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We are trying to develop a community where photographers can come and discuss nature, wildlife and pet photography related matters. We encourage you to enter the forums to share, make comments or ask questions about this interview or any other content of NWP.
This article is Copyright 2006, James Morrissey, and may not, in part or in whole, be reproduced in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from the author. The images in this article are the property of Daisy Gilardini and have been licensed to James Morrissey and the NWP Photo Forum for the purpose of this interview.
Editor's Note: A link is at the end of the page if you wish to learn more about Daisy Gilardini and her work.
Part II: The Business of Photography
(c) Daisy Gilardini
JM: Let us talk about your business a bit. Can you describe what it looks like?
DG: It is still a struggle between accounting and photography. It’s like having two full-time jobs. In order to go into photography these days, you really need to be determined. It requires a complete investment of your resources. Even if I’m traveling up to five months a year, I still have to invest some of my time into my accounting business because it still pays most of my bills. On the one hand I’d love to become a full-time professional, but on the other hand I’m happy to have some financial security because this allows me to shoot with my heart and there's no income pressure at any cost.
I fell in love with Antarctica during my first trip there in 1997 and since then I regularly visit the Polar Regions; this passion has now become my specialty. Unfortunately, traveling in these regions is extremely expensive so I couldn’t afford to do this without my other activity. During 2005 I started working with the two main tour operators specializing in Arctic and Antarctic trips. This has been a dream come true!
I am also investing a lot of time working with stock agencies. I recently signed a contract with Getty Images – Europe and I really hope to generate a constant and stable income from that. It took me over a year to get this contract. Patience and perseverance are two essential virtues in the world of wildlife photography!
JM: Do you work entirely for yourself then?
DG: Yes, though I have added a full-time assistant for my accounting business in the last year. This has been essential for me because I now travel up to 5 months a year. When I am here, I have to look after my accounting business and the paper work of my photography business. This means spending time editing and writing articles for publications in photographic magazines.
I’m a freelance photographer and 95% of my work is self-assigned. I choose the location where I want to shoot and then I promote my work. I mainly work with travel magazines. Usually I prepare a portfolio with the written article and submit it to various potential buyers.
Nowadays, a lot of the first contact is done via my website where I have a good selection on location with good samples of my photographic style. When the buyer is interested I then submit the written article for review with a selection of low resolution scans burned on a CD.
JM: How long have you been doing this professionally?
DG: I started selling my photography at the end of 1999.
JM: How long did it take for you to begin getting published regularly?
DG: Three years.
(c) Daisy Gilardini
JM: Were there any periods where you thought about quitting photography professionally?
DG: Absolutely. About a year ago I was having continuous problems with my computer crashing. One day I had my PC under my arm ready to take it for the umpteenth time to the technician and I was thinking..."All of my free time is being spent on this computer and for what? “I was ready to give it up. Later that afternoon I received a phone call telling me I had won an award for the Travel Photographer of the Year. I believe in destiny and this was the answer to my question.
JM: So was it digital photography that was sending you over the edge?
DG: No, not really. At that time I didn't have digital. What I mean is I wasn’t shooting with a digital camera but I was scanning my slides and it was the color correction that was driving me crazy besides the continuous crashing of my computer. I switched to digital four months ago by purchasing a Nikon D2X when I got an assignment from an American tour operator working in Antarctica. The assignment consisted of producing daily images for the log book and a slide show for passengers at the end of the cruise. So… digital was the only way to go.
I came back from my six weeks' assignment three weeks ago and I’m so glad I switched. The advantages of using digital are greater compared to the disadvantages. I’m amazed with the results, the colors, the sharpness, moreover, I’m impressed with the power of the digital cameras in low light situations. It is incredible and this opens a whole new world of possibilities and creativity that was unachievable before.
I love to get back from a photo session, download my images on the laptop and see the results right away. The learning curve improves drastically and being on location you can correct your mistakes straightaway, get new ideas and practice immediately the same day during the next landing. Obviously there are some disadvantages…. after the landings instead of joining the passengers for a drink at the bar and relaxing you spend your time in your cabin in front of your computer…. Socially this is not ideal…. but photographically it’s great!
JM: How do you feel that computers have affected you photographically?
DG: With digital, you really have to be open towards computers. I am not a great computer technician. When I have problems with the computer, I go crazy because I feel powerless and this is something I don't like. I’m really working hard to learn how to manage my computer. It is not something I love - but it’s the future. There is no discussion about that.
JM: Let me recap this then. At this point, you are designing and writing articles and then putting them on your website and soliciting companies to look at them via email?
DG: I do not put new articles on the internet. I only put the past published articles; this allows potential clients to have a look at my work as a final product. This also shows them the magazines I’ve worked for in the past. The main effort is to produce a high quality portfolio...with a good layout, an interesting text and a good print. This takes a lot of time and money to have printed.
JM: By some chance, did you read the interview that we did with Artie Morris?
