The world of photography: how can brands best work with game changing photographers?

How has photography changed over time?

Fashion photography today often reflects current society, addressing issues such as body positivity, diversity, gender, and social justice. It has become an important tool for cultural commentary and critique.

Consumers are beginning to demand a call to action from brands, asking them to take a stand in fighting for, and promoting, the social causes that punctuate our everyday lives. Photography becomes essential in this process; the visual representation of feelings and images easily sticks in people’s minds. It’s not just about increasing profit but is more about communicating a message, letting consumers know what the company stands for, and making them feel more aligned with these values.

Alessia Glaviano, Vogue’s Senior Photo Editor, states the following about this: 

“ High-level fashion photography is a language that goes beyond the mere representation of clothes because it speaks about society, and culture and reaches such a wide audience that it can often provoke changes in people’s outlooks, and opinions and can, therefore, succeed in breaking down prejudices ”.

She continues saying: “We can see this happening: it is a revolution that started in social media and has spread to more institutional media. This has happened, for example, with the more inclusive concept of beauty. I am convinced that fashion photography can help positive change if done in a certain way”

Celine tells us that “brands and fashion photographers have already started to adapt to this new reality, producing images that are more relatable, authentic, and socially conscious, nevertheless, boundaries still need to be pushed to normalize things”. She continues saying “it is a very long process, but the important thing is that we have all opened our eyes and are trying to change to be more diverse, inclusive, and respectful”.

Brand photography makes your brand more relatable and human. Living in an extremely competitive environment, a brand needs to differentiate itself and, create through storytelling, a relationship of trust with the customer. Brands need to promote trust with truth-telling photos.

Therefore, a new perspective is necessary to tell these stories, Celine mentions, “we are already making steps in being more open, and raw, to show reality as it purely is. However, I think there is still a lot of work to do. Regardless of the photographer’s experience, brands should be more open to trusting the photographer’s point of view and the story they want to tell, which is the key point in providing a unique and creative perspective on the brand’s products, helping to make them stand out from the competition”.

She continues by saying, “Sometimes it is not about the name and reputation of someone, but it is about the story we want to tell, no matter if you are experienced or not. No matter if you have a name or not. You can be a photographer from a village in the middle of America and have an amazing story to tell, never seen before… I would like to see a wider range of people that capture a brand’s story differently.”

International photographers across markets

Take a look at some of the world-renowned international photographers in VOCAST’s curated press lists: