Guest Lecture: Christophe Gowans

Christophe Gowans has had a long career working with imagery and photographers both in music business with Peter Saville Associates and Mark Farrow as well as extensive experience in Editorial Art Direction with Blitz Magazine, Esquire, Modern Painters, Sunday Telegraph Magazine and Stella Magazine. At present he works as a freelance newspaper and magazine designer for The Guardian, The Financial times and The Telegraph.

He's been a graphic designer for the last 30 years. Today he works for The Guardian working on g2 which is a daily insert. He has worked with different forms of photography used in Editorial. Interior, Fashion, Food and more.
When showing Christophe your work the production of it needs to be of good quality. When he is approached by a photographer with images for editorial he gives us this advice... 

• make it easy accessible 
• get straight to the good stuff (images)
• express yourself whenever you can
• don't be boring about it
• want to see what you're about visually immediately 
• show enough of the best ones
• whittle it down to a focused body of work - they want to see clarity 

Editorial are normally very busy people, therefore when they are given an email about wanting work they won't spend long looking. It needs to catch their attention straight away otherwise they won't be interested and will most likely never employ you. If they commission you they want to be sure on who you are and what they're taking on. That's why being specific with the work you present to them is key. If you don't work with a specific area, Christophe advised us to make separate portfolios for each subject to make it easier for the job your applying for. Lastly... only put your work in front of potential clients who will appreciate your images. 

You will definitely be working with people, and a lot of them. Therefore remember to be nice. When working with others you want to be able to enjoy what you're doing without anyone making the job difficult. This is an important part of the job. 

The photographer must be able to react and handle when situations go wrong. You need to make sure the job still goes through no matter what happens. It's better to have something rather than nothing. Because even if it's not great it won't be long before it's replaced within the next week. You also need to organise your time well, be flexible and available, ready to change plans. You may receive a call and be expected to do a job straight away. When you have completed the job supply the work with the suggested edited but also show all of the results from the shoot. MEET YOUR DEADLINE!!!!  Do not fail to deliver on time, you will not be asked back! Caption and identify your work as you go along because the designer needs to know whats what, who's who, etc. This needs to be tailored to each shot so that all the information is down in the publishing and no one is missed out who was part of the job. Everyone needs to be credited for. When creating the work you need choice and volume. It also needs to format onto mobiles, laptops, iPads, etc. For all media users to see. 

You need to let go of your ego. Be prepared for them to manipulate your images by little or a lot - take it on the chin. 

When contacting the editorial team email them. Christophe says he never sees portfolios anymore, it is all done by email. Within the email show pictures before anything! That is what they're most interested in. Then write about yourself, be expressive so that they are able to tell what type of a person they will be working with.

Christophe's talk was really helpful. I'm not sure whether editorial is for me but if I ever made that decision these are the things I would need to know. Besides editorial some of the advice he gave out would probably apply to other job commissions. The main thing is to catch their attention wherever you apply!