Lindsay adler
As a leading photographer of the New York fashion scene, Lindsay Adler has to stay on her toes. She tells Keith Wilson why hard lighting rules, why she loves the EOS R and why you should charge more…
Lindsay adler is more than just another fashion and beauty photographer working in one of the most competitive business environments… In a field of photography where her subject matter goes in and out of fashion – literally – from one year to the next, she is quick to emphasize that there is another side to her job that is less reliant
upon the fickles of fashion. “One of the good things about my job is that I can advance my career in two different directions,” she explains. “One part of my career is the commercial work, fashion, beauty and portraiture. The other side is that I teach and get invited to speak at conferences around the world.” It is for this reason that she is speaking to me from her hotel in Tel Aviv, Israel. Lindsay’s experience owes a lot to the fact that she started her career when her contemporaries were still at school…
When were you first convinced that you wanted to make your life in photography?
I’m one of those insanely lucky people that figured out what I wanted to do,
basically right away. I was 15 when I started my business. I did the paper work, started paying taxes and all that stuff.
Really? At 15?
Yeah, I was 15 when I made it all a business. The reason I figured this out so quickly is that I played around with photography, shooting landscapes, animals, wildlife, that kind of thing, just for fun. I was okay at it, but I was not one of those people who started off being good right away, but I really enjoyed it. All the people in my life, my mum and dad, they all encouraged me to find something I loved and then, hopefully, spend my life doing it. So I took it seriously as a job from the beginning.
Was beauty and fashion your primary interest from the start?
Not even close! In the beginning I started off photographing for fun. So, when I started my business I did portraiture and like a lot of people do, every type of portraiture – families, maternity, weddings, babies. I liked the photography part but I wasn’t exactly inspired by the subject matter. So, I found an interest in fashion and started putting elements of fashion into my portraiture, and eventually went full-on into fashion and beauty. As a result, I’ve been shooting for 18 years, but the last 10 have been specifically fashion and beauty.
Fashion and beauty is a huge market, how do you make your work stand out from the crowd?
One of the important things is to have a style – some kind of way through which you see the world that is different or unique and it is cohesive. So, when you look at a photographer’s work you know an image has been taken by them. When I decided on fashion and beauty I realized that all the people I was inspired to be, and all the people that I admired, had a strong individual voice. I knew that I liked strong, graphic imagery in which the women I photograph are elegant and empowered. Those are the kind of themes that I focus on in my work. You don’t see me shooting them in a soft, demure subdued way, they are always powerful and elegant. Part of the reason that I have chosen this as well is because I have a female voice as a photographer and a female vision, and I think that is a unique perspective that I can add.
Who inspired you and shaped what your style became?
As we’re speaking about women, an early female photographer who inspired me is Lillian Bassman. She was a contemporary of Irving Penn and Richard Avedon, but she didn’t get the recognition that they did. I loved her experimentation, but also
I liked strong, graphic imagery in which the women I photograph are elegant and empowered
Beautiful lighting is like candy – it’s actually delicious and I crave it!
the way that she portrayed women. It was the elegance and strength in her work that I think made it unique. Then, of course there’s Irving Penn himself, that massively beautiful, timeless style. And someone who my lighting has been heavily inspired by (the bold and strong and playing with shadows) would be Albert Watson. He’s still shooting.
Have you met Albert?
I’ve met him twice. It’s funny because people come up to me and say, “you inspire me, I love your work,” and I said the same to him, and he replied, “that’s nice dear!” I saw him speak with Mark Seliger. It was cool to see them talking about their experiences. They’re both titans in how they’ve shaped imagery.
How much creative freedom do you have on your shoots?
There’s two pieces to this equation. First, people say to me, “you’re so lucky, you get to be creative.” It’s not luck at all. I produce the type of imagery I want to be hired for and that then attracts brands that want that look and feel.
So, I regularly shoot work, at least twice a month, that’s unpaid, it’s marketing material and is purely portfolio building. Regularly that turns into someone saying, “Oh, I love that effect, I love that style, can you do that for my brand?” It’s not luck, it’s strategic.
The other side of that is most of the high paid work is not creative. For the most part it’s pretty spelled out: “We want this type of lighting; this type of styling; this type of makeup,” then in the moment I give them what they want. I usually get a few minutes to play around and try different things – I’ll throw in something more unique and a lot of the times they like the more unique. It’s just, usually, they don’t make much room for play because there’s so much cost and risk.
What would I find in your camera bag for a typical shoot?
There’s not necessarily such a thing as typical, but I’ve got a core set of camera and lens combinations that usually cover my bases. Most of the time I’m shooting with a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. If I know something is going to go onto a billboard then it would be a 5DS, but most of the time it’s the 5D Mark IV. For lenses, anything that is in the studio that’s full-length or mid-length – I’ve shot with the EF 24-105mm f/4l because it covers my bases. Stylistically, I’m not shooting at wide aperture, so the fact that it is f/4 is completely fine. For tighter beauty shots, head and shoulders, it’s usually the EF 70-200mm f/2.8l. Lastly, if I need to get in crazy tight, it’s the 180mm macro. Nine times out of ten you’ll find those in my bag. But if I go on location for lifestyle shoots, I need to shoot wide, so I’ll grab the EF 50mm f/1.2, EF 85mm f/1.4 and EF 35mm but that’s not as often.
What about your lighting? Are there favoured setups, or do you play around a bit more?
