How do I get work with brands?

Whether you’re a model, photographer on influencer, making money and getting work through social media is going to be a key aspect of your job. In this day and age, it’s difficult not to! Obviously being an influencer, you’re main income is going to come from collaborations or work for brands. As a model, growing an Instagram account can be really beneficial, and it will help getting work with both photographers and brands. As a photographer, social media is a chance to showcase your talent to a huge audience, and collaborate with brands to earn more money!

Where do I find brands to work with?

Social media. Easy as anything. Personally, I use Instagram and the wonderful world of google to find my brands. I get quite a lot of sponsored posts on my news feed because of the way I use Instagram, which is hugely beneficial to me as it means I don’t need to go searching too far to find brands to contact! From there, I can find more brands on the suggested tabs. If brands follow me, I always email them and usually I get a reply, which is great!

Just searching on google is another great way to find brands. Searching, for example, ‘top 20 UK clothing brands’ and then finding them on Instagram is a really easy way to find more brands.

How do I go about contacting brands?

Email them. You can’t wait for brands to just contact you, because unless you’ve got over 100,000, realistically they’re not going to come looking for you. Most companies have their contact information on their Instagram page, and if not it will be on their website, so it’s more than easy to find out an email address. Just send them an email explaining who you are and what you offer and hopefully they’ll get back to you!

But no one’s responding to me…

It’s not going to work like clockwork. I email so many brands to get work, and only a very small percentage will get back to me, and then an even smaller percentage will actually say they’re willing to pay to work with me. Offering free services to start your collaboration is a great way to create a working relationship that might lead to them paying you for your services further down the line. I always say that even if a brand doesn’t have a social media budget to spend, I will always post stories on my Instagram in return for them sending over products. If your stories get loads of views, this can be really beneficial for them, and then you’ll probably get a paid collaboration with them in the near future.

All in all, you’ve got to put in the work to find the brands to work with. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve got 5000 or 50000 followers, you can still find work on social media, you’ve just got to go out and get it! If you’ve got any tips on how to find work on social media, let me know in the comments!

Dos and Don'ts of Models Working with Photographers!

It’s always comical to read stories about nightmare models and photographers and shoots that have gone wrong, when they could have been very easily avoided by just behaving in a different way or researching each other’s work beforehand. Personally, whenever I work with a photographer, I have a good scroll through their Instagram, check out their website and I usually message some of the recent models they’ve worked with to see how their shoot experience was. I find this really helps when I’m working out whether to work with a photographer or not, as I tend to on a tfp (time for photos) basis, so I can’t afford to go on a shoot if it’s not going to be worth it, and is just going to end up being horribly awkward and producing kind of rubbish photos as an outcome. As always, some photographer’s styles won’t suit me, but will suit others, and vice versa; My photos and the modelling I tend to do may not suit some photographers, but this is all my opinion so of course others won’t always agree with it. Anyway, here are my do’s and don’ts of working with photographers.

Do:

@willlamerton

Do a background check - I don’t mean stalk them facebook and find out everything about them. Just see who they’ve recently worked with, what their style of photos are and whether you think you would be a good professional match.

Be professional - you’ve got to be somewhat laid back and willing to have a conversation and a joke when necessary so that the shoot isn’t awkward, but this doesn’t mean you can talk all the time and not take the photoshoot seriously - it is work after all.

Be prepared - discuss what kind of photos you both would like, where you’re shooting, what time you’re meeting ext. You don’t want to not be prepared and then end up starting off on the wrong foot.

Be communicative - if there are more people there (e.g. MUAs or hair stylists), make sure you communicate with all of them about what the aim of the shoot is and what kind of photos you’re after. You all want to make sure you want the same goal.

@ollyshoots

Allow directions - most photographers would have done photoshoots loads of times, so would know what looks best in certain angles and lighting. Let them direct you into poses and facial expressions ext. You can’t see your own face when modelling, but they can, so they can see what looks best. It’s not rude for them to tell you to move your head up or smile a little more - they’re just doing their job.

Don’ts:

Expect the world - a photographer is there to take photos, use the lighting to the best of their ability on the day, edit the photos and come away with great shots, but a photographer isn’t a magician; they can’t make you look like Audrey Hepburn. You have to do a lot of work too and let the photographer tell you if they want you to do something slightly different

@abzmystery

Be taken advantage of - you have the right to say no to something you don’t want to do. If a photographer wants you to do a slightly dangerous pose and you don’t feel safe, don’t do it. If you feel uncomfortable and the photographer is being inappropriate, remember to say no, and leave if you need to. A way to combat this could be to bring a chaperone with you, however some professional photographers don’t agree with this, so ask first.

