My e-mail
Hi,
My nameis Kay Fenech and I am a 3rd year student at UCLan (Preston, Uk), studying BA(Hons) in photography. I have taken up night life photography, so far taking pictures just in a couple clubs, capturing pictures of people dancing and having fun really. I was wondering if I could ask you a couple questions assomeone who already works within the industry.
What equipment do you generally use? I have been using a Canon 5D and a canon speedlite 580ex ii.
Do you work freelance? I don’t know much about the industry to be honest, I am quite new to it, howeverI find myself really enjoying it and would love to get into it after University.I am not sure how competitive this industry is yet and I was wondering what you think from your own experience.
Do you keep a printed portfolio with you? Or do your employers refer to your website to see your imagery?
I would really appreciate any help and advice you may offer,
Thanks a lot,
Kay Fenech
Responses
Tom Horton
Dear Kay
In a nutshell:
There is a huge amount of competition.
There is practically no money to be made.
But if you enjoy it, keep going.
Don't give your pictures away for nothing, and always charge a fee (even if just to cover your expenses).
I suppose Manchester and Liverpool are you best bets for getting out to decent clubs.
Above all have fun :)
Kind regards
Tom
Nikola Tamindzic
Hello Kay,
All the technical and shooting info is here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/discuss/72157594547230536/#comment72157594562139241
I stopped taking nightlife photos almost 4 years ago, so I shared the "secret sauce" with people interested in the style. I can't help you much with "industry" recommendations — I got my break shooting for Gawker.com in late 2004, because owner saw some party photos I casually took at a friend's party. Lucky break! I shot for Vogue.com later on, and that came through work for Gawker.
I never worked for bar owners, promoters, etc. — normally that's where the money is, but I wasn't interested in working for them, I was interested in shooting for editorials. (People in magazines are generally less scummy/shady people that nightlife promoters.)
I've no idea how competitive is — nightlife in particular is pretty saturated from what I can see, because it's one of the easiest things to get into; that's how I got into it as well. Parties are fun and colourful and interesting, so you don't have to work too hard at coming up with a nice set of good photos.
If I have any advice for you, it would be to cut your galleries down to no more than 25-40 photos each: anything larger than that will make the gallery boring to everyone who wasn't at the party. I'm saying this because you'll likely be tempted to post as many photos as possible, so that everyone who was at the party sees their photo and hopefully passes your name around. True — your name will get around, but so will tons of average photos that will make you seem a more boring photographer than a good, tight edit would. (An editor friend of mine just said to me, "Kill your babies." That's it, really.)
For nightlife work, I never had a print portfolio. I could've used some at a later point, but I already decided to leave that genre. Nowadays, of course, I have a portrait and fashion portfolio — it's necessary in those genres.
Good luck w/ everything — best, NT
Nikola Tamindzic
Hi,
My nameis Kay Fenech and I am a 3rd year student at UCLan (Preston, Uk), studying BA(Hons) in photography. I have taken up night life photography, so far taking pictures just in a couple clubs, capturing pictures of people dancing and having fun really. I was wondering if I could ask you a couple questions assomeone who already works within the industry.
What equipment do you generally use? I have been using a Canon 5D and a canon speedlite 580ex ii.
Do you work freelance? I don’t know much about the industry to be honest, I am quite new to it, howeverI find myself really enjoying it and would love to get into it after University.I am not sure how competitive this industry is yet and I was wondering what you think from your own experience.
Do you keep a printed portfolio with you? Or do your employers refer to your website to see your imagery?
I would really appreciate any help and advice you may offer,
Thanks a lot,
Kay Fenech
Responses
Tom Horton
Dear Kay
In a nutshell:
There is a huge amount of competition.
There is practically no money to be made.
But if you enjoy it, keep going.
Don't give your pictures away for nothing, and always charge a fee (even if just to cover your expenses).
I suppose Manchester and Liverpool are you best bets for getting out to decent clubs.
