We were lucky to catch up with DAVID FERRARO recently and have shared our conversation below.

DAVID, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with education – we’d love to hear your thoughts about how we can better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career.

It is quite an interesting topic.

I have always considered that when we talk about photography, in this case fashion photography, the techniques and themes such as light, framing, colorimetry. They are tools that are often taught in a large percentage of the university o course and a very small percentage is left for everything that involves speaking as an artist, defending your job and marketing in search of clients.

In my opinion, we can learn the techniques of how to light, how to color an image, framing and lighting styles. Likewise, how to get more out of these tools.

But it is the same path where little by little you will really learn, you learn to forge and take advantage of improving these tools to find your own style.

Many times the new generations are very concerned about knowing and understanding their style and argument when it comes to showing their image, but this is a process that lasts years and a lot of experimentation.

This is where I think that teaching art, teaching techniques reaches a point where you already know everything, but you don’t know how to apply it to real life or to your own speech.

and it is very important to learn to face this life, full of sharks in a big cosmopolitan city that fight for clients.

Learn to face work meetings, presentations, analysis and other tools focused on a more administrative or marketing part and a personal discourse.

Teaching future generations to face potential customers, how to respond, how to act, talk about budgets.

I believe that photography, like any art, is learned based on the path traveled in the career live.
But while this happens we must learn how to argue for that style, how to sell it, how to run different paths that help us find new clients and this is what I believe many schools or universities should encourage much more. Well, when we left we focused a lot on the art part and very little on the administrative and marketing process, if we can call it that.

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?

My name is

David Ferraro

I am a fashion photographer, born in Colombia, 26 years old.

My story begins when I finished school about ten years ago. Once I finished high school I wanted to study mechanical engineering, but I wasn’t quite sure. In fact, if I am honest, I had won a scholarship in my country to study it. To be honest, I was only 16 years old and I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, which of course is a very natural thing to do at that age.

Not sure what to do with my life, I decided to take some time for myself and go to the United States to improve my English. When I am in the United States, I fall in love with the fashion industry because I happen to come to fashion week. I fell in love with how photographers could tell a story, a vision, a language through images.

That’s when I returned to my country to study photography and thus began a long road of 3 – 4 years of preparation and study. When I finished my career and not finding opportunities in my country, I decided to travel to the United States to get a good portfolio and I was lucky to meet a great person “the director of Booking women” of WIHELMINAL MODELS MANAGEMENT, one of the most important agencies in NYC and around the world of fashion. Who taught me how to book a model, moodboards, call sheets and other activities for the organization and management of editorials.

When I returned to my country I met a wonderful person “Alejandra Cajamarca” who was also starting with her brand “Bahia maria SW” and already had a little bit of trajectory. She was very kind to me and gave me the opportunity to do a campaign with her brand. She began to recommend me to other brands and those brands with other brands and little by little I was entering the fashion industry in my country.

In NYC, I made my first professional portfolio and learned a lot. Eventually I won a scholarship to study in Spain and with uncertainty about what would happen I decided to leave my country again and go to Madrid.

In Madrid I was going to study a master in fashion photography. Where I finish forming my eye as an artist and my portfolio evolves with independent projects, I start collaborating with magazines and great models from all over the world.

During this year I managed to travel around the world doing editorials. I published in 14 international magazines and five international covers. As well as in magazines like FORBS MAGAZINE VOGUE IT, LOFFICIEL BRAZIL, LOFFICIEL LITHUANIA. Gmare magazine, Volant magazine, etc.

When I returned to my country I was known, for all my travel in the United States and Europe, I begin to meet new clients, who introduce me. New clients and others arrive through Instagram. Made campaigns to international and national clients, designers of high prestige in the fashion industry, likewise together with my team we began to collaborate and work with designers of high prestige, they began to send me their designs from other parts of the world to make their campaigns OR editorials for magazines.

Currently, I am at a point where I can make a living from my art, designers are looking for me because of my talent and my story. I have had the opportunity to work with brands from different parts of the world.

I like to get involved in each creative process, listen to the needs of designers and from that starting point to give them my personal essence. I use a lot to show luxury, elegance, sensuality and character in my images. Images that tell a story that speak for themselves.

I consider that what differentiates me from others is. The constant search to achieve a close connection between my photos and the final consumer, that the clients of my clients feel attracted and amazed by the images and in the end want to be part of the family of the brand.

In the course of these 6 years, I have felt very proud of the publications I have obtained, of being able to shoot for magazines like Harper’s Bazaar, and that my name appears among the photographs of Vogue.
To have 50-60 publications between editorials and covers.

Today it is still very impressive for me that stylists, directors or designers from other parts of the world contact me for the realization of their campaigns.

I want people to know my way of seeing fashion, my way of telling stories, the delicacy of women combined with elegance and sensuality, are what adorn my stories captured in images.

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?

The NFT market is the future. The web 3.0

Currently, it is a very little known market and even more little taken seriously by very few.

More than 40 years ago, nobody believed in the Web 2.0 project, i.e. an open network web for entertainment, leisure and commerce. That is, as we know the internet today. Because the internet was only used by the big heads of the world for very specific tasks.

Likewise, today it happens with the NFT market and the web 3.0 is something that we all must have it together, something that we must study and analyze for the great things to come.

Personally, I focused on learning about this world thanks to a great friend who is very involved in this market and I can openly say that it is the future of commerce and the history of the internet.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

I consider that constancy, nowadays, with the technologies and all the social networks we have, we have to be in constant noise, that people hear our names and our vision as an artist. Send mail through Instagram, have a mail action plan, have interaction with the public and the most important thing is to create a very strong brand identity for the same recognition in networks.

In the same way people will talk about your work and it will reach the ears of more and more potential customers and also oneself to be in different communication strategies so that these new customers know us and know our work.

Finally, it is also very important to look for a point of difference between the competition and yourself, and know what I offer and my style to attract more customers.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ferrarogphoto/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ferrarogphoto/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-forero-828815143/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNL9TyjxWt-jKLFuPWZWjOw
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@ferrarogphoto

Image Credits
rutabielskyte margendel_ anna balabanova biancaschelbauer Eva Blanco Carla Benavent Yasmina Paiman Maya Murofushi Chené van Erven