Creative Teams

Written 2011/10/30

I would like to come back on my first blog post. I talked about Jeff Koons and his use of the workshop process. As I said, his idea of a workshop is really useful considering the amount of time it needs to complete a piece of work. During the Renaissance, this process was also used for this reason. At that time, it took so many years to complete one work. 

In my entry, I also made a comparison between the workshop and the creative team. This is something I want to talk about today. 

As a freelance photographer, I realize that it is mandatory to build my own creative team. Nothing big can be achieved on my own. It takes too much time and too much energy. I used to work alone and got tired really fast and frustrated. I spend so much time looking on different websites for new ideas, great images etc. and every time I am amazed by the quality of work I see. When I look back at my own work after that, I get really frustrated. My own isn't as polished as theirs. But why? Yes, I need more experience, its obvious and it is something I have no choice but to go through, but also, the fact that I am working on my own makes me forget about important details. I cant see everything at once and I am not good at everything. If I want to do a fashion shoot, sure I will need a makeup artist, stylist etc. to complete my work. I am not specialized in that field of work. I am the photographer, my job is to understand light, composition and technical photography aspects so I can achieve my goal in having a breathtaking image. Their job is to make sure the clothes are well placed, the makeup fits the model etc. This is one job I can't do at the same time as taking pictures. Moreover, the final result will look way much more professional if professionals to their own jobs. Its logic!

So well, I think I will start looking for a creative team. The more we will work together, the best the results are gonna be, the more I will improve. Also, the more people there are in a team, the more ideas we have. Together, we can build something big!

As a last example of how useful it is to work with other people is me getting involved in the Bishop's Photo Club. I am now the Vice President of the club. The head of the photo club and we complete each other. Without each other, the club would go nowhere.