Fashion Photographer Marcelle Adrianna
About this episode…
FASHIOn photographer marcelle adrianna
It’s quite a winding route that’s taken Marcelle to be known as a fashion photographer. But from working in shops on London’s Oxford Street as a teenager, now her photos can be seen in those windows instead.
Marcelle did lots of work for free early on but it built a network, a portfolio and a reputation that has since served her well. Whilst her training as a graphic designer has kept her working at times when she didn’t have a camera in her hand.
She loves her job and is a self professed workaholic, but her thirty year plan finds her sitting in a beach far away from the streets of London.
Read the highlights in the next tab.
NICHE DOWN GRADUALLY
Marcelle has tried lots of different types of photography before settling on fashion - inspired by advice she was given by a fellow photographer…
“They said ‘Keep shooting and shoot what you love and shoot what you like, but make sure that you are nicheing down gradually as you go try stuff. And then if you like something, keep with it..’”
WORKING WITH PEOPLE YOU LIKE
Marcelle loves to have great energy on her shoots and that comes from working with friends…
“For me I have been drawn to a lot of people that I just necessarily click with and when I find those people that I click with, I just tend to just keep working with them. And then the people that I work with just end up being my friends.”
KNOW WHAt You’re getting if you’re working for free
Marcelle did lots of work for free early on but it all built her network and her portfolio…
“What I learned from Lara Jade (a fellow photographer) was never be afraid to test. You always need to be creating new work. So if sometimes you have to do something for free or just do something collaboratively with the team, that's okay to do as long as that it's something that's gonna be beneficial for your book.
So I would always make sure that if I was gonna do anything for free, I was more than happy to do that. But it needed to be something that I was actually really passionate about or it was gonna be beneficial for my book.”
BEING PART OF A LIKE MINDED GROUP
Marcelle worked with a business coach as part of a 6 month group programme, but after it finished she definitely wasn’t letting that community of fellow business creatives go…
“Since it's finished and been wrapped up, we've kept the programme kind of going with just us ladies and it's just been so nice to have other people that work in the industry that we can kind of like bounce off of, and talk to each other about different things in our businesses. If we're ever having any trouble with not knowing something or not understanding something or just even that support from somebody else that understands what it's like to run a business and the kind of industry that we work in as well - because it can get lonely sometimes being freelance and not necessarily having other people that understand how your life is kind of set up.”
WORKAHOLIC THROUGH LOVE
Marcelle has been called a workaholic, but she loves working so…
“My mum really likes to tell me that I'm a workaholic. "You're Like your dad, you're a workaholic". Because I just love my job. I worked so hard to make the thing that I loved my job. So now that I'm doing it I'm just like, no, I love this, I wanna do this all the time.”
“ I’m a workaholic.
Because I just love my job. I worked so hard to make the thing that I loved my job. So now that I'm doing it I'm just like, no, I love this, I wanna do this all the time…"
Fashion Photographer Marcelle Adrianna
More from marcelle adrianna
Marcelle’s site
Marcelle on Instagram
Marcelle’s hair brand
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Penny Wincer’s Being Freelance podcast episode from 2018
More from Steve Folland
Transcript of the Being Freelance podcast with Steve Folland and Fashion Photographer Marcelle Adrianna:
Marcelle Adrianna:
So I had to really think about how I actually started. The best way to think about it would be in school. I started in secondary school just taking pictures of my friends. So I used to take a camera to school and take pictures for my friends. And this was like around the MySpace, Bebo era. So I had started making like designs for my friends for their profiles. And they used to give me this thing called 'love'. It wasn't actually even money, it was like this online thing that they would give me. And that's that. That's what started everything. So from there I fell into graphic design.
Cause I think a lot of people don't realise that I'm actually a photographer that went into design and then came back into photography again. So after school I went to college and I studied graphic design properly and I liked it, but only did it cause I didn't get the grades to do photography. And I really actually wanted to do photography. So I used to go at lunch times and I used to look at all the photography students and I used to be so envious of them cuz they used to be able to shoot in the studio and I never got to. So I worked really hard at graphic design. And it's funny cuz my college tutor Arnie, he was just like, 'you're never gonna go uni - You're not going to get the grades to go'.So I was like, no, I'm gonna prove him wrong.
