Wondered how to get work in editorials in magazines? Remix Magazine held a panel discussion at Wellington Fashion Week with top tips for stylists and photographers…
Wondered how to get work in editorials in magazines?
For those in the photography, styling, hairdressing and makeup industries, many often wonder how to break in to the difficult world of editorial work.
Remix Magazine held a panel discussion at Wellington Fashion Week 2013 with top tips for stylists and photographers with many practical and useful tidbits of advice.
Here are some of the highlights.
Left to right: Tina Moore Editor of Remix, Tim Phin Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Remix Magazine, Tim Watson Mckenzie-Watson Photography.
Tip 1: Assist
Tina started by saying that getting published in editorial can be very closed doors; all about who you know and making connections and forming relationships. The best way in, is to assist. Be an assistant to an established stylist or photographer. Find people you admire, and follow them.
Tip 2: Etiquette on set
Tim Watson added that etiquette is vital on set for photographers to "Get pulled in to the ‘Love Circle’ which is editorial!" Watson said New Zealanders often fall down on this point of good etiquette on set. It’s all about how to deal well with the client, the models and everybody. It’s important to be in the background then there and present when they need you. Don’t wander off to text or have a cigarette. Be 100% present at all times and be really professional.
Tip 3: Be persistant
Watson added: "If you want to assist, be persistant. We gets LOTS of emails. Be thick-skinned as hell, added Tina. If you’re lucky you’ll get a reply, but probably nothing!
Tip 4: Be personal
Make sure your email to an Editor is personal to their name, not CCd to other publishers – as some rookies do! – and shows a knowledge of that title and what the magazine is all about. For instance, Remix does not publish any nudity. Remix doesn’t pay models or photographers as being published is a platform to lucrative advertising work.
Ask Editors if they have any themes they are working to.
Ask if they are wanting winter, or next summer.
Look through the past five or six issues of the magazine you are approaching to publish your work, and get to know the tone and style of the magazine.
Tip 5: Have a vision for a shoot
You need to have a clear idea of what you going to portray and your theme and clothes you are using, and secondly you need to convey this clearly to the Editor. Which leads up on to the next point:
Tip 6: Be prepared
Preparation for a shoot is as important as the shoot itself. As an Editor, Tina said she just can’t have ten shoots in an issue that all feature Karen Walker, or Vanishing Elephant, for instance. This is NOT a Karen Walker catalogue! Go broad with your choices of clothing; don’t be lazy and just go to one showroom. It’s your job to go out and meet the designers.
Tim Phin added that you may need to make sure the magazine’s advertisers are covered and include their products in the shoot.
Tip 7: Make a moodboard
Prepare a moodboard to let the Editor – and your team – know what is going on. The moodboard should include:
– lighting references
– styling references
– location
– model looks
They don’t need to slavishly copy the references – the hair and makeup artists should put their own slant on the looks – but it gives an idea of the theme and look. You are NOT the only person in a shoot. The whole team must be on the same page. Hairstylists go off on tangents all the time. It’s NOT A HAIR COMPETITION.
Tip 8: Model cast well
Tim Watson said that "model casting is one of the most important aspects of the shoot, cos that’s what we’re looking at." Too many brands leave model casting to the last minute.
Tip 9: Don’t rely on post-production
Instead, learn to make photos as perfect as you can with your camera. A commercial can cost $6,000 to re-touch, whereas just calling over the hairstylist to fix up a few stray hairs costs nothing, especially when you’re already paying them $600 a day to be there on set, and not to run off and have cigarettes! Tina added that photo re-touching is a great niche industry in New Zealand to get into as they get paid a lot of money. Tim Watson said he’d rather see an imperfect raw image, than a badly retouched one.
Tip 10: Develop your own style
Editors get to know which photographers have which style, for instance: for a polished beauty shoot she’d book someone like Jessica Sim or Hannah Richards but not for a grungy street editorial shoot. Don’t try to be a jack of all trades and a master of none. Tim Phin said it’s vital to create your own brand, and a Twitter account and interact with us and post things.
Words and photos, Megan Robinson
5 April 2013
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