Today we’d like to introduce you to Ella Sophie.
Hi Ella, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m a full-time, agency represented photographer. Creating images that celebrate the essence of female power. I work both in the studio and on location. Looking at things from a wider perspective so I can tell a full story.
In 2016, I reset my photography career when I moved to California from NYC. I had taken a few months off to do some soul-searching. During that time, I focused on what I wanted to do with my career. Not so much from a to-do list standpoint but in a value based way. How do I want to feel? What do I want to put out into the world? And then I figured out where my work is needed and can thrive.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I can’t imagine any business owner saying the road has been smooth sailing. That said, I have never considered not doing this. The biggest struggle for me has been finding where my voice belongs. So often the advice I hear is to look around at what companies that you like are creating and to emulate that. But for me, that feels all wrong. I know what I want to say and how my voice looks and feels as a photographer. The tricky part has been figuring out who can I best serve with my perspective. It’s been many years of trial and error. And this is an exploration that might never truly end.
Finding community and support has also been a challenge. I’m not naturally an outgoing person. I spent my childhood and early twenties fairly isolated. I was never the person to strike up a conversation with a stranger. Group projects and team-picking events always resulted in me being one of the last ones chosen. However, I’ve learned to find people who I connect with. And the more practice I’ve had, the easier it has gotten. My trick is to sign myself up for things that I can’t back out of. Like leading a meetup for creative entrepreneurs. Now I am part of a vibrant community of creatives. We all support one another in this bizarre world of freelance and entrepreneurship.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
What I’m most known for is my empowering images of women. I love creating images that capture the beauty and complexity of the feminine identity. The strength, power, and diversity of the people I photograph is exhilarating. I approach all my work – including product and interiors from the same perspective. Looking at how light, form, color and texture come together. I’m deeply drawn to natural elements. And often gravitate toward playing with color theory in my work.
My biggest client group is the jewelry sector. From independent designers to estate jewelry to traditional jewelry dealers. Photographing jewelry allows for an endless amount of creativity. Sometimes the pieces are solo, with impeccable lighting. And other times, I’m working with a full team. Photographing models of all sizes, ages and ethnicities wearing fabulous and unique pieces.
My photography is described as being clean, fresh, bold and timeless.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
Photography as an industry is exploding – with more and more need for images. Both moving and still. However, I also see that as that need for images increases often it is for medium or low-quality images. Social media doesn’t always require a high-end professional photographer. The photography industry is in a transition phase where it needs to figure out where it belongs.
There will be continued growth of content creators – who can be anyone with a creative eye. And businesses will need to learn when they need a content creator and when they need a specialized professional. I hope for everyone’s sake this gets sorted out. Because at the moment there is a wild pay disparity in the creative industry. Often both the photographer/creator and the hiring team are unsure of realistic budgets. Learning when bigger budgets are necessary and when a single person can make the content is crucial. I hope that along with figuring this out we become more transparent as an industry about costs.
Learning what to charge or how much to pay will happen in new ways. The old days of interning and learning from seasoned professionals in person about budgets is becoming obsolete. More and more creatives now get their technical know-how from tutorials. And easy access to equipment to play with (hello cell phones). At the moment this is causing a lot of confusion about pricing. In order for the industry to thrive, we will need to learn to make pricing information accessible so that everyone knows what range a job should cost.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ellasophiephoto.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellasophiephoto/
- Other: https://www.behance.net/ellasophie
Image Credits
All Images by Ella Sophie