I'm gonna go. And I did get the grades in the end and I went. I ended up getting a place at UAL in London, which is an art university. And then I didn't go, I have no idea why I didn't go. I just decided not to to take the place in the end. And I ended up going to De Montfort University, which is in Leicester.
So anyway, I go to De Montfort University. While I was there I did some more photography. So I ended up working in nightclubs. So that was really interesting for a while. But I didn't like my course - I did it for a couple of months and I was like, I hate this. I don't wanna do this anymore. So eventually I did like one year, I finished my year and then I was like, I'm coming back home. And then UAL, were like, we still want you, could you come? So I was like, yeah, I'm gonna come now and I'll do the degree in photography. So I ended up coming back and started shooting with my friend.
So she had asked me to shoot this modelling agency that she had started. And I was a bit hesitant to do it cuz at the time I was just like, I wanna be a wedding photographer. So at this point I was like, okay, cool. I'd done press photography and I'd done the event photography when I was in Leicester. And I was like, all right, now I wanna be a wedding photographer. So I started shooting the fashion stuff for her and building up my portfolio and it's just because people kept asking me to take pictures for them. So I was like, yeah, sure. So a clothing brand here would ask me to take pictures and I'd be like, okay cool. And then someone would ask me to do their kids' birthday and I was like, okay, cool, I'll do that. And then I started getting my weddings. So I, that's what I really wanted to do. So I was like having a great time, like going to different countries, shooting weddings, coming home, going to uni and I'm not gonna lie - I was not going to uni, I was not going to any of the classes. But I did my work. That's one thing I made sure I did. I was like doing my work. I was making sure my assignments were in in time. I was in the library but I just wasn't going to classes.
Steve Folland:
You weren't going to classes cuz you were busy working?
Marcelle Adrianna:
Yes. I would tell my lecturers, I was like, look, I'm not gonna lie to you - I have a job. I can't come into uni. But I'll make sure I get my work in on time. So they were quite happy for me to do that. So I was like, okay, cool. So I was working as a wedding photographer for a bit and then what I found in wedding photography, I really loved it but I used to get so anxious with like how important it was for me to be having someone's wedding day be my responsibility. And that made me really anxious cause you can't mess this up.
So that aspect of it I didn't like. Um, so eventually I was just like, okay, no, I think I might have to stop doing this because I can't deal with how stressed I get on a wedding day. So after I finished uni I had built up a book of fashion work. So I had been shooting with my friend Abby. And we shot those three years together and we worked our way through all of the modelling agencies in London. So we shot for every single agency and we were like, right, we're gonna get Storm, we want Storm, we want Models One and we're gonna get those. So we worked and we shot our way through all of them and finally managed to get those and we're like, ah, mum - I made it, I did it. And well no we didn't make it at that time cuz we still weren't making any money from it.
So Abby was just like, Marcelle, I'm done being a makeup artist now I'm gonna go off and work in television. I was like, okay cool. I'm gonna stay doing this and I'm gonna be a fashion photographer. She's like, all right, cool. So Abby used to recommend me to a lot of people in the TV world and I was obviously shooting a lot of fashion so I was working with more and more brands. So at this time I was still only working part-time as a photographer. Um, and I was still working in retail so I think I was working in House of Fraser and one day I'd gone to my stepdad, like I didn't wanna go in. I was like, I don't wanna work in retail anymore. I was going into work and feeling so depressed because I was looking at pictures on Oxford Street of all of these campaigns and I was like, I know I can shoot that, I know I can shoot that - but I'm here working on a shop floor.
And I hated it. So he was just like, if you don't wanna go in then don't. I was like okay. So I didn't go back. And I decided at that time I was like, okay, cool. I still need some money to kind of stabilise myself in terms of being able to like work. So let me use graphic design cuz I still remember how to do graphic design. So I started this new portfolio. I worked on it like for a whole straight week. And then after that I got my first client who was a publishers and that's how I started freelancing in graphic design. So what I then did for the next couple of years is I did a lot of design for different clients.
