogan tees, watermelons and toasters have never been the height of fashion. Plus, I still have no idea what ‘edgy’ actually means.
Edgy Fashion...
On Exposure
No Money for Old Rope
Photographers are driven by different motives to shoot. But one driver is common across every photographer I’ve ever met – the desire to have their work seen
There’s an extension from that, to having their work appreciated and acclaimed, but the first step in the chain is simply having it seen.
At its most basic, what’s the first thing that you do in the pub once you’ve snapped your friend having his eyebrows shaved off? You show the picture on the phone’s screen. “That’s a good one”. Debatable, but the social pattern is set. The only person who agrees it’s actually shit is the bloke with one eyebrow. And even then he means it’s a shit picture of him, not a shit picture per se. There you have the digital workflow in a nutshell – identify a scene, shoot it, display it and get instant feedback.
On Photoshop #1
Photographer or Digital Artist?
When people look at your images what’s the first thing they’re reacting to, your photography or your photoshoppery?
Every blog by every photographer will likely cover their views on Photoshop, retouching or digital art at some point, so I’ll get mine out of the way early. In some ways it defines who I am as a photographer, so it’s a good place to start.
This isn’t written for professionals – they’ll have realised most of what I have to say years ago and formed their own opinions – but to anyone who’s approached photography through the same self taught route and insulated online communities as I have it might strike a chord.
When I first started looking with interest at fashion, advertising and commercial photography I couldn’t understand the popularity of Terry Richardson, Juergen Teller, Martin Parr. Anybody can do that. Anybody could have taken those snaps. I looked at the great and the good on Model Mayhem and marvelled at the highly polished images (because that’s what you do when you start out and haven’t had the benefit of doing an Art Foundation course to give you a clue).
Fast-forward to today, and I appreciate the real genius of Mssr’s Richardson, Teller & Parr as photographers. Equally, I can see why the majority of internet photographers never quite make it whilst technically inferior photographers (in their view) regularly shoot high profile campaigns.
The Photographer’s Other Eye (#1)
Floating My Boat
- Loaded Magazine – for helping me feed the family this month
- Liam Bailey (Plan A?), Luke Fenlon and rediscovering The Grey Album – perfect music for the start of summer
- Models that can actually Model – and grasp that the image isn’t just about them
- Lavazza ‘Il Perfetto Espresso’ straight from a Bialetti Moka pot just before the boil – a garage full of broken Gaggia’s prove that basic is sometimes just better. And Illy is just way too overpriced for photographers to afford.
- Girl Management – probably the most down to earth models in the world, they just deliver
- Shooting outdoors again – there’s only so much white studio wall a man can shoot. It’s clearly far more interesting shooting white walls outside
Liam Bailey for Loaded
Bialetti
Amii @ Girl
Sinking My Ship
- Chasing Invoices – November is so last year
- Creating literature – I would happily just rip off other people’s booking forms, portfolios and flyers – but I can’t find any that aren’t a bit shit
- Facebook Photo Critics – ‘Amazing shot!’ – um, no it really isn’t, and you’ll just encourage them
- Models that Bitch – Online and on Facebook. Except ModelBitch, who’s fairly amusing and at least putting some effort into her bitching
- Photographers that Bitch – Online and on Facebook. Except me.
- SEO – shit floats, apparently. However it may be a while before Google develops totally subjective rankings based solely on my perception of image quality…
Rankin’
Rankin’
Before today my blog has served as an extension of my website portfolio – ‘the director’s cut’ – lots of pictures, very few words. Pretty much as you might expect from a photographer really. It clearly works – on any given day over 100 of you take the time to click through to my blog – however it’s about time I started to write something too. If only to send a message to Google that I’d really, really appreciate them taking a bit more notice of my site.
Whilst ranking in the Top 3 (or 5, depending on what day it is) for ‘Fashion Photographer Leeds‘ is great, it’s a wee bit narrow – extend it to ‘Commercial Photographer Leeds‘ or ‘Photographer Leeds‘ and I plummet down the list into potential bankruptcy.
On the plus side, pop ‘Jay Mawson‘ into Google and I own the page. I know, that’s totally down to having an unusual name, but ignoring that fact makes me feel better.
