Something I can totally vouch for through experience is that in this industry the saying “It’s not what you know but you know that matters” holds true. There are always the exceptions but who is better to recommend you for jobs/shoots then somebody you already know or met and whether they have seen your work before only plays a small part. Word of mouth has always been one of the greatest forms of advertising and as long as there is no distaste or negatives surrounding what you do then it works relatively well.
Starting out in the industry the majority of jobs I received were through other people I knew and these most of these were weddings but at the same time it can only take you so far.I am otherwise a shy and emotionally reserved guy in nature and some would say cool, calm and collected. There are always advantages and disadvantages of these traits. Being shy makes it difficult to approach complete strangers which in turn have made it hard to find models to photograph. I had always relied on family, friends, friends of friends and acquaintances as my source when it came down subjects and this was very limited.
It was only in the past year that I decided to really step out my shell and try to network with other people in the creative and fashion through courses, events and online network sites and things changed considerably fast and for the better. Just a little over a week of joining one networking site ModelMayhem I received a request for a fashion shot for the Mandy Heng label ran by Mandy and Bojana. Their original photographer had cancelled on them and I took the challenge with great results and the image being published and have also lead to further shoots. Also working with a few makeup artists and stylists has lead to meeting more designers and models and in turn have lead to more shoots. If I had not made the effort to break out my shell and networked then most definitely I would still be in the same situation I had been in all those previous years. Just be aware that word of mouth can be both good and bad. By doing a good job of every shoot no matter the conditions of it will always leads to referrals in time but do a bad job and that person may spread negative comments that could deter future clients and jobs.