So I got like clients like Sky, BBC, Subway, Ted Baker, I got all of these clients working with them in design and then those kind of transferred over to photography. So while I was doing all of this, um, I was working really closely in music as well. Um, and like I said before, my makeup artist that I'd worked to previously, Abby, she was working in television so she would recommend me to a lot of people as well. So by word of mouth from all of these jobs that I had accumulated over the years from like doing loads of different things, I slowly built up a client base which then brought me here today where now I work full-time as a fashion photographer. I still little do a little bit of design here and there on the side. But yeah, that's how I got started freelancing.
Steve Folland:
Wow, okay. So much to ask you one <laugh> one though was that you said that you decided to, you know, do graphic design and then casually said, yeah, so I ended up working for Sky, BBC, Ted Baker, like you can't <laugh> - you can't just say that.
Marcelle Adrianna:
Do you know what it's, cause that's just what happened in my mind. So I think sometimes when I say it to people, they look at me a bit funny but that's how it happened really.
Steve Folland:
But how were you working on big global brands?
Marcelle Adrianna:
So after I'd worked in retail and while I was still kind of like trying to get my foot in graphic design, I ended up like having lots and lots of jobs. So I worked in PR, I worked as a receptionist. So I built up a lot of connections with different kinds of people in different industries. So from that, that's how I was able to kind of get connections in different kinds of brands. And then eventually I did start working with like recruiters and agents who would then put me forward and put me in contact with different brands. And then I was pitching as well, pitching myself to work with different people and different clients.
Steve Folland:
I'm intrigued though. You've got a dream to work in photography. But part of you thinks, okay, but I've also got these graphic design skills, I'll do that and make money. How did you know when you could let one go? Or was it a gradual process?
Marcelle Adrianna:
There was, I think what's funny about the graphic design is I was never intending on doing it as long as I have. I even still do a little bit of graphic design now. But it's just because I have worked with so many different brands in a design capacity, still to this day, a lot of people don't actually I'm a fashion photographer and some people don't know I'm a graphic designer. So it works both ways. So sometimes I have clients that I've had in a photography sense and they don't know I'm a graphic designer or have my graphic design clients that don't actually know I'm a photographer. So once they find out about the other skill, they often want help with either one.
Steve Folland:
How did you go about really developing yourself as a fashion photographer?
Marcelle Adrianna:
I studied a lot of other photographers. So like one of the photographers that I like really loved through the beginning of my career was Lara Jade. She used to teach a lot and do workshops via her platform. And a lot of what she said was a lot of like, keep shooting and shoot what you love and shoot what you like, but make sure that you are nicheing down gradually as you go try stuff. And then if you like something, keep with it. And as I was going, I was like learning the different things that I liked and I'd try that and I'd be like, okay, I didn't like that very much and I stopped and then I'd try something else. Didn't like that very much and I stopped. But with the fashion, it's something that I was like, okay, cool, I really like this. So I just kept doing it. I was just like, okay, that's my goal, that's what I wanna do.
Steve Folland:
So what does a work week or work month look like for you now?
Marcelle Adrianna:
Absolutely manic Steve. It changes. It can be me being in the studio for a couple of days, me retouching a couple of days, me doing some marketing here and there. Me working on something with the girls from my agency every day is different. I don't know what one week to the other is gonna look like, which is always fun. But yeah, there's no like set structure. My life is what I like to cause very much vibes.
Steve Folland:
<laugh>. And do you ever have to collaborate or hire other people?
Marcelle Adrianna:
So in the early days, it was very much like me working on other people's projects. Um, but as of recent cause of how my business is going and like, um, I've had to outsource a lot of my stuff and learn how to let go of some of the things that I just don't have the capacity to do anymore. So a couple of months ago I actually started my first agency with some of my friends I've been working with for a couple of years. So my stylist that I've been working with, we started a creative agency. So we now work on our own projects and we bring in other creatives to work on them with us. And I still have projects where other people bring me in as a creative to work on their projects.
Steve Folland:
You've created an agency with friend?
Marcelle Adrianna:
Yeah, so it is a creative agency - we work across photography, graphic design, branding strategy, web design.
Steve Folland:
What was your thinking about starting that?
