We were lucky to catch up with Sophie Elgort recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Sophie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on just premiered this month after four years in the making – Portrait Mode with Sophie Elgort, a new four-episode series I’m hosting and executive producing that is finally premiering next week on WNET’s ALL ARTS – rolling out on streaming and online through mid-March with a broadcast premiere slated for June 6th at 8pm EST.

Over the pandemic, I started an instagram series where I’d interview my dad about a different photograph each week and he would tell the story behind it. I pitched the show to Diane Masciale at WNET and while it wasn’t right for them, she gave me valuable feedback. We kept in touch and eventually came up with a different idea together with Joe Harrell at the network. Now four years later, we are excited to premiere Portrait Mode with Sophie Elgort.

Each episode takes the audience behind the scenes on a photoshoot with world-renowned talent—ABT Principal Dancer Skylar Brandt, renowned photographer Arthur Elgort (and my dad), four-time Grammy Award-winning producer musician Nile Rodgers, and EGOT winner Rita Moreno—to explore their creative process. The concept came together because my favorite part of photography is getting to know the subject through the photoshoot process, not only by what they say during our conversations throughout, but also by seeing them in action. We wanted to create this show to offer a window into this process and offer viewers the chance to get to know these remarkable artists in a unique way. A few favorite moments include Nile Rodgers riffing on his Hit-Maker guitar and Rita Moreno spontaneously covering a jazz song a cappella, mid-shoot.

I’ve always been behind the camera, and having these conversations during photoshoots is something I’m already doing, so it’s so nice now being able to showcase not only the still images, but also these stories and moments with these world-renowned talents with everyone.

Sophie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m a photographer, director, host, producer, founder and mom of three young kids. I’m probably best known for being a fashion and celebrity photographer, something I got into at a young age growing up in a family of artists (my dad is a photographer and my mom is an opera director). Even though photography seemed like the obvious path, I was pre-med in college, mostly because I didn’t want to do what my parents did without trying other things. I always did photography as a hobby on the side and spent a lot of time on photoshoots and productions helping out, so once I graduated, a few friends needed photography for a fashion line they were working on and I did it in exchange for free clothes. That spiraled and before I knew it, I was a working photographer. That was the time that when brands hired photographers, they also were interested in getting a video, so I learned how to do that too and started directing mostly short fashion films. And as a photographer starting out, you produce a lot of your own projects, so I quickly became a pretty skilled producer.

My favorite part about photography has always been the interaction with the people I get to photograph and the conversations we have during our time together on set. I think what sets me apart is being able to put people at ease and get pictures during those in between moments that feel real, like you’re getting a glimpse into the subject’s personality. I think that’s why it’s always been an easy transition to conduct interviews, moderate panels and public speak on-air, online and live. My newest project, Portrait Mode with Sophie Elgort, a new four-episode series I’m hosting and executive producing for ALL ARTS, takes the audience behind the scenes on a photoshoot with world-renowned talent and offers viewers the chance to get to know these remarkable artists in a unique way. A few favorite moments include Nile Rodgers riffing on his Hit-Maker guitar and Rita Moreno spontaneously covering a jazz song a cappella, mid-shoot.

The one part of my business I haven’t mentioned is the “founder” part. I am the founder of a business called ClickHouse, that offers professional headshots, corporate video and event coverage to businesses. I started my career photographing conferences for IBM and taking a lot of professional headshots for law firms, financial institutions, etc. Years later, when I started focusing more on fashion and celebrity, the demand for the corporate work never stopped. I am always working with wonderful teams of photographers, videographers, editors, etc., so I started ClickHouse. While I don’t shoot the projects myself, I manage multiple photo and video projects for corporations in New York City and across the United States.

And finally, on my travels I’m always shooting with a little point and shoot film camera. One of the series I started a few years back was in Italy when, what started as a happy accident, turned into a double exposure travel series that I’ve continued to develop and showed both in NYC and LA in 2022 and 2023. My fine art photography work is represented by NYC’s the Staley-Wise gallery.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

As a freelance creative, I get rejected all the time. I’m put forward for photoshoots that I don’t don’t end up getting, I pitch ideas that people pass on, and a lot of emails go unanswered. The thing I’m most proud of not giving up on is my most recent project with ALL ARTS – Portrait Mode with Sophie Elgort – that was four years in the making.

Over the pandemic, when all my photoshoots cancelled and I wasn’t sure I’d ever work again, I started an instagram series where I’d interview my photographer dad about a different photograph he’s taken each week and he would tell the story behind it. We did it for fun, and got a great response from all the other people who were sequestering at home. A few people mentioned that it would be great for PBS. A friend introduced me to someone who introduced me to someone else and finally I pitched the show to Diane Masciale at WNET. While it wasn’t right for them, she gave me valuable feedback. We kept in touch (for years) and eventually came up with a different idea together with Joe Harrell at the network. Now four years later, we are excited to have just premiered Portrait Mode with Sophie Elgort.

The experience of making this show is meaningful because it reinforced that even when you are initially rejected or told no (like in this circumstance), if you keep at it and don’t give up, the outcome can be better than you originally imagined.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I had the idea to start a headshot business in 2018 because, as a photographer, I was always getting asked by people, where should I get my headshot done? I no longer had the bandwidth to take everyone’s headshots, but I saw the demand and started ClickHouse. Originally the idea was to open a brick and mortar location to consumers, like a Drybar for headshots. I quickly realized that it was going to be too expensive to open a location, so I pivoted to doing pop-ups. This was early 2020, pre-pandemic, and I started having conversations with WeWork and other places where we could set up a mobile portrait studio and people could sign up to have their headshot taken. Around the same time I started listening to a podcast by Marc Randolph (one of the co-founders of Netflix) called That Will Never Work. At the end of an episode, I heard that anyone could apply to be on the podcast and get advice from Marc. So I applied, and I got on an episode and got 30 minutes of free advice from Marc. He said, why would you spend the time acquiring individuals, when it’s almost the same amount of work to acquire a business. So I decided to try his advice and ClickHouse became primarily Business to Business. Then March 2020 hit and everything was shut down for a couple of years. When we started back up, we began going into businesses and setting up to do headshots in conference rooms. Eventually, we realized that clients we were working with had other photography and video needs, so we pivoted ClickHouse again into what it has become today – offering professional headshots, corporate video and event coverage to businesses. It’s not at all the original idea I had for ClickHouse, but being flexible has turned it into something better and I’m excited to see how it will continue to grow.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sophieelgort.com and www.clickhouseny.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sophieelgort/ and https://www.instagram.com/clickhouseny/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophieelgort
• Other: https://www.allarts.org/programs/portrait-mode-with-sophie-elgort/
  https://www.staleywise.com/artists/sophie-elgort

Image Credits

1,2,3. Courtesy of ALL ARTS
4,5,6,7 – photos by Sophie Elgort
8 – photo by Yvonne TNT for BFA