I am definitely someone who loves to play with light. I think lighting is the thing that thrills me most in photography. Beautiful lighting is like candy – it’s actually delicious and I crave it! A lot of photographers find one or two setups and then they stick there. I get why, because it’s comfortable, it’s reliable, but that’s not what excites me. I think it’s one of the ways I can grow as a photographer, even if I’ve mastered the essentials I can always experiment more with lighting, so I don’t really have go-to setups.
What things do you do differently?
I think a lot of people are afraid of hard light because hard light emphasizes texture, wrinkles, blemishes, but hard
light can create such control, like elegant shadows and beautiful sculpting, so the makeup and model choice downplays the downside of hard light. Or one has to retouch and I don’t think that’s cheating, it’s just the side effect of using hard light.
Do you work with the same stylists, because they’re input is incredibly important?
Totally. I think when you shoot commercial work, fashion and beauty, the team becomes essential to your style because a makeup artist has a style, the wardrobe stylist has a style. But it is also (about) how they understand what visuals you’re looking for and they can bring everything together to express what you, as a photographer, have in your mind. I have maybe a core group of six people that I work with over and over.
What’s the best business lesson you have learned?
I’ll give you two. The first lesson is that you shouldn’t aim to please everyone because if you aim to make everyone happy you’ll thrill no-one. What I mean by that is take a stance, you have a voice, you have some individuality. It’s not going to suit everybody; if somebody wants something soft, ethereal, dreamy or subdued, they won’t hire me, but that’s okay because they’re not the right fit or the right client for me. By having a voice and style and committing to it, then you
One of the things that thrilled me about using the EOS R has been the face tracking and eye detection
market to those people that want what you have to say and how you say it.
The second piece of the equation is that a lot of times your success is less dependent on the quality of your photography than you think it is. Your success is often dependent on your marketing and your networking. My example is when I was getting ready to move to New York I started doing these test shoots with a wardrobe stylist. She would style people for red carpet and award shows and she wanted to start doing shoots, so she introduced me to some professional athletes and she pitched it as, “hey, I’ll style you for the red carpet, why don’t we do a photoshoot?” So, when I moved to New York, the way I was able to pay my rent the first year was from this one person. It wasn’t that the quality of my photography was irrelevant, but it was important that she vouched for me and that I had those connections.
You shot the campaign for the new EOS R series. Tell us about it?
One of the things that has thrilled me about using this camera has been the face tracking and eye detection because a skillset that I’m weak at is shooting wide open. I mean, those people who manage to shoot with an 85mm f/1.2 at f/1.2,
I don’t know how they do it! I’ve always struggled, so recently I did a session where I was shooting everything wide open. I would never do that in the past. Even with jobs where I would shoot quite wide open, I would have to tell my subjects not to move and that gets rid of spontaneity. Now, if they laugh and move it’s tracking – it’s not a problem.
What else can you tell us about it?
I also like the EOS R’s customization.
I have my camera set up with two custom settings whether I’m shooting in the studio or outdoors. It’s got a multi-function bar – basically it’s a swipe bar on the back of the camera that you can program to be whatever. I program mine for ISO. I have it so that if I click left I go to the lowest ISO that I would possibly use for that location. If I’m shooting outdoors left click is for ISO100, but then I know that I might go to 1250 as the light fades, so I right-click to be 1250. I just slide between the two and it makes me faster. Also, the lenses are crazy sharp. The RF 50mm f/1.2 and the RF 28-70mm f/2 are probably the sharpest lenses I have ever used.
Have they found a place in your camera bag for good?
Yes, especially when I have been travelling, taking an R camera with the RF 24-105mm lens and RF 50mm f/1.2, between the two of those that covers a wide-range. They’re not lightweight, but they are lighter than their EF equivalents.
If you could choose one shoot, one campaign, what has been your career highlight so far?
This doesn’t answer your question, but the highlight of my career is being able to make a living as a photographer – it’s so tough! There’s so much competition; so many good photographers; so many things that can go wrong; so many skillsets you need to have. Making it as a professional photographer is something to be proud of no matter what. It’s a big deal.
How tight was the turnaround time for the EOS R campaign?
Crazy tight because they didn’t want to tell anybody the camera existed. I only got to play with the camera for 20 minutes before I got to shoot the campaign. When I went to their offices in New York, I had to go into the basement, into a soundproofed room with one door and no windows to see the camera because they hadn’t announced it yet. It was a case of: “take this gear and show us what you can do with it.” From when
If you charge more a lot of the time you attract a better clientele and it doesn’t usually hurt you
I tested the camera it was two weeks ‘til when I shot the campaign in August, so it was a super-tight turnaround.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given so far?
Charge more. I interned for a photographer named John Harrington, who wrote the book
He looked at my work, my website and what I was charging and he said “Charge more,” because when you’re at a certain price point people expect a certain quality – this can be good or bad. He said if you charge less people assume that you’re worth less, but if you charge more a lot of the time you attract a better clientele and it doesn’t hurt you. I almost tripled my prices and I had more business the following year.
There’s something to be said about charging more based on that!
Totally. You know, there’s always the possibility of losing clients but you can work with people you’ve had in the past.
For someone starting out today, what would be your top tip?
Assist other photographers. There’s two types of photographers you should assist: one whose work you love and one who makes a lot of money, because those are often not the same thing. There are photographers that are very successful whose work is awful, but they’re doing something right. By assisting these people you learn their business practices; how they interact with customers; how they charge; how they run their business; I think that’s important. On the other side, by assisting the photographer whose work you love, you figure out their process of conceptualizing; you figure out how their light changes; how they do their post. If you learn from both, ideally you can put it together with your own twist.