Creating a strong collection can do more than showcase a great haircut. Here, Chris Foster, co-founder of Mentored by Menspired, offers his advice on creating meaningful men’s hair imagery, and shares how it can open new career possibilities.
When you create a collection of men’s hair imagery, whatever stage you are at in your career, start with the ethos that you want to contribute to an overall raising of standards and perceptions of men’s hairdressing and barbering.
As you gain experience and your budgets grow, this contribution will become more visible and your influence greater, but it’s never too early to start documenting your work and making it count.
Photoshoots are a professional development tool
To succeed in this industry, you’ll need more than creativity. The great thing about overseeing a photoshoot is that it unlocks numerous skills that will help you navigate a successful career.
I see creating collections as a professional development tool; as you progress from the basics, creating collections will involve managing a budget, taking creative control, and leading a team.
Once you have a collection, you also need to learn about how to utilise the finished result — how can you use the collection to market yourself or your business; do you plug into PR and get the collection out to industry and consumer media? Do you enter the collection or individual images into competitions?
All of these elements of creating a collection are going above and beyond the basic idea of cutting hair; they are pushing you beyond working behind the chair and into potentially career-changing directions.
Experience will open new doors
Pushing yourself to be creative and documenting that work is important.
As time goes on, and budgets increase, you’ll develop an understanding of how to work with individual models, how their features will translate into an image, how to control the shapes that the hair is taking on, and how each look will complement each model and their specific vibe.
This level of understanding only happens when somebody has taken time out to create collections. And this experience could open doors into working on professional shoots, in advertising or editorial, for example.
Developing an understanding of what a photoshoot involves and familiarity with the environment of a shoot is vital for a creative career progression.
Every photoshoot you undertake is part of a training ground that could lead to some incredible opportunities.
Always aim for the highest standards
If you, as a creative, want to be seen and treated as someone who can operate at the highest level, the standard of work you create needs to be of the highest level possible. Of course, in the early days, budgets will be a factor, but don’t be put off from creating your first collection because you think you can’t afford to do it. You need to have self-belief; if the intention is to create great imagery and you believe you can do that, the resources will follow.
Reframe the thought that you have no resources to ‘I need to be resourceful.’
So the first question is, how can I get the resources, or who can I work with to make this happen?
It Can Create New Opportunities
Our industry is image led, and extremely influenced by creativity. When you show your creativity, it sends signals to the hairdressing world that you are part of the club. This creates visibility, and being visible will open up new opportunities. If you want to create opportunities in this industry, the first thing you have to do is show your work.
Look at the level of work out there
While it’s vital to create work that you love, it’s also important to be aware of the work your contemporaries and those you aspire to emulate are putting out. If they want to join the club, you need to create work that looks like you’re a part of the club.
That means professional models, clean backgrounds, a great photographer, and creative compositions. All of these elements have to tie together for your work to be seen in a positive way and perceived as professional.