Jade Macdonald (UK): »An Interview with Mareen Fischinger«

Mareen Fischinger is a Düsseldorf based photographer. You can see her website here, or follow her tumblr here.

Not only is she a damn good photographer, she is also a very lovely person as she took some time out of her day today to let me interview her for my univeristy project. I thought I’d share it here so you can all see how nice she is, and it’s a pretty interesting and insightful interview about photography as a business.

So, how long have you been working as a professional photographer?

I started to depend solely on my income as a photographer while I was still in design school, that was in 2006. I had been working as a freelance photographer for about 2 years before that, taking photos for small companies and giving out licenses for my personal projects at times. The big step was a well-known German communications company that called me up one day for my photographic services because they liked my work that they had found on the internet.

When did you first begin to gain an interest in photography?

I have been interested in visual arts ever since I was a child and wanted to do something with it in my career. Graphic design, drawing, typography, photography, film, television etc. — my studies in communication design (at the University of Applied Sciences in Düsseldorf) where I earned a degree in Communications Design in 2009 combined all this pretty well and I was able to focus on photography in my free time and eventually professionally.

How much of your time would you say you spent on your personal work compared to your professional work?

It has been 70:30 lately, mainly due to my exhibitions, but at busy times or when I feel little inspiration, my personal work can drop down to 10%. After a while of too much client work I usually get the urge to do something personal though.

How do you normally go about getting an exhibition set up and getting places to exhibit your work?

I have been lucky so far and the places/galleries/curators have approached me. But once something is seriously getting started, I am giving my very best and make sure all the work from my side is getting done as perfectly as possible and on time. Nothing is being left to chance about the creation, production, logistics etc., so that we can be sure nobody is disappointed

Would you say there is a lot of cross over between your personal work and professional, or do you find that due to the nature of the professional work you get you find it hard to be as creative as you would like and yet still please the client?

There sure can be some frustrations, especially when I hear that a portrait is too artificial-looking or too experimental for the client. They booked me for the look that I create, but when they suddely see themselves in “that light”, they are often overwhelmed and are awkward about the photos. Therefore, I do what I like and then take back the intensity of my outcome by 50% most of the time before I show the client.

How often would you say clients approach you for work?

I get asked at least once a week to do something for someone or some company. It can be that they only want a price to compare with other photographers though. I don’t think that having the cheapest photographer win is a good way of decision-making. So it doesn’t always work out.

Do you often find that you are undercut in this way by other photographers? For what I’ll assume is poorer quality work?

Oh definitely, and there are probably a couple of clients who might not see the difference, some of them at the moment they book someone, thinking it will be alright once they get the pictures, some even when the photographs are done. I have had it happen several times that the first demographic of clients return after a couple of months and tell me that the first photographer was a bad decision and if we could try again. It isn’t always a good way to save money. I have heard that in Switzerland the lowest and the highest offer are not being considered when finding the right photographer for an assignment.Also, a lot of smaller companies have somebody in their family with a camera. They tend to “win” the client, but then again, usually there has to be a second attempt with a real photographer.

How much do you normally charge a client?

It always depends on the size of the business and the use of my photos. Let’s say a large agency does something for a world-wide brand, of course they will be charged a lot more than a small business that needs portraits of their CEO.When I am personally interested in putting something in action, it is also more likely to cost a little less or even nothing at all.And then, the amount of workers and locations/objects involved needs to be compensated. It can vary of course, again, depending on the overall budget.

How long would you say it takes to negotiate a contract with a client? How long on average does each client give you to produce the images?

Contract negotiation is pretty quick, it is mostly a question of the amount of money they have to pay. Clients tend to have an idea of how much that is and if we are far apart, they look at someone else fast. Production time: It is crazy! People almost always want the work to be finished instantly. They often forget that there is a lot of work once the photo material is collected. I find that conservative and larger companies are less stressful about it. Unexperienced designers etc. are the ones who tend to believe that they don’t need to waste their thoughts on the photoshoot until it is almost overdue. They rely on the photographer and are disappointed when he or she isn’t available and done immediately.

What happens in an average day at work?

We meet at around 9 and start with emailing while we have the first coffee and talk about what is due soon. Then we work on the editing of those photographs or the organization of a photo shoot or whatever press work is required at the moment. If there is a photo shoot on that day, we usually have everything already packed the evening before and leave to do that. After a shoot, the cards backed up on the computer and the first round of edits start while we unpack and recharge the equipment.

How many people do you work with on each shoot?

At a shoot, I have my assistant Stefan who knows everything by heart and inside out, sometimes a second one as support. They carry equipment and set it up after we talk about how I would like it to be. Then I do not work without a make-up/hair artist, no matter how small the assignment. I does make so much of a difference. A stylist is not always required, but a great luxury that I would like to have as much as possible. I used to do that myself, but I would rather like to concentrate on my profession and give that responsibility to someone who knows what they are doing. Models of course. And then, when I have an intern, he or she helps and learns, sometimes gets to shoot behind the scenes stuff. Then I take the pictures, with little tweaks here and there.Before and after a shoot, my permanent assistant and intern are there for people to talk to, organize and filter information, but also to finish up the skin of models (I do my own post-production) etc. and get files in order.At the moment, I am still the one who negotiates and writes invoices, except when it is about art, my gallery takes over that part.I also have an agent, but we are fairly new to each other. She carrries my leather portfolio book and has been taking it to agencies for the last couple of months. Once this gets rolling, she will be in charge of pricing etc.

Is there anything you know about the nature of the business side of photography that you wish you knew when you were first starting out?

Yes! Almost every time we do a photo shoot, the client suddenly comes up with twice the stuff/people to photograph that what was in our agreed quote. And they always assume it is included! Often, I do it anyway because we don’t want to argue or fight with them right there, but I do have to say “stop!” sometimes.

Thanks so much Mareen!

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(via summerclouds)

I really liked the questions (some thought was put into them) and this might be a good read for other young photographers who are just starting out.