We were lucky to catch up with Jess Brohier recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jess thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us 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?

I’ve been working full time as a freelance photographer for 7 years. It began as taking photos of friends for fun, then strangers I would meet in the street. Slowly, I began offering brands I loved but couldn’t afford to trade for clothing which for me was a pretty incredible way to connect with people while building a folio, doing what I loved and to learn how to work with brands and what was involved in semi – commercial photoshoots.

One of the biggest elements of my career success has been networking – it’s really about building relationships. It’s also about managing expectations, when you first start out you don’t really know what you’re doing and sometimes you can over promise when time and budget won’t actually allow the ‘dream’ photoshoot.

Understanding what is possible within the time-frame and the budget of the client and talking them through specifics is something I learnt over time. As well as becoming more and more creatively and technically sound which allowed me to execute more in a shorter period of time.

The one thing I didn’t do was get into assisting, because I never studied a degree in photography (where this is told to students). I probably could have gotten into the industry quicker as well as learnt standard commercial procedures and skills if I had assisted in my early days. I would recommend this to anyone – even over studying a degree. Find someone who’s work you like (or many people) and ask them if you can assist for free. Having an attitude that shows you want to be part of something and really care about what you’re doing will reflect much better than asking people who don’t know you for jobs.

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 am a commercial fashion, editorial and still life photographer currently based in Melbourne, AUS, moving to NYC part time next year. My work centres on exploring themes of psyche, surrealism and dream state, in conjunction with re-defining and re-interpreting western concepts of beauty through a BIPOC lens.

I also run a production company in Melbourne, with a photo-studio and creative agency.

I learnt how to produce through working with independent labels, the imagery would always come out much better if I had a hand in casting and creatively producing the team we worked with on each shoot. From here I decided it was time to formalise the process and start a company in early 2021. Offering production services as a photographer definitely helped me in networking as well as being able to produce client work that I really enjoyed creatively.

I am very blessed to have worked with iconic brands such as Nike, New Balance, MECCA, Adidas, COS and several other large Australian labels. I have had work featured in VICE, i-D, Schon, IGNANT, It’s Nice That and various other publications.

I am proud and grateful that I have managed to make a career out of a passion, and have been able to work with people who support me and commission me to work on their projects.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I once went 5 months without a single job. After 3 years of working successfully part-time, with at least a *somewhat stable income, and suddenly I literally had no one contact me for 5 months. Not a single one. I legitimately thought my email was broken.

Prior to this, I had worked as a photographer on location for the past 4-5 years, across fashion, music, lifestyle and portrait work.

When this happened, I felt it was time to up-skill so I took myself into the studio. As fate would have it, I was lucky to have a friend who had recently begun a studio and whose partner, a make-up artist was keen to build her folio and he let me shoot in the space for free with her on my set.
Lucky, because I had no money coming in at all and studio sessions began at around $200.

Slowly, I practiced, and after producing 4 full team creative shoots I was finally booked for my first studio campaign for a local bag brand and the drought ended.

I learnt from this the key is to not give up.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My goal within my fashion work is to diversify the creative industry and support and uplift artists of colour. To create artworks that tell stories about human experience and the strangeness of life, and to create interesting and art directed commercial work with diverse and progressive teams of all tiers.

In the next chapter of my life, with a part-time move to NYC next year, within production and photography my goal is to bring the vibrancy and eclectic nature of NYC back home to Australia. And to also potentially pave a pathway for Australian artists to work and create in New York through my company.

Contact Info:

• Website: jessbrohier.com
• Instagram: jessbrohier
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jess-brohier-41002310b/

Image Credits
All images – Jess Brohier