How do you land jobs as a freelancer? Well, the first thing an employer will see is your portfolio. It's like your CV. The quality of your work, experience and relevance will go a long way to landing the job. How to you build a portfolio? Join the Freelancer Club, connect with other freelancers and shoot together. We speak with a couple of members who did just that to learn how to build the perfect portfolio.
- Ann Tye - model
- Marcus Tay - photographer
- Alice Chadband - stylist
- Federica Natale - makeup artist
Why did you apply to do a test shoot?
AT: I wanted to do a test shoot to expand my portfolio and the range of shoots that I can do. I also wanted to make connections with like-minded people working within the industry and make friends! haha
AC: I wanted to do a test shoot as a way of connecting with other creatives as well as to capture some great images for my portfolio. Test shoots are the perfect way to gain some exposure and portray your creative style professionally, without spending a fortune. Meeting other individuals in the same boat is really refreshing and it is great to work together to reach final outcomes that everyone is happy with.
MT: The test shoot was done mainly for portfolio building purposes.
Did you arrange the shoot?
AT: I didn't post the test shoot on the jobs board, I was contacted by Alice and Marcus over the Freelancer Club about the idea and concept behind the shoot and from there we all arranged to get together to do the test shoot.
AC: Marcus [the photographer] posted the listing on the jobs board, with the intention of hiring a team and wanted some help with composing the right theme for the shoot. Marcus and I started discussing ideas and had a think about the type of looks we wanted to create and figured we could work quite well together on a shoot, so we went ahead and asked Ann and Federica if they were up for joining us!
Was the entire team sourced on The Freelancer Club?
AC: Yes everyone involved in our shoot we found on The Freelancer Club.
How did the shoot the go?
AT: Overall the shoot was extremely fun and everything went really smoothly that day. It was lovely meeting Marcus, Alice and Federica and a pleasure to work with them. We all got along quite well and everyone was working hard but at the same time having fun.
AC: The shoot went really well. Everyone got involved and gave suggestions in terms of angles, poses and making alterations in terms of the exact location used for each look. We wanted the images to be Street style focused so we used various walls & corners in Shoreditch as our backdrop.
MT: It was great, everyone handled their role really well which made the shoot rather enjoyable.
Anything you would have changed to improve the shoot?
AT: Nope, not at all.
AC: It would have been nice to have got a hair stylist on board as none of us is particularly confident with doing hair; I think this element just slipped our mind to be honest, but we made the best out of what we had & I don't think it made much of a noticeable impact on our images.
Was it a positive experience?
AT: Yes, it was definitely a positive experience
AC: I feel it was a very positive experience and the team worked well together. Federica adapted amazingly to the brief and designed the perfect look to match the style I wanted to achieve on Ann. Marcus was really speedy and worked extra hard to finish the photos; we were all really impressed with how little time it took him to retouch & send over the imagery! Ann is a really talented model & is incredibly confident. She came up with some great ideas for shots as well.
