News
Photography and video tips from our alumni
How to promote your work? How do you find your photographic style? What are the mistakes to avoid when starting out? These are just some of the questions that young photographers can ask themselves at the start of their careers.
To help you make sense of them, we've put together the best advice from our alumni photographers and videographers. Concrete and directly drawn from their experience, this feedback will help you get started with confidence.
"When I left school, I continued to develop my personal projects to have material to share on my networks.
I also created a lot of contacts by systematically sending a DM to people who had just subscribed to my account. I didn't always receive a reply, but these initial contacts were very useful later on, when my projects started to be more widely distributed and my contacts realized that I had already approached them 4 months earlier".
"Instagram has enabled me to share my photos as widely as possible and make my work known beyond my immediate circle. It's through this medium that I'm contacted by artists looking for a photographer".
Personal projects: a place to show off your creativity
"Make projects! When I shot the video for Vendredi sur mer, the label had invested a small sum, to which I contributed,and with this budget I was able to make the video that enabled me to be spotted and signed.
You shouldn't aim for perfection, for big resources and big teams. In some cases, working with small means and autonomy can be very rewarding".
Seize every opportunity to show your work
"I regularly do portfolio readings and have exhibited my work on several occasions.
I also approach potential customers with whom I'd like to work, and I've started working for the press in this way.
"You can't be afraid to reach out to people, to do portfolio readings, to introduce yourself to festival directors. There's everything to gain and nothing to lose .
It's also important to respond to calls for projects and not let yourself be discouraged by rejections; these things happen, you have to keep going and experiment with lots of things."
"What really paid off for me was finding my own style, my signature, and embracing it fully. That's the advice I've been given the most.
You have to do what suits you and keep having fun with your photos! ".
"My advice would be to create by drawing on your experiences, on what makes sense on a personal level. It's often this authenticity that makes images timeless and allows you to develop a rich universe."
"The profession has changed a lot, depending on the profile of graduates, but for me, given the ease with which imagescanbe produced today, it' s imperative for young photographers to have a strong intellectual background to stand out.
I've sometimes seenphotographerswaste their talent because they have no knowledge of art history or the codes involved in constructing an image.You have to cultivate yourself around photography, enrich your subject matter, before rushinginand producing tons and tons of images".
"Assert your rights (copyright, for example). Many photographers are exploited right out of school. This phenomenon has worsened with AI and the abundance of images available on the Internet. It's only through our intransigence that our profession can continue to exist .
"Never rest on your laurels or your knowledge. Photography is a fast-moving field. You have to be open to everything that's new, always cultivate yourself, and keep feeding your passion. You have to try as much as possible to preserve the initial attraction that drew you to this profession, and keep that pleasure intact in one way or another. It's essential to continue to marvel as we did in the beginning".
"The main difficulty is to achieve a balance between "food" projects and artistic projects. It's not easy to resist the temptation to do only commercial projects. Artistic projects are not always lucrative, but they bring credibility to our work".
Tom Kleinberg
class of 2023
TO FIND OUT MORE
No comment
Log in to post comment. Log in.