What are the main challenges you have known as a photographer and independent cameraman?
How can you highlight in such a competitive market?
The main challenge I met as a photographer and independent cameraman is to find customers. When I arrived at this market, I thought it was simple: it was enough to send a private message to LinkedIn showing photos or videos he had done, and I was going to work. But in reality, it is far from being so easy. This is really a challenge, and you have to adopt appropriate strategies. Wordmade is important, but it is something that is built in the long term.
I found my first contracts in classic work sites that were looking for freelancers, then I used platforms such as Malt, specialized for freelancers. To highlight, I think it was the quality of my services that made the difference. In Malta, when someone was looking for a “real estate photographer”, I was the first research result in France. This allowed me to sign many contracts and expand my network.
You share your creations on Tiktok, where you have a 40,000 subscribers audience. How did this platform influence your work and visibility? What advice would you give to creators who wish to use Tiktok to promote their art?
Yes, in fact, I have a Tiktok account with more than 40,000 subscribers. However, it is important to specify that what I publish on this platform has nothing to do with my independent activity. It is really entertainment, mainly due to fun. Cumulated, I have to exceed 10 million visits and have about 2 million like. These are great figures, and yes, you surely suspect it, it allowed me to generate many income.
That said, this experience did not influence my independent work, because there is no link between the two. I have already thought about using Tiktok to attract customers, but in this case, I can prefer to create another account dedicated only to this, not to mix everything in a single account.
I sincerely believe that Tiktok is today one of the best ways to share his art or any other type of content. In 24 hours, it is possible to change your life or get a thousand, even ten thousand times more than what could be achieved in other channels, and all this for free.
For creators who wish to use Tiktok to promote their art, my advice would be to not hesitate to publish regularly, be authentic and creative. The Tiktok algorithm promotes novelty and originality, so the more constant and different it is, the more likely it is highlighted.
â—¦ In his opinion, how did the photographer’s profession transform the digital in the last?
years ?
â—¦ What opportunities does photographers offer today?
With respect to photography itself, I am not completely updated with the latest technologies, because I use my camera in a more traditional way and adjust it in manual mode. But I can really talk about the impact of new technologies on postproduction. The new tools have transformed the process. For example, use photoshop almost all the time, which now offers tools based on artificial intelligence to generate images and eliminate details. This previously required an advanced software domain and a lot of time. Today, when I take a photo and notice an annoying detail, I automatically have the reflection to tell myself: “I will eliminate it in Photoshop with AI.” Time savings is enormous, and this functionality not only revolutionizes the photographer’s profession, but also that of any creativity. New technologies offer a real opportunity to improve productivity, while simplifying complex and time tasks.
There are many opportunities because the tools continue to improve. However, it should be taken into account that the images generated only by AI become increasingly realistic, and this could endanger the photographer’s profession. However, I think we are not there yet.
Can you tell us about your current or future projects? â—¦ How is the evolution of your career foresee in the coming years, especially with the development of new technologies and digital platforms?
Honestly, I really don’t know what the future has for me. Currently, I alternate because I decided to resume studies, since my photography and video skills had to complement each other with communication skills, which I lost. However, in the future, I would like to create my business that combines photos, videos, content creation and communication, while taking advantage of new technologies as much as possible, especially AI. What I know with certainty is that I want to create something innovative, and not follow an existing classic model that does not seem to go to the future.
What advice would you give to those who want to embark on photography or videography today? What skills are essential to succeed in this area in the digital era?
I think that for those who want to start, train, practice will make you an expert. Ask, you can learn a lot about YouTube, everything is explained in detail. And above all, do not neglect new technologies, it is the future, it is very important to be up to date with this. There are thousands of accounts in the networks that explain everything in detail. Confine what we don’t have enough, you always have to do more.