Assume every photographer is the same - each photographer has a different style and way of doing shoots. Some are more experienced than others, so may be a tad unaware of what to do, help them out if needed and suggest new poses ext. Let a photographer suggest what to do however, it may be more suited to them. This is why I always say to look at their portfolio first, to see whether their style suits you, and whether you’ll get photos you like

Accept free work from people you don’t really really want to work with - I tend to do tfp photoshoots with photographers, because I only really work with those I want to. I have to love their photos and imagine me fitting into their style of photos for me to do a tfp shoot with. On another note, if the photoshoot is for brand work, and someone in the project is getting paid, you should too, which is why I never do brand work if the photographer is getting paid and not me.

Overall I think the main thing is to stay safe, kind, communicative, and most of all professional. This is work and you are both doing a job. It usually benefits both of you too, so you would both want the best outcome and for it not to be awkward. You do have to remember to have fun however! This is probably the best job I could have imagined, and every photoshoot is an experience meant to be enjoyed. You should never have to have a job you don’t like!

Working with Goodeehoo - a vegan handbag and accessory brand!

Working with brands is one of my favourite things to do, especially when they produce products I love, and would definitely use on a day to day basis. I reached out to Goodeehoo simply because I loved their bags, and hence started our collaboration! Their products range from larger tote bags to smaller purses, key-chains and day to day clutch bags. I personally use the Tucuman Tote bag and a matching Tawny Large Pouch most days for when I’m out and about or in the office.

We started the collaboration by producing 10 photos of me modelling a selection of their items around North Devon. Starting at Westward Ho! and making our way to Appledore, we got a range of photos in several different locations, along with some we took in the house before we left for the photoshoot. I also changed outfit twice so that the photos didn’t look too similar, but went with a couple of dresses to fit in with the summery theme and because it was too hot to wear anything else.

When I posted the first post on Instagram, I also ran a competition too (which at time of writing is still running for another week) offering the Tucuman Tote bag and a matching Pacific Large Purse if you won. I also use the purse daily too as it’s a decent size and fits in all my other day to day bags I use. The one I’ve got is grey and blue, so fits with the grey handbag I’ve got that I use sometimes if I’m not carrying much.

All in all, I loved working with Goodeehoo, and hopefully this will be an ongoing collaboration as I can really see my followers on Instagram loving the bags as much as I do! If you wanted to enter the competition, it’s over on my Instagram (@oliviajtucker), and whilst you’re at it, you may as well go check out @goodeehoo too! If you wanted to check out their products, then head down to www.goodeehoo.com where they’ll be releasing new items soon too! So keep an eye out! ;)

Huge Jewellery Project for Philip Jones

A while ago I produced a small set of 10 photos for Philip Jones Jewellery of me modelling their items. They liked them so much, that they then asked me to produce more photos for their website of me modelling, holding and showing their jewellery in prop situations. With a collection of over 600 pieces of jewellery, this meant there were over 1800 photos to capture - a large project, but well worth it!

Modelled photos:

With the help of Will (my photographer) we went to a range of locations, mainly around Exeter, to get the modelled photos done. Changing outfits every 10 shots and locations very often meant I managed to get through most of my wardrobe throughout the 3 days we shot the photos! (I since realised I could do with some more clothes, so cheekily did a bit of online shopping too!)

Handheld photos:

These were much quicker to shoot because, although we did have to change the background every 25 shots or so, I didn’t have to change my clothes unless there was a distinctive sleeve on the clothing, making it much easier to efficiently shoot the photos. the editing was also a bit quicker with these shots too due to not having to worry too much about the lighting or tones of the photos, considering we did these in the studio.

Prop photos:

Once I set up a prop scene, the photos were extremely quick to shoot. We set up the studio lights and camera, meaning all I had to do was place the jewellery down and change the prop scene every 25 shots. We changed it every 25 shots so that there was a variation for the website and it just made the photos look more interesting as a set.

The outcome:

You can now view all of the photos on the Philip Jones website: https://philipjonesjewellery.com/

I’m really proud of the work I did for Philip Jones, and think it went really well. The overall feel of the photos was designed to be quite modern and lifestyle-like, meaning that you could see what they looked like when worn in a lifestyle situation rather than just in a studio. I do really love the jewellery Philip Jones do too, and I have several pieces I wear often too. It’s very modern, contemporary and of high quality, meaning it’s good as a gift for someone or a treat for yourself!