This last year I have spent a lot of time in my practice learning how to be a better collaborator. From assisting on shoots to working with clients and other creators such as graphic designers to hit a brief.
My first collaborative project was with a local coffee shop, I created advertising materials for them to use on their social medias. I found that by communicating and collaborating with the business owners I was able to really capture what their brand means to their consumers - as well as allowing me to collaborate with a lighting assistant.
More recently I have been working on a collaborative project for Adnams Southwold with Eoin O'Kramer a graphic design student. I learnt how valuable working with others is within this project and I learnt that collaborating isn't just telling someone what I want done. It's important to value all creative ideas from everyone on your team. So within my work, I told Eoin my rough vision and concept - from there he had full creative control of what he wanted to add to my imagery and I really enjoyed working with him.
I collaborated within the imagery you seen in this post. In this shoot I was assisted by photographer Lauryn Boon, a second year photography student at Norwich University of The Arts. I also really like to let my models guide me on what they are wanting from the shoot, in this case Mitchel wanted a mix of colourful and more professional headshots.
The importance of collaboration for me is the networking connections, not only does it allow me to find new creatives to work with but it also lets me find new people to give me honest and genuine feedback. Networking and collaboration are very crucial within any industry, how can one make it big without reaching out to new people to get their work seen. Thats also partly why we love our little magazine, we are here to help you network. You can find new artists you may not have known about before, people who someday we will be out in the world with and may need someone who is skilled within film, graphic design or photography. So it's good to start early.
To recap, collaborating is important because firstly its just nice to meet new creatives. It's important because we can get critical feedback and also this is what happens in the industry. So like I say, its never too early to get making connections.
Adam Billings
@adambillings_photography on Instagram
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