WEX Online Masterclass: Wanda Martin

WEX has done a few of these online masterclasses and talks which I have been checking to see if there were any that I found useful or interesting. This one by Wanda, in particular, I found helpful and interesting because she talks about how to shoot portraits at home; something that I am currently doing and want to know different methods of doing so.

Wanda is a freelance fashion and music photographer and videographer. Her fine art photography from her early career is really interesting, and I wanted to see how she incorporates this fine art style in her fashion work.

She explained how important it is to reach out to people for work:

• You will have to work for free a lot at the start to build your portfolio and get started with a specific style- eg. fashion, beauty.

• Commercial photography is what will bring money in.

• Working with people who share your vision and creativity is important.

• Having your own style is important to brand yourself as a photographer.

• Have a mood board for shoots

Her self portraits have been a way of practising lighting, post-production, direction, poses etc and were photos replicating famous paintings. I found this useful and it relates to how I’m currently working on my project and the way she speaks about her practice and the information she gives is very thorough.

Setting up a studio at home: use anything you have at home- bed sheets, fabrics etc- (I am doing this in my work currently so it’s good to see that it’s general practice for professional photographers).

Mood boards are something I use to plan my shoots so I know what I’m shooting and as a visual aid. All the points Wanda mentioned are important for me to progress onto a freelance career so I know the reality of the industry.

Wanda’s website: https://wanda-martin.com/