Above all have fun :)
Kind regards
Tom
Nikola Tamindzic
Hello Kay,
All the technical and shooting info is here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/discuss/72157594547230536/#comment72157594562139241
I stopped taking nightlife photos almost 4 years ago, so I shared the "secret sauce" with people interested in the style. I can't help you much with "industry" recommendations — I got my break shooting for Gawker.com in late 2004, because owner saw some party photos I casually took at a friend's party. Lucky break! I shot for Vogue.com later on, and that came through work for Gawker.
I never worked for bar owners, promoters, etc. — normally that's where the money is, but I wasn't interested in working for them, I was interested in shooting for editorials. (People in magazines are generally less scummy/shady people that nightlife promoters.)
I've no idea how competitive is — nightlife in particular is pretty saturated from what I can see, because it's one of the easiest things to get into; that's how I got into it as well. Parties are fun and colourful and interesting, so you don't have to work too hard at coming up with a nice set of good photos.
If I have any advice for you, it would be to cut your galleries down to no more than 25-40 photos each: anything larger than that will make the gallery boring to everyone who wasn't at the party. I'm saying this because you'll likely be tempted to post as many photos as possible, so that everyone who was at the party sees their photo and hopefully passes your name around. True — your name will get around, but so will tons of average photos that will make you seem a more boring photographer than a good, tight edit would. (An editor friend of mine just said to me, "Kill your babies." That's it, really.)
For nightlife work, I never had a print portfolio. I could've used some at a later point, but I already decided to leave that genre. Nowadays, of course, I have a portrait and fashion portfolio — it's necessary in those genres.
Good luck w/ everything — best, NT
Nikola Tamindzic
Tod Seelie
Hi Kay,
I'd be happy to answer some questions for you.
What equipment do you generally use? I have been using a Canon 5D and
a canon speedlite 580ex ii.
- I use the same equipment you do, so seems like you're already ahead
of a lot of those in the game.
Do you work freelance? I am not sure how competitive this industry is
yet and I was wondering what you think from your own experience.
- Nightlife photography is like most other types of photography, which
are typically freelance. Really the only exception to freelance in
photography are the few staff photographers left at newspapers that
are still surviving these days. The industry as a whole is kind of
going down the tubes. It is suffering from the double-team of
shrinking publications (and their ad revenue) as well as a flooded
workforce due to the affordability and technological advances of
digital cameras. So you have fewer clients willing to pay and a huge
surge in people competing for the shrinking revenue streams. It's
become a bit of a route for masochists these days, not that it wasn't
a bit before.
Do you keep a printed portfolio with you? Or do your employers refer
to your website to see your imagery?
- I keep a printed portfolio ready, yes, but it's become rare that
people ask you to drop it off anymore. There is a lot more focus on
your website, since it is instantly and always available. But I do
bring my book with me when I can get a meeting with an editor/art
director. My advice would be focus on your website first, as that can
always serve as an impromptu portfolio on your laptop in a pinch.
I hope this was helpful!
Tod Seelie
Conclusion
I didn’t really receive a great number of responses from night life photographers, however the few that I did I found helpful. It seems generally photographers are using Canons and Speedlites, which is what I have been using and which will also benefit me in photojournalism. Photographers in nightlife photography seem a bit more optimistic in regards to employment within this industry. I researched lots of nightlife photography agencies and it seems on average in the Uk photojournalists are earning between £40-£80 a night, which is relatively decent.
Nikola Tamindzic gave good advice when she told me to keep my images to a small number, between 25-40, something which I have probably been told a hundred times before at University. This prompted me to go through my blog and delete most of the images.
On the whole they seem to carry with them hardcopies of a portfolio, however, I think the focus needs to be a decent website, because it’s quick, easy for employers to access and with a good number of imagery available.
Below is an e-mail response which I received from Nicholas Gazin, who seemed to be advertising himself as a night life photographer which is why I initially contacted him, however he is perhaps more of a voyeur. Additionally I was amused by the profound ending ‘Also, I don’t consider photography an art’ to his already eloquent e-mail response.
Nicholas Gazin
I don't have a portfolio or seek out work as a photographer. I mainly use a Canon Rebel and my iPhone. I have a blog where I post photos that I take of girls.
http://nicholasgazin.tumblr.com/
Also, I don't consider photography an art.
http://nicholasgazin.tumblr.com/
Also, I don't consider photography an art.
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