From Assistant to Photographer: Michael Clinard's Professional Transition

From Assistant to Photographer: Michael Clinard's Professional Transition PDN: Did you plan a transition to shooting on your own as soon as you started assisting? Michael Clinard: No, but it built to that. PDN: Who did you learn most from about the business of photography? MC: Jeff Corwin can be a corporate shooter. He's not there to waste anyone's time. He asked pointed questions, so in five minutes, he determined where he would be, how much time he had, what the subject was like, what options he had. My [prospective] client base was every single creative I'd worked with. I was usually the go-to [assistant for out-of-town shooters] in Seattle, so photo editors or creatives got to know me from production calls. I wasn't handing out business cards on the shoot [as an assistant]. I called them up said I'd love to shoot for you. I showed up, did my job, showed people I was the guy who could get things done. That's when my conversation with customers began, and when I called them up later [about work], they remembered who I was. People I've worked with, I contact once a month by phone or e-mail. I started a conversation with Zana Woods at Wired over a year ago. I was recently in San Francisco shooting job for Fortune, so the day before I went down I called her, and got my meeting with Wired. Same with e-mail. The other thing is, get yourself out there, and don't be upset if people tear your first book to shreds. I fill gaps with local catalog work, and look books. People told me what they liked and didn't like, and that helped me understand what worked for me. PDN: How did you get meetings with people? MC: I'm big on my relationships. Everything extra [after meeting my living expenses] went into that savings account. PDN: When and how did the jobs start coming? MC: As soon as I got back from New York, I started shooting for a local magazine. I shot two projects for him, and then he went to Men's Journal. The first thing I did with Amanda was go through all my photographs to see if there was anything I was overlooking. I hired a designer to create a new Web site. And I started thinking about getting a portfolio printed. My plan was to begin showing the portfolio in early 2011, but I applied to the NYC Fotoworks portfolio reviews in 2010, and got in. I was going to New York for the first time in November 2010 so I needed to print my book really quick. " So I printed it and started showing it. It'll never be perfect. We re-edited my work. Alex Hayden would chat with me about what to spend money on. " He said, "Don't spend money on gear, spend it on self-promotion. " He kept saying it, I didn't hear it, so I would buy gear and he kept asking, "When are you going to begin self-promoting?" [Self-promotion] doesn't get results overnight. Alex showed me how important it was to start sooner rather than later, so when I got a couple of jobs under my belt, people would connect my work to my name and branding, and things would start coming together. PDN: When and how did you start planning your transition? MC: In late 2008, I saw [creative consultants] Amanda Sosa Stone and Suzanne Sease give a talk about getting your work out there. As an assistant, I learned phone etiquette. The more I did it, the better I got at it, and it got me jobs. When I leave a message, it's two quick sentences, in and out. I'm not calling them with a hard sell—"Got any work for me?"—I'm telling them who I am. I was still shooting stuff on side, and all the money I made assisting, I put right back into developing my own business—travel, production, and promotion. PDN: What did your plan look like? What steps did you have to take? MC: In the first part of 2010, I started working with Amanda Sosa Stone. I'mbig on [leveraging] relationships, so we worked that into the plan. When I talk to someone on the telephone I have a certain style. Getting in front of people is huge. It's about personality: They want to make sure you're not crazed, and if they send you on a job, you can handle it. PDN: Did you quit assisting cold turkey when you started promoting yourself? MC: I was still assisting in 2010 and Amanda told me I needed to take time off from being an assisting to work on this [transition. " 2010 was really stressful. He said, "You know Mike, you really need to cut the ties. You've got to call everyone in Seattle tomorrow and tell them you're done [with assisting. ]" He also said I had to be willing to take on $30,000 in credit card debt. I wanted to wean myself off assisting. That's not how I work. PDN: How did you manage it financially between the time you stopped assisting and started getting your own jobs? MC: That's still hard, and on my mind. My idea was that as long as I could make that shooting, I'd be fine. I had saved all this money—for getting my book printed, for getting a new Web site. As I shoot more edit stuff, I find myself doing that, too. When I went to New York in late, late 2010, I was still on hook for a couple assisting jobs. But I don't know. I used to help you Julian Dufort who used to help Annie Leibovitz. PDN: So what specific steps did you take? MC: I was already shooting in the direction I wanted to go in. I had a lot of work I was proud of. From Assistant to Photographer: Michael Clinard's Professional Transition Trade News selected by Local Linkup on 30/03/2012