NZPhotographer Issue 35, September 2020

CONTEMPLATION
F3.2, 1/160s, ISO100, 110mm
JUST LOOK UP
F16, 1/125s, ISO200, 23mm
TELL US ABOUT YOUR COMMERCIAL
WORK…
Paul Bartolo at Bespoke Barbers called me
one day, totally out of the blue, no pre-sales,
nothing. He had seen my Instagram feed,
liked my style and wanted to do something.
The shop is this really cool space in O’Connell
Street. Paul had some hairstyles that he
wanted to showcase and we collaborated
on the lighting theme and the concept of
the first shoot. We are currently planning the
next and we plan to do about four or five sets,
some will be more adventurous than others.
Our first shoot was a lot of fun. We had the
shop for a few hours one evening and it was
cool playing with the styles and poses. The
guys hadn’t done anything like this before so
we started from cold. I knew I would waste the
first 30 mins or so but with a limited time slot,
before everyone gets tired, it’s a balancing
act getting the guys relaxed etc. I learned a
lot from this and put many hours into the prep
in order to make things go easy on the night.
Paul gave me lots of freedom and was great
with feedback on the post-processing. When a
client has a very clear idea of what they want
and allows the artists freedom to interpret that
– I’d say that’s a recipe for success.
I also recently did a shoot for the Warehouse,
cute images of kiddies in Peter Rabbit winter
wear but sadly Covid‐19 meant that those
catalogues never got delivered. That’s
commercial work sometimes, I guess.
WHAT TIPS OR TRICKS CAN
YOU SHARE FOR PORTRAIT
PHOTOGRAPHY?
Forget the technical stuff. Put your effort
into the people, that’s the bit you can’t fix in
photoshop. If you love something and have
an obvious passion, people can tell you are
genuine. What I have learned is that most
people want to help others. If you have a
crazy idea don’t be surprised if there are lots of
people willing to help you make that happen.
HOW DO YOU PROMOTE YOURSELF?
My promotion has all been word of mouth.
It takes a lot of trust to let someone make
images of you – People need the reassurance
from someone that you are one of the “good
ones”. After a while, you build a body of work
and people see you around and they start
coming to you to ask about getting pictures.
The first time that happened I was a little
stunned and more than faltered.
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NZPhotographer