When I first picked up a camera three years ago I did what most teenagers with an SLR camera do; I took an embarrassing amount of photographs of flowers, animals and myself whilst I discovered the sort of photography I wanted to hone in on.
My dad has always been a hobbyist photographer and taught me the basics of using a camera. After a year I started pursuing the photography that really interested me; fashion. My first ‘fashion’ shoots involved making my friends sit in bathtubs and fields of flowers with over-the-top makeup and badly-styled outfits and continued this way until I moved to London a year ago and had the chance to work with other creatives to realise my visions.
Fashion photography always seemed like a natural way for me to go. I am the sort of person that has to have complete control and fashion allows me to control every single aspect of an image. Organising shoots is actually one of my favourite parts of what I do.
Once I started working with teams and models my work really began to improve. It opened windows of opportunity I had never even considered before, and after a couple of months of testing with agency models I produced my first editorial for a printed American magazine and two more editorials thereafter before I came home to Somerset and went to China in the summer.
Fashion photography is something I absolutely adore doing, but for a lot of people there is a very falsey-glamourised idea of what it is like. People assume it’s very easy work, but it’s not like that at all, not until you get to the point where you’re shooting designer campaigns regularly and have other people do all the mundane work. I have only just scratched the surface of what it is truly like – but even after doing it for so little time there have been times where the industry has really gotten to me. As a testing photographer, models will be given away last minute to a photographer shooting an editorial, people will let you down, and magazines will destroy your stories with horrendous editing or bad layouts. And fashion photography is such collaboration that if anyone in the team isn’t on par, the whole image will suffer. You have to take everything on the chin; otherwise you will find yourself having a break down.
For my shoots I draw my influences from anywhere and everywhere — which is why I’m really keen on traveling. I listen to music, look at art and am constantly keeping my eye out for amazing locations, but I try to limit inspiration from other fashion shoots as my work won’t be as fresh that way. As any sort of photographer, whether it’s conscious or not, your work is shaped by the things you spend your time around so I also try to keep myself around inspiring people.
I’m hoping that 2012 will be a year where I shoot more portraiture and ‘real’ people along with male editorials – as I really want to prove I can be flexible whilst still keeping with my style of work.
Links:
Website: http://www.charlottebibby.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bibbyphotography
Twitter: http://twitter.com/charbibby
Tumblr: http://rentapanda.tumblr.com
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