Marcelle Adrianna:
I think it was a lot of the fact that we've worked together for so many years, myself and my partner Ebony and she's kind of moved off into a different realm in terms of being that creative in more of the influencer side of things. And I kind of wanted to really let go of graphic design. And the agency was a way that I could still have the graphic design there but kind of have a team work on the projects that I just no longer have the capacity to do. But my clients still want me to like work on different things. So maybe it's a little bit of me just not being able to say no to things and still wanting to be able to help people out on projects.
I do enjoy it. I enjoy the branding side of photography and it's also even like video too. Cause I do do directing as well. But I don't have the capacity to do video filming. So my little brother actually works with me in terms of like the video side of things. I'd love to like be able to work on the projects but more of in terms of a creative direction side of things as opposed to more hands-on in like the day-to-day like role of being an actual designer.
Steve Folland:
And so, you know, if I look at your Marcelle Adriana website and see that you've worked with Gucci or Harrods - huge brands, are we still saying that a lot of those will come through agency or through these connections that go back years?
Marcelle Adrianna:
So yeah, so that's both. So with Gucci, we were able to work with Gucci through my friend Clara who's actually a model. And I met Clara at University <laugh>. So when I first met her, she really wanted to be a model so we ended up taking some of her first pictures and then she ended up getting signed. And then she came to me with the Gucci project and we shot it. So it works both ways really.
Steve Folland:
I remember early on in this you saying that you were working your way through the modelling agencies but you weren't actually making money as such. But that has paid off in the long run.
Marcelle Adrianna:
It definitely has. It allowed me to find like my team and my core people that I love working with. Um, and through networking just accidentally and us just doing stuff that we genuinely loved because we worked so long without being able to get paid and stuff. It was really like photography was really a labour labour of love for us. So now that we're just able to do stuff and get paid for it, it's literally a plus for us cuz we were doing it for so long without seeing any kind of monetary gain from it.
Steve Folland:
You hear about people saying, oh you shouldn't work for free, you shouldn't work for free. But actually perhaps there's a point in a career where you are building up experience, building up a portfolio, building a network where you might choose to work for free.
Marcelle Adrianna:
What I learned from Lara Jade was never be afraid to test. You always need to be creating new work. So if sometimes you have to do something for free or just do something collaboratively with the team, that's okay to do as long as that it's something that's gonna be beneficial for your book. So I would always make sure that if I was gonna do anything for free, I was more than happy to do that. But it needed to be something that I was actually really passionate about or it was gonna be beneficial for my book.
Steve Folland:
So how long have you been full-time freelance?
Marcelle Adrianna:
I've been full-time freelance for five years,
Steve Folland:
That's really nice about working with your, your brother as well. Yeah. And clearly with so many of your friends and stuff over time, like what, what do you think makes a good collaboration?
Marcelle Adrianna:
For me I have been drawn to a lot of people that I just necessarily click with and when I find those people that I click with, I just tend to just keep working with them. And then the people that I work with just end up being my friends. So it works for me in that way. But I think when you are working with people, especially with stuff like shoots and stuff, I think to have a really good energy on set and this - all of you like be really like genuinely friends and friendly and just have a good vibe and atmosphere. I think it's so important you can create some amazing work, um, when you have energy like that on a set as well.
Steve Folland:
Hmm. How have you got on with the business side of being freelance?
Marcelle Adrianna:
Uh, the business side, my dad's gonna listen to this and roll his eyes. Um, <laugh>, so my dad is actually like my manager. He's managed kind of my freelance career, my business career, since I started when I was like 17. So everything that I've done, I've kind of run by him. He's actually been a contractor for most of my life and run his own businesses. So I kind of get all of my advice from him. He's studied accounts so he's been able to kind of guide me in terms of like the money side of the business and how I should be structuring everything. And cuz he's a project manager, he's been able to kind of like really just help me in terms of how I need to structure my business and what I need to do and how I need to manoeuvre everything. So I've been really blessed in in being able to have him in my career.
Steve Folland:
Can you remember any key bits of advice that he, he's given you?
