We were lucky to catch up with Alfred Minnaar recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alfred, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?
My philosophy in brand photography is connecting the brand to real people to tell real stories. I do this by connecting brands to extraordinary stories with unique individuals. I believe storytelling is everything in today’s world of marketing, and I aim to capture that in a single image.
I did not start my photography career working with brands. My first job in the industry was working with tourists in Bali, Indonesia. I would follow people out on their dives capturing the experience. From there it was and still is a climb becoming a professional photographer. I find that a lot of people want a career in this industry overnight but the reality is it takes a lot of time like any other profession. I would take photos during the day and at night I would study and watch online tutorials, post productions, and really anything I could find related to photography. They were very long, and sometimes frustrating days, but I was dedicated to pursuing and perfecting my craft.
I was lucky in the sense that over that time I saw a lot of growth on my social media platforms. I was discovered by a big dive magazine in the UK on Instagram and they decided to publish a series of portraits I did on divers that helped jump start my career. The world of diving is a small one and brands saw my talent and it helped to give me credit in the industry. From there I would visit dive EXPO’s in Singapore and Europe where I was consistently networking and pitching ideas to various brands for opportunities. It was in a show in Germany that landed my first big project. The idea was to document a bunch of divers who lived on lake Baikal, Siberia. Lake Baikal is the coldest lake in the world where the temperature can drop to -13°F on the coldest days. The dive club, DC Svall, has not missed a dive on a Saturday in 20 years. The difficulty of this project was highlighted when the editor of Dive Mag UK told me a previous photographer did not give them the desired results. As I stated before, my passion is to connect real people and real stories directly to the brand. I collaborated with a luxury watch brand, a dive brand, and Dive Mag UK to make the project happen on an extremely tight budget. I really needed a project that would prove that I can back my concept and ideas with results and it paid off in the end. In 2020 I won the International photography award in the advertising and branding category. I beat campaigns like American Airlines, which had a way larger budget than myself. I believe it was mainly to do with how I highlighted the unique story of the divers at DC Svall.
I do not believe that my journey in photography could’ve been sped up. Looking back to what I know now I could’ve streamlined certain things like my efficiency with editing photos, but I had to put in the time to network, perfect my craft, and build trust with people. At the end of every year for the last 7 years I would say I am better than the year before and that’s just about putting in a ton of time, honing in on my photography and post production skills, which is extremely important if you want to work with brands. When pursuing a career in photography there are just no shortcuts and it is definitely a lifestyle choice, and with the right focus and perseverance, it is very rewarding.
Alfred, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Alfred MInnaar, 39 is an award winning artist born and raised in South Africa.
He grew up in a small town in the dusty Kalahari Desert. Beginning as a traveller and a hobbyist photographer, as a young man he spent a decade traversing the natural world, eventually finding his way to the island paradise of Indonesia calling it home for the last 8 years.
This is where his passion for photography exploded and he turned a hobby into a full-time career photographing wildlife and people, combining his passions for travel, culture and photography.
He is now a professional photographer, accomplished in portrait, landscape, travel and underwater photography with a special love for the world of fine art photography.
He currently finds himself in Mexico where he will be shooting various projects in the Cenotes (underwater cave systems) of the region.
Striving to capture images that captivate and inspire the imagination, he brings to life the world the way he sees it with his own unique style hoping to tell captivating stories with his photography bringing awareness to a world that is in rapid decline.
Alfred’s work has been awarded 1st place by the International Photography Awards in the advertising branding category for 2020 as well as 1st and 3rd place in the in the nature and underwater category of 2021 with a 2nd placing in the summer sports category and 3rd in the historical architecture of that same year.
He was shortlisted and selected as one of the Top 5 photographers in Hasselblad master photographer competition of 2021 in the nature category and has been the recipient of numerous other international awards.
Artist Statement
Photography is my life. Through my work, I endeavour to capture scarcity and beauty in unique and original ways. Fleeting moments fossilised in digital form.
It’s been a magical journey, with my diverse experience providing the perfect platform to get the best out of my subject matter.
I love to document both the human and the animal worlds. Their majesty and their darkness. Marine photography is where my story began. I was captivated by life’s fragility and beauty. And the desire to photograph these core elements still burns strong within me.
In a world where we stand to lose so much, I look to keep memories alive. Humanity, cultures, wildlife, habitats and the rareness that runs through them. This is my passion.
My intention is to explore unique perspectives in an effort to showcase beauty and evoke emotion. My hope is this serves to encourage humanity to preserve what we have left.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I was very fortunate when I started out building my social media on my main platform that at that stage the instagram algorithm still favored photos. Today it is a completely different story and the trend would be short form video formats.
My biggest advice to new artists getting on platforms is not to get too hung up on followers and growth. Most platforms are not set up for growth and they would like brands to pay for their exposure and growth.
Followers on Instagram especially should not be seen as a social validation of how good you are as an artist. Very successful artists who sell their work for thousands of dollars often have a very small following if any at all.
It’s more important to showcase clearly the work you do, people should have no doubt when landing on your page about what work you do as an artist and the quality of your work should be clear.
Instagram especially can be seen more as an interactive blog where people can also get to know more about what you get up to and get to know a bit more about you as an artist and how you go about your craft. Stories and highlight reels are very effective for that.
If anything social media can be used as a funnel to the only thing that you really own and that is your website. Remember you do not own your social media platform and as an artist you should always ask yourself where do I stand without social media and how do I strengthen those connections. Social media is a very valuable add-on to any business and its importance can not be overlooked but I believe it should never be the basis of your business.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
Supporting artists could be compared to supporting small local businesses. You can go and buy your products from big supermarket chains or you can buy from the local farmers market and support the community and in many cases get better quality products.
It’s important in understanding the time that goes into creating art pieces and learning and perfecting the craft. For artists to keep on doing the craft they need to make a certain amount to survive. We live in a world where everyone wants everything very cheap but that is just not sustainable and that is how art forms die off. Rather than running into the nearest IKEA and buying a 10 Dollar art piece, take your time and save up for a piece of art from an artist you really like and so doing help keep the art form alive and make it worthwhile for future generations to keep on practicing.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.alfredminnaar.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alfredminnaarphotography/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alfredminnaarphotography
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/MinnaarAlfred
Image Credits
1. Whale Sharks photographed in Indonesia, part of collection that got featured and made top 5 in Hasselblad Master competition of 2021 2. Green Turtle photographed in Indonesia are part of a collection that won 1st place in IPA awards of 2021 Nature, Underwater category. 3. Example of the Siberia campaign that won International Photography Awards (IPA) 2020 1st place advertisement & branding category. 4. Example of the Siberia campaign that won IPA 2020 1st place advertisement & branding category. 5. Example of the Siberia campaign that won IPA 2020 1st place advertisement & branding category. 6. Derawar Fort in Pakistan IPA Awards 2021 3rd place historical architecture 7. Freediver swimming through bait ball, Ningaloo Reef Australia IPA Awards 2021 3rd place Underwater Category 8. Surfer catching the last waves photographed in Indonesia, IPA Awards 2021 2nd place summer sport 9. Self Portrait 10. Self Portrait underwater 11. Portraits are also a big passion for me. Example of a shoot with a model called Jade.