Wat zou een onafhankelijk professional te zeggen hebben over tien ingezonden foto’s voor de fotowedstrijd “Emerging Talent Awards 2016”? Ook benieuwd? Lees dan verder!

Halverwege oktober zijn tien foto’s (die overigens geen van allen in de prijzen zijn gevallen) ingestuurd voor de “Emerging Talent Awards 2016”.
De mogelijkheid bestond om deze foto’s, net als eerder dit jaar bij de “Lensculture Portrait Awards 2016”, te laten beoordelen door een international professional en van die extra service heb ik gebruik gemaakt.

Untitled – Series Category by Tjeerd Doosje

Reviewer Feedback

Thank you for the opportunity to review your work, Tjeerd.

You have an intuitive eye for composition, light and texture. You also seem to have a strong technical foundation. You seem very adept at lighting. You intuitively understand what a well crafted photograph should look like and this will serve you well as you move forward with your career. Continue to work on adding conceptual complexity to your images. Can you tell us a story?

For me, your strongest photograph is the second in this series because it seems to get more at a concept or an idea. She is dressed in a fashion that references a specific time period which begins to tell us a story. How can you build a narrative with your fashion/portrait photographs? You might consider the work of Annie Leibovitz and David LaChapelle. They are very good at making photographs centered around a concept or narrative.

I understand that you want to develop your own style and that is very important. My advice is — dare to be different! Because what makes you different from other photographers will ultimately contribute to your success.

As with almost any genre of photography these days, making your way to a professional career as a fashion/portrait photographer will require a tremendous amount of time, perseverance, and dedication. My advice is to become obsessed. Subscribe to every high fashion magazine that you can find. Determine who the major players are and spend some time with their photographs. Subscribe to the blogs and instagram feeds of your favorite portrait photographers. Study their work. Make notes about how you can make photographs that are compelling but different from what other photographers are producing. Understand that there is a difference between a catalog photographer and a fashion/portrait photographer. Many successful high end fashion/portrait photographers also have successful careers as artists. Consider Philip Toledano as one example.

I believe that the best approach is to develop your own aesthetic identity. You want clients to come to you for your unique approach to photography. You want to be an architect, not a carpenter. Become the mastermind behind your artistic brand and clients will come to you. It might be good to work as an assistant to a successful portrait/fashion photographer so you can understand the business and begin to create a network.

These photographs demonstrate a lot of promise and potential. I will be excited to see what you do in the coming years. You already have an advantage because you are entering competitions and requesting feedback! It’s important to maintain this dialog with your peers and other industry professionals.

Best of luck for the future!

Samen met de beoordeling van Lensculture in mei dit jaar, de face-2-face beoordeling met Lindsay Adler en deze beoordeling is de conclusie volgens mij dat de goede weg is ingeslagen, maar ook dat er nog een lange weg te gaan is.