We were lucky to catch up with Christina Force recently and have shared our conversation below.
Christina , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
I think most the work I do with photographers is very meaningful to me. Being a photo consultant is a very rewarding job. However, one of the most impactful projects I worked on was a Series Project program I ran with the co-founder Billy Plummer early on in the pandemic.
March 2020. We were preparing to head to Cuba with 8 photographers from around the world. We’d spent 5 weeks helping them hone and craft their individual ideas and everything was ready to go for the shoot week; fixers on the ground in Havana, accommodation and flights booked, etc.
One week before we were due to depart all the borders started shutting down; flights were canceled by the airlines and we knew we had to postpone. To make up for the disappointment we created an online version of the program called The Series Project Iso- focusing on the isolation everyone was feeling as they waited in lockdown.
Photographers, especially the advertising and editorial photographers I work with, are often compulsive nomads. Jumping on and off flights to far flung parts of the world is part of their job, so being made to stay put in one place shook their world. Never mind the sudden cancellation of shoots and crazy uncertainty we all felt.
Those 3 weeks of the program were like no other I’ve experienced. Twenty photographers from UK, Australia, New Zealand, USA and Canada signed up, and with Zoom Q&A meetings happening every 2-3 days, we were privileged to see what was happening around the world, especially for each of these individuals, all going through their own challenges, physical and mental.
The work that was produced during those 3 weeks was deeply emotional, personal and compelling and won the majority of the attendees prestigious global awards, as well as recognition by new clients and art institutes.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
At the age of sixteen I decided that I wanted to work in the best ad agency in the world and live in London WI. Days after my nineteenth birthday I was working at Saatchi and Saatchi and walking to work from my W1 address. After over three years the travel bug kicked in and I lived in France, then Australia before moving to New Zealand where I launched the first photographers’ agency there. My mission was to promote world class photography from New Zealand and within a year regular sales trips to Singapore, Hong Kong, China, USA and Australia, placed New Zealand firmly on the map as a professional destination with great talent. My production company OPTNZ handled my photographers’ work as well as that of top shooters from around the world heading on assignment to New Zealand and Australasia.
In 2011, I sold both companies and stepped into my new role as a consultant. I was asked to workshops and seminars around New Zealand, Australia, USA and Asia, and within a few years I co founded the first folio review event in Asia, CA+. Demand to help an ever-growing international client base saw me launch online mentoring programmes for photographers, and I now work with top lens based image makers from around the world. Placing a huge emphasis on helping photographers realise their dreams through honest branding, strategic planning and targeted marketing, as well as developing visual stories with depth, I am focussed on changing photographers lives, one at a time.
I’ve been a guest speaker and reviewer for Image Nation, AIPA (NZ), CATC Design School, Vivid, Canon, ACMP (Australia), The New York Academy of Film, New York Photoplus, Palm Springs Photo Fest, ASMP (USA), and CA+ (Hong Kong and Singapore). I have been a juror for IPA Lucie Foundation, Art Directors Club One Show, Pink Lady Food Photography Awards and Sienna Photo awards.
Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?
Just after the GFC my photo agency and production company were in debt to the tune of $300,000. To be honest this was tiny considering our turnover but it was still scary. I had learned that the more you make when times are good, the more you can lose when times are not good. I had staff, a large office, overheads and a bunch of photographers whose lives depended on me.
I had to take drastic action.
Reducing prices didn’t work (we had tried that), so I decided to increase our prices.
In addition I let go of staff (and helped them find new jobs), sub-let some of our office space and decided only to work on the jobs where we could be paid fully, and be appreciated for the tremendous quality and experience we offered. The staff we retained were senior and good at what they did
The day we turned away our first low budget assignment we received a call later that day with an assignment worth $300,000. We won it. And the big jobs kept pouring in. At the end of the year we were sitting well in profit.
Looking back, mostly what I did was declutter. I cleared the way for those better jobs by decluttering unnecessary clients, staff and even office space. In doing so I made physical and mental space for those bigger better jobs. Pretty much, saying goodbye to cheapskate clients who didn’t respect us.
It’s so easy to lose confidence in this industry, and there’s a lot of uncertainty out there again. But creatives already struggle enough with self esteem and being cheap is never the answer.
We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.
I have 2 business partners, co founders in two different ventures – CA+ and The Series Project.
Both photographers were initially my clients, and both did my Bootcamp mentoring programme.
I met Robert Earp, a well known photographer based in Melbourne, a decade ago when he came to a workshop I was running on cracking the Asian market. Rob and I clicked immediately and straight away he hired me to help him with his folio. Over the years we collaborated in interviews and more workshops which we always ran at one of his studios. When Rob was asked to help pull together the commercial arm of a photofest called Creative Asia, he asked me if I would help him pull together a review program, and following that we independently co-founded CA+. So far three live events in Singapore and Hong Kong, and several online events have introduced global creative decision makers- advertising creatives, photo editors, art producers and agents with photographers from around the world. Rob and I both love building communities and this really spoke to that.
After doing my program, Sydney based photographer, ex creative director and all round genius Billy Plummer and I often chatted about photography and visual storytelling, Having both worked in advertising in London at the same time, we understood the value of good ideas and communication, but realised many photographers struggled with this. We decided to put together a program where we could teach advertising ideation to photographers, focusing on a different location each time where the program would culminate. Our first program was in Bangkok and the 7 photographers who made projects with us there all won awards. When lockdown postponed our Cuba trip (which by the way we did this April), we moved the program online and ran 3 very successful projects, including the one I mentioned at the outset of this interview. The projects made have already garnered over 50 international awards, and crucially won many of those photographers paid assignments- something we’re extremely proud of.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://christinaforce.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christina.force/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/getpaidtoshootwhatyoulove/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-force-5421849
Image Credits
Sara Orme Christian Mushenko Guy Davies Heather Dinas Hannah Caldwell Lorna carmichael Nick Paulsen Scott McAulay