We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dorit Thies. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dorit below.

Dorit , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.

When creating my shoots for a large client or an individual, I am working with one team of experts that assist me and cover the skill set that is needed to fullfill the job.

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?

I grew up in Germany on a farm, just north of Hamburg. In my early 20’s after working as a nurse for 6 years, I got into doing Makeup and what I thought was going to be a brief stint, became a full blown career as a Makeup artist for 17 years, working all over Europe. When I had the opportunity to travel to the US, I was fortunate and met a few key people and doors started to open up. I immigrated to Los Angeles in 1988 and was represented by one of the major Hair & Makeup agencies. Being around photographers for years and feeling the passion to shoot with my own vision I picked up a camera at age 35.

Shooting only black & white film, I started a series of images, based on Greek mythology with my friends, that posed for me. My focus had been on fine art photography since the early 1990s. My first solo show, “Modern Goddess” debuted in Los Angeles in 1993 and led to another show “New in the Nineties II,” curated by Director of Photography Chris Wester, New York’s Christie’s Art house, shown at the Katonah Museum of Art, Westchester, N.Y.
Empowered by my success, I decided that my camera was going to be my tool of choice and I faded out of working as a Makeup Artist. I started assisting other photographers for about 4 years, learning lighting skills and I experimented with a lot of different film material.

A very good friend of mine who was working as a photo editor for German Men’s Health was asking me to shoot a cover for them. She flew out to LA and Men’s Health became a consistent client for 7 years. Later I was approached by a very talented Makeup artist to shoot beauty with her and I was hooked. I loved the collaboration with Models, Hair and Makeup artists and stylists and it felt like I came full circle. It felt organic and effortless. We had a successful streak working for many major beauty companies including Estee Lauder, Revlon, Urban Decay, just to name a few.

To mix things up and feeling the need to give back I was invited by the Los Angeles-based Non-profit AIDS Healthcare Foundation and quickly commissioned to travel to Uganda and South Africa to photograph patients living with the disease. For this advocacy project meant to gain support for patients during a critical point in the AIDS epidemic, These uplifting, unwavering portraits were printed life-size and presented in 7 prominent locations such as San Francisco’s TransAmerica Pyramid Building and at the Capitol Rotunda in Washington D.C..throughout the US and Canada.

Balancing my work as a fashion and beauty photographer with my fine art photography, I had more recently expanded my repertoire to include floral still-lifes, which earned me an invitation to Nizhny Tagil, Russia, to present my images at a solo show in early 2020, just before the pandemic hit.

As difficult as the pandemic was for most people, I used this time to expand my skill set in Photoshop and video editing which benefits my latest portfolio, creating branding & portraiture imagery for entrepreneurs and small business owners. All my experience throughout my career is coming into place for my latest specialty.

Every independent individual needs endless professional looking imagery of themselves, their shop, and their business surrounding, In return it allows them to share the images on social media and their websites, Considering budgets and making it affordable, I work with a small crew of experts, building confidence and creating perfectly fitting and powerful images with a beauty & lifestyle approach for my clients, that sets them apart from their competition and is focused on their success.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

In my opinion there are 5 key elements that build a positive reputation for your brand and I was always trying my best to follow these rules. I also specialized throughout my career, so I wasn’t a jack of all trades and therefore established relationships with the best crew and artists available for me.

1. The quality of your work has to be at the top level that you are known for and specializing yourself is a good thing.
2. Choose the most qualified team that you can get for your shoot, Be loyal!
3. Stand by your word and deliver when you promised or even before and wow! the client
4. A positive and flexible attitude and a passion for the work you do
5. A signed deal memo by the client when confirming the job, so there is a peace of mind for you and the client

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Being a photographer means that you are never done. Even if you had the best possible cover and story published in a big magazine and you share it with the world and you think, NOW…. this will be my break through, you still need to hustle and earn your next client, because the phone is NOT ringing off the hook. At least this is how it was for me.
I had a few very successful stretches during my career, shooting fitness extensively for 7 years and then beauty for 20 years and going forward, When the pandemic hit, my business came to a halt from one day to the next. I had to reinvent myself again, but slowing down felt good too. It gave me time to reflect and to consider my next moves.

I started collaborating with other artists, such as stylists and magazines, shooting fashion layouts and celebrity stories.
I enjoyed these challenges, because it was always incredibly inspiring and new and interesting projects started to pop up.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.doritthies.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doritthies_photography
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/doritthies

Image Credits
Top banner: Maye Musk, author & model, shot for ELLE Magazine
1.Nate Holsten, actor & coach
2.Maye Musk, author & model, shot for ELLE Magazine
3.Ashley Borden, celebrity trainer
4.Lauren Forgex, performer & model
5.Kate Mara, director & actress, shot for AMAZING Magazine
6.Morgan Matson, writer
7.Mo & Madeleine Sonnendecker, models
8.Cyan, branding shoot for AIDS Healthcare Foundation