Sophie Traynor: So you want to be a freelance photographer? Studio Surgery

We had Sophie Traynor come back and answer our freelance career questions. She went over equipment that is useful to get for freelancing- invest in a full-frame camera (that you can afford), good lenses (prime, macro, zoom lenses), and also some lighting which is important for commercial work especially and only get what you need.

She talked to us about how being self-critical and worrying about everything doesn’t help in the process, and how covid has impacted the social aspect of freelancing which I have also been affected by as well as many other people not being able to see anyone like you normally would. Sophie told us that every time you make a mistake in a shoot, brush it off and carry on, working on shoots can be a good distraction from everything.

“Time spent worrying could be spent developing your practice and learning”.

She talked through her process of renting a studio/office space to separate work and home life due to lockdown and to find a workflow that works for you. This is something that I will look into in the future.

The advice she gave made me realise that I’m not the only one who struggles with being self-critical and even professionals who are really good at what they do, like Sophie, have the same worries as we do.