photo: guestofaguest.com

I had the privilege of interacting with a talented photographer Sophie Elgort there is a full interview of sohie but here's a introduccion about her : She was born and raised in New York City , she Growing up on the film sets of her father, who was the legendary lensman, Arthur Elgort, Sophie was always surrounded by cameras. Sophie began a career in photography, working with newspapers and magazines like "The Financial Times, Paper, Grazia UK and Teen Vogue "– to ad campaigns for Tamara Mellon, ADEAM, Bloomingdales, La Perla . so i just decided to make this interview I sat down thinking about the questions that I wanted to be answered so, I did come up with some interesting questions.

photography by Sophie Elgort

Interview by Annie Rodriguez

Which photographers or people influenced you, and how did they influence your thinking, photographing, and career path?

My dad continues to influence me as a photographer and a person. He is extremely supportive about my career, but is always the first one to let me know if he thinks I can do better and when I’ve done a great job on something, he wonders what my next project is. He made himself one of the best photographers in the world and it’s that drive that helped get him there – something I think he passed down to me. My mom also was and is a big influence, she always is a champion of my work. I think it was she who saw my pictures I was doing for my friends’ company right out of college and told me if I wanted to take pictures professionally, she really though I could after seeing my pictures. I don’t know if I would have thought about it if it weren’t for her saying that. My mom always made us (my brothers and me) believe that anything was possible and to follow our passions. I hope I can inspire people and encourage them to pursue their passions in the same way my parents did and do for me.

Was your career path? How did you get from being an aspiring photographer to actually doing it full time, for a living?

I was lucky because my friends had a small start up fashion brand called ALIOMI, so I started shooting all their content for them and that’s how I developed my portfolio. I also volunteered to take pictures for fashion shows of my favorite bigger brands during New York Fashion Week. Brands let me have a spot in the photo pit in return for sharing the pictures with them after. I also got to take pictures backstage. So between those pictures and the pictures I did for ALIOMI, I had enough work to show that I started to get other jobs. From there, it was word of mouth. Now it’s easier than it was even 6 years ago because of Instagram, what a great platform to show your work and your style of photography.

What motivates you to continue taking pictures?

Well it’s my job, so I need to keep working to make money to support myself, but that aside, I love taking pictures. I love looking at the pictures and seeing what I captured at the end of the day once the shoot is over after all the planning of who to cast as the model and what the concept is and the location, etc. I love collaborating with a great team – model or talent, stylist, hair, makeup, assistant, tech, retoucher – if you have a great team, it makes the experience great. I have a great team.

What kind of tools do you use for post processing? Explain your work flow.

I do the “first edit” in Adobe Bridge and do minor batch adjustments in Camera Raw, then I send the first edit in a low res JPGs via Dropbox link to the client so they can choose the selects. Once they choose the selects from the first edit, we both write down our retouching notes. From there, I upload the RAW files for those selects to a folder on Dropbox that I share with my retoucher and also send over the retouching notes that we have prepared. When she has a first draft, she will upload jpgs in Dropbox and I’ll send the link to those images into the client. If there are further notes either from the client or me or both, I’ll send those back to the retoucher and we’ll keep going with that process until they’re approved. Then, she will put three different sizes of the final images – low res jpg (used for social media), high res jpg and Tiff files. I send all three to the client and archive in the Dropbox for my records as well. Note: if you are doing the retouching yourself (which I do for my Financial Times style column), it’s the same process except instead of sending to another retoucher, you’re doing that part yourself (in Photoshop).

Among your works, which one is your favorite? Why?

It’s impossible to have just one favorite, but I do have the pictures that I keep coming back to – when I’m asked to submit a picture for a show or an auction, the ones that always come to mind. A few of these are: Girl on green couch (maybe I like so much because of the colors), coco and breezy jumping, girl on stoop with dog, my brother Ansel in The Ansel Calendar, Paige Reifler on couch for Alessandra Mackenzie (she’s a great model). A lot of it has to do with the subject(s) in your photo.

What is the one thing you wish you knew when you started taking photos?

The importance of the subject. Whenever I’m commissioned to do a shoot, I am very involved in the casting. If you are shooting a subject that you are excited about, it will show in your pictures. In the beginning, I didn’t realize how important it was and now I think it’s the most important factor.

To connect with SOPHIE ELGORT , head over to her official website.

THANKS TO SOPHIE FOR THE INTERVIEW

@THEFASHIONCODE

@sophieelgort on Instagram