LXS - Conversations with Creatives

On today’s show I’m talking to Sami Sauri, a producer and cycling documentary photographer based in Spain. Sami and I met a few years ago when she was racing the Red Hook Crit series as an athlete herself. I’ve been following her way as a photographer and videographer since then and as I’ve lately been watching some of the documentaries she’s been part of, I wanted to talk to her about her passion in photography and filmmaking.

On this episode I'm speaking with Aaron Smith, a commercial photographer from Los Angeles, about the importance of personal work / test shoots and how these can bring you the clients you wish for. As an additional topic we are talking about a short film, Aaron and his wife Lwany did on female pro skateboarders, called "Above The Noise". In this film they concentrate on the ascension of female skateboarding and an abundance of sexism and comments left on social media that comes with it.

Nick Fancher is a photographer, author, and educator based out of Columbus, Ohio.  Nick specializes in dramatic lighting, often employing the use of bold colors and experimental camera techniques. He shoots editorial, music and commercial work for clients such as Columbia Records,  RCA Records, Epitaph Records, Apple Music and got published in Alternative Press, Kerrang, NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Metal Hammer or Revolver, to name a few. I came across Nick’s work first a few years ago, lost track to be honest but stumbled over an article published in Rangefinder Magazine about a recent one year absence to Social Media which I found really interesting so I immediately wanted to talk to Nick about that. Find Nick on the interwebs: https://www.nickfancher.com/   Mentions: Instagram Squarespace Mailchimp Andre Sorano Erwin Blumenfeld Chelsea Wolff My Bloody Valentine Revolver Magazine Ho99o9   Cats [00:01:00] Article on Social Media Abscence in Rangefinder Magazine [00:02:30] Deleting all Social Media Accounts and leaving 60k followers behind [00:03:00] Thoughts about leaving Social Media: why leave?  [00:03:45] Change in the way of using Instagram [00:05:00] Things you're supposed to do to make it in the industry [00:06:10] Didn't feel complete unless posting on Instagram [00:07:00] No reactions from certain people brought doubt [00:07:30] Anxiety rose and at the same time questions came up whether I'm gonna make it anyway [00:08:30] Month three after deleting saw new ideas of how to create leads [00:09:30] started reaching out to former clients got new gigs [00:10:00] Start a blog and put work on there [00:11:00] People started subscribing to the RSS feed ob the blog [00:12:00] Traffic on the website helps increasing SEO performance [00:12:20] More time gave the opportunity to do sports and go to therapy to get in better shape mentally and physically [00:13:00] Returning to Social Media with a new plan [00:15:00] Using Social Media in a social way without expectations [00:16:30] Identifying with your profession only [00:17:20] Social Media distracts [00:18:20] The use of newsletters [00:21:45] Reaching out to clients proactively [00:23:45] Sending out monthly newsletters [00:24:40]  Going back to "old ways" of marketing [00:28:20] Winning in the long game through newsletters and RSS feeds [00:29:00] Invest time into blogging for SEO [00:31:00] Is there a change in the work with less social media influence? [00:32:25] Experimenting: Shooting through things (honey / air filters / rubber cement) [00:33:45] How to come up with these creative ideas? [00:35:15] Shooting quarantine portraits with FaceTime [00:37:30] Favorite subjects [00:39:15] Shooting artists and reaching out to publications [00:40:45] Getting discovered through personal work [00:41:45] How to start shooting musicians [00:42:40] It never hurts to send an email [00:45:00] Pitch ideas to possible clients [00:46:00]

On this episode I'm speaking with Oli Sansom, a Melbourne based photographer, about the advantages of disconnecting yourself from your brand and how your work can benefit from it.