I had the privilege to have a portfolio review with the lovely Sophie Traynor. I presented Sophie with some of my chosen portfolio images to discuss together. Sophie was extremely helpful in building my confidence back up having recently lost all confidence in my work and hit a brick wall, producing work at a very slow pace. Sophie gave me some suggestions such as lighting tips, composition tips and angles to shoot from, background tips such as choosing minimal and basic but effective backgrounds and surroundings such as brick walls, garage doors, open fields etc. as a busy and overly interesting background can take the attention away from the meaning and focus of the image (the model and Fashion). Another tip from Sophie was to pay attention to detail, Models makeup, Hair and the clothing and this is why building up a team to have on photoshoots is essential. My peer review with Sophie left me feeling a lot more positive about my work as she had said my work is very close to industry standard I just need to keep pushing and take these tips on board. Something I will work towards on my next shoots.
I had the opportunity to have a portfolio review with the lovely Karina Lax. Some tips and encouragement I gained from this session was to choose a path, to make a decision in what it is I want to shoot and what direction. Do I want to do catalogue/website fashion or commercial/editorial fashion? Do I have a running theme/style? Some other tips I gained from Karina was very similar to that of Sophie Traynor’s, to build a team up and focus, pay close attention to detail. Another suggestion from Karina was to plan ahead, find a specific spot to take a photo and photograph it first without a model, then with a stand in model so you know what it will look like on the day. From this specific spot you can shoot around the area and on track.
Lisa Castle Photographer 