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CASE STUDY QUESTIONS AND RESPONSE FROM PHOEBE COWLEY

When you have to travel for a job, what equipment do you always bring with you? Would you recommend hiring or buying your own?

I have a small Peli case that has really saved my life (and my back) when travelling, which always has either 3 or 4 cameras in it; Mamiya Rz67, Olympus OMn-1, Canon 6d and a Pentax K1000, along with my light meter, flash, 3 lenses and lots of film (which you should always get hand-checked if travelling on a plane) Depending on where I’m travelling to, I make the decision with my assistant whether or not to bring our own equipment or hire it as sometimes it’s hard to do so in particular countries.

Who have you worked with which affected your career path?

I wouldn’t say I’ve worked with one specific person that has affected my career path, I think its been a multitude of characters I’ve met over my two years in the industry that have sculpted me as a person.

What were your first steps into becoming a freelance photographer?

When I was 18 I went travelling across the United States and took a camera with me to just document my trip and I ended up really liking the photos I took. I had a small exhibition when I got back to London and it went better than I had expected. I then emailed around all the magazines and companies I could think of and asked if I could shoot for them. I started to take more portraits and work with modelling agencies to build my portfolio, I then somehow ended up shooting an editorial for Wonderland Magazine and fell in love with the fashion world.

Which photographers have influenced you, and how did they affect your thinking/ career path?

Bruce Weber, Davide Sorrenti, Tim Walker and Brett Lloyd are my top photographers at the moment, but that changes all the time! I know that Tim Walker and Brett Lloyd only work on film, as did Davide Sorrenti, and so this was one of the main reasons I switched as I wanted to try and emulate their work, but I now know its not about what camera you use!

What was your first job you got which you loved and how did you get it?

I think my first proper job that I thoroughly enjoyed was when I shot Maisie Williams for her magazine Daisie. Everyone got on so well and the atmosphere was amazing. I got the job through her now boyfriend, who ran a modelling agency that I used to shoot for and we became friends. It’s all about connections!

What was the first time you clicked with a stylist and who was it?

I would have to say, Doug Broad. He is now the fashion editor of Rollacoaster Magazine, however, we first met when he wanted a photographer to shoot his graduation collection. We just clicked and ever since then we have worked on around 10 shoots together.

Did you go to university? If not is there anything you learnt from going into the photography industry from a young age?

I didn’t and I don’t regret it for a second! I was never going to go to Uni as I wanted to be an actor when I came out of school and already had an agent so believed I could go my own route. I’m also not a fan of school and the thought of doing another 3/4 years freaked me out! I’ve definitely learnt that you have to be very persistent and take a lot of losses when going up against people who have been in the industry for 20+ years, but it’s all character building and I think I have a much tougher skin now than I would have if I’d gone to uni.

What do you enjoy shooting the most and why?

I’d definitely have to say either fashion editorials or fashion campaigns. They are probably the most rewarding for me and I always cant wait to get home and see how the pictures turned out! The amount of work and artistry that goes into them always amazes me; the hair, makeup, styling, location and too see your work in print, or in a store is something I will never get used to.

Do you use lighting on location, or is your work all-natural light? If use lighting what are your top recommendations?

I tend to always use natural light and a light reflector whenever I can. If working in a studio though where there is no natural light source, I recommend using continuous lights if shooting on film, they’re just super easy and quick to set up. Over the winter months I got really into shooting with a flash, but now were coming into summer, it’s back to sunlight!

Do you think film adds anything to photography over digital?

Yes massively. I solely work on film and only use digital as a back up when doing a big shoot as I just prefer the quality, look and feel of it. The fact that you have to wait for the photos to develop and have no idea what they’re going to turn out like, is so much more rewarding than taking 300 of the same picture on digital and having to sift through them one by one. It’s tedious!

Do you think it’s best to try and get an agent?

Not necessarily. Most of the connections and jobs I get now have been due to me just reaching out and emailing the companies/people myself. It is however nice to have someone handle the financial side of things as I’ve never been good at that!

If wanting to be successful, do you think its best to live in London?

No not really, I mean it may be better to live in the city just so you can get to jobs easily, but you can be successful wherever you live, it’s all down to how motivated you are.

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This is what my website looks like after all my work and branding. Looking back at my initial ideas i really think i achieved what i had hoped for and i love the outcome of the website.  The font i had shown from brick magazine in my initial ideas fpr branding can be seen over the website and the general style of the websites i had liked are definitely there. I am really pleased with the outcome.

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This is my final branding for the email. I wanted to feature my logo, and all my information at the bottom so its all in one place.

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This is my final post card designs on the back and the front. 

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These are some mock ups of other designs for the back of postcards. I was mainly experimenting with the fonts and if i wanted them in capitals. I decided i preferred capitals.

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These are my final letter heads. I chose this image as its more neutral and i wanted an image which was more towards the bottom of the page, and the lighting in this images enables that perfectly.

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This was one image choice for the front of the letter heads, however i wanted something more neutral and mess colourful.

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This is the back of my letter heads, i wanted to keep the design simple and minimalistic so i kept it white with minimal writing, only my contact info at the bottom of the page, and logo at the top.

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The red arrows were bold, and went really well with the font i chose which is why i selected to keep them only on the categories with sub categories.

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After my 1;1 with Ellen , we talked about cutting out the logo on the front side of the business cards as this covers the image. This is the final version of my business cards front. I added my logo onto the back of the business card so it was on my business cards.

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I also wanted to add a recent post thread menu on the bottom of the page once you select a specific sub category. This will help enforce the people to click on other threads.

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I decided to make these images full screen size on the business card so there wasn't any background in site. I also decided it was best to add my logo onto the top corner of the image so it creates a brand and identity within the images. I moved the logo around the image to choose where it looked more beneficial.  It was going to be top left however something didnt look right for me and the top right looked a lot better.  

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I was experimenting with images which could go on the business cards. I wanted to choose images which had nice light colours, included a portrait similar to my style and a natural lighting image.

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After my 1;1 we discussed my business cards and Ellen suggested adding one of my images on the front side of the business cards so the people can remember my work. I will experiment with this now.

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Due to changing back to an old theme i loved the look of, i changed this font to the pirata one font i really liked which matched the brick magazine style. It was much easier to read now as font is bigger.

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Because of me adding in sliders the theme i had chosen got rid of the menu meaning once you were on a sub category it didn't give you an option to click anything else so i added the menu. I placed these on the left hand side of the sliders.

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i added a site icon on the customise setting on wordpress. I wanted this to come up when searching the website to make it more personal and customised.