Marcelle Adrianna:
Oh yes I can. 'The only place success comes before work is in a dictionary' and I think that's been the theme for my life. He's told me that ever since I was really young. I think that's why I'm a workaholic today. But yeah...
Steve Folland:
You say you're a workaholic?
Marcelle Adrianna:
Yeah, my mum, she really likes to tell me that I'm a workaholic. "you're like your dad, you're a workaholic". Because I just love my job. I worked so hard to make the thing that I loved my job. So now that I'm doing it I'm just like, no, I just, I love this, I wanna do this all the time.
Steve Folland:
But workaholic suggest you're working all the time. Is that the case?
Marcelle Adrianna:
So this year I've got coached by my business coach Harry and she's really kind of like drummed the importance of rest and taking time off for me because I don't tend to do that a lot, I haven't previously tend to do like a lot, but this year I have. So I have made the conscious decision to try not to work, but we have like I said with the photography and graphic design where you have like slow seasons in photography sometimes, which is usually like the summer when everyone goes away. Those are the times where graphic design gets really busy because everybody is away. So they need a lot of graphic design support in house. So what can tend to happen from that is as I'm just working like full force throughout the year. But this is the kind of first year that I haven't necessarily done that and I've just taken a lot of like needed time off to avoid burnout.
Steve Folland:
But you're working with a business coach?
Marcelle Adrianna:
Yes, Harry, it's a group coaching programme that she has where I work with a lot of other ladies that work within creative industries. So like makeup artists, stylists and other photographers as well.
Steve Folland:
How are you finding that?
Marcelle Adrianna:
So it's been really good. We had it scheduled in for a six month stint, um, which is how she runs the programme. And since it's finished and been wrapped up, we've kept the programme kind of going with us, just us ladies and it's just been so nice to have other people that work in the industry that we can kind of like bounce off of, and talk to each other about like with different things in our businesses. If we're ever having any trouble with not knowing something or not understanding something or just even that support from somebody else that understands what it's like to run a business and the kind of industry that we work in as well because it can get lonely sometimes being freelance and not necessarily having other people that understand how your life is kind of set up.
Steve Folland:
Yeah, I was wondering that though because you seem to collaborate a lot and you've got, uh, what you mentioned your dad for example, working for himself. But it's interesting. So you still find though, despite all of that, that you know, that doesn't mean that all of your friends get it, the fact that you know, ultimately you're still there doing it by yourself.
And are you someone who has goals?
Marcelle Adrianna:
Yes, definitely. That's another thing that my dad's always said to me. People don't plan to fail, they fail to plan. So he's always stressed the importance of me having a five year plan, a 10 year plan, a 20 year plan, a 30 year plan, with the different things I kind of wanna do, and how I can work towards them.
Steve Folland:
Can I ask what your 30 year plan is? So we're going forward 30 years towards 60, which I guess is towards traditional retirement?
Marcelle Adrianna:
So I would've wanted to retire long before that, before I got to 60 <laugh>. I won't be working until then. I'd like to be out the game by then, but I think I, by then my plan is to have been back home. So we have a house in Jamaica. I would like to go back home and just be there and just really enjoy being old and just chilling cuz I talk to my nan all the time and she's like, she wish she just like travelled the world. And just used that time just to travel and see and just enjoy life and enjoy family at that time. So by that time I don't wanna be working. So yeah, I have to put a lot of things in place for that to happen.
Steve Folland:
If you could tell your younger self one thing about being freelance, what would that be? I
Marcelle Adrianna:
I would just say keep going, you're gonna have bad days. It's gonna be rough, but keep going, keep shooting. And keep believing in yourself. Cause a lot of people are gonna say no and that you can't do it, but keep going. I think that's what I would tell my younger self about being freelance.
Steve Folland:
And have you taken any photos which have ended up in shop windows?
Marcelle Adrianna:
I have - a few, yes, but not the brand that I want yet.
Steve Folland:
Who do you want to take a photo for to get it in the shop window. Let's manifest it.
Marcelle Adrianna:
So I used to work in Dune, this is another shop on Oxford Street that I used to work in. So I would say if I could do a Dune campaign and it'd be in the shop window on Oxford Street, the one that I used to work in? I'll die a happy woman.
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