DG: Yes, I read the interview.
JM: Great! He was telling me that when he first started, he would send in articles with about twenty images as a means of getting his name known. “Why should I try to sell one picture to fit in someone else’s article when I can sell 6 or 7 pictures to go with my own piece and get paid for both the article and the images?”
DG: Yes, this is exactly what I do.
(c) Daisy Gilardini
JM: What do you think it takes to make the business successful financially while keeping the images emotional?
DG: I think the Poles are my ticket. There are only a few professional photographers specialized in the Polar Regions. I think that if I can make it full time it will be because of this.
JM: So you think it is the extreme environmental conditions that stock agencies are looking for. They want places that others are not going to.
DG: Yes, the market wants new, fresh and especially different images. Anyone can go to Kenya and photograph lions. There are millions of images of lions now. It is easy and comfortable to shoot there. Not everybody is willing to spend hours in freezing conditions, sleep on disgusting mattresses or spend weeks in a hut without running water and toilets.
JM: What do you feel the key is to getting published? Was it writing specific articles or something else?
DG: That is a good question. I am not really sure. My first article to be published was on Antarctica. That tells you something though. I think that it keeps coming back to my topic about the Poles. This is my passion. However, it is hard to answer your question. It all depends on the type of magazine and the editor. Some like remote destinations some not. I think that before submitting an article you should look at the magazine and adapt your submission to their style.
I also think great effort should be invested in letting people see your work and getting to know you. I regularly attend NANPA meetings for this reason. It is a great opportunity to have your portfolio reviewed by the best professional photographers, editors and stock agencies in the States. During the yearly meeting you can attend interesting workshops, exchange opinions with other professional and amateur photographers and besides that it is really GREAT FUN!
During my last NANPA meeting I received a 14-page exclusive article on The Poles with NATURE’S BEST. I try to organize my trips in order to maximize my chances, so during the same trip to the States, and through a friend, I succeeded in getting a meeting with the photo editor of SMITHSONIAN and a few months later I got an assignment in Germany.
JM: Did you have to do any special education or research in order to do this assignment?
DG: No. I only had two weeks notice before being on location. I literally had to pick up and go. They knew exactly what they wanted. I had to shoot an archeological site, the researchers and the museum. This was something completely new for me and kind of scary because of the prestigious name of the magazine. I was so excited! I went to Germany, did the shooting and they were pleased.
(c) Daisy Gilardini
JM: We talked a lot about stock agencies. Have you tried anything with Sam Photo who I know is big out your way?
DG: No. I’m actually with Getty Images – Europe and three other small agencies in France, Germany and Italy. In the States I’m with Danita Delimont and Alaska Stock.
JM: How do you select the catalog of your images for stock agencies?
DG: I learned a lot from Darell Gullin. When I was trying to get into Getty he helped me make the selection for my submission. It is very helpful to have someone who is not related to the image to select them. It is always very difficult to separate your personal feelings and the technical perspective from an image you shot. Darrell picked some images that I would have never picked. It was an incredibly interesting process. He was looking for moods - not necessarily the most technically perfect image. Sometimes he picked images where I felt the framing was off but he felt they spoke a much larger message.
JM: So you want photographs that specifically illicit an emotion?
DG: Yes.
JM: How do you decide which photographic contests you are going to enter?
DG: I try to pick the real big ones - like the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the year, the European Wildlife Photographer of the Year and the TPOTY Travel Photographer of the year. I wish I could enter more but I don't always have time to do them all.
(c) Daisy Gilardini
JM: How do you prepare for them? Do you send them 1, 5, or 20 images?
DG: It depends. Some of the contests are very expensive to enter. For the TPOTY Travel photographer of the year 2004 I only sent 3 portfolios of four images each. For that specific submission I asked my friend Cameron Davidson, a great aerial photographer based in Washington DC, to help me select the images. He did a great job and I won in the “Living Planet” category, achieved the second best score in the same overall competition as well as fifth place in the “Spirit of Adventure” category.
JM: Daisy, did you know that you are our first female interview? Do you feel that it makes a difference in the work you do? Do you sometimes feel that you are working in a man's world?
DG: It really is a man's world - though I do not feel that it affects me adversely. In many cases it has given me some advantages. Sometimes a nice smile is enough to get special treatment. On the other hand, when shooting with long heavy lenses I wish I had the muscles of a man. It’s a struggle for me to hand hold my 300mm f2.8 and I'm not even thinking of buying a 600mm f4 just because of its weight!
JM: Do you feel that you look at things differently because you are a woman?
DG: No, not really.
JM: Do you have any long term plans that you want to accomplish?
DG: Hard to say… I’ve so many dreams …. I’m working hard to try and get a seasonal contract with the tour operators working in the Polar Regions. This would mean spending my summers on icebreakers in the Arctic and my winters in Antarctica and by doing that I would collect enough images for publishing a book on The Poles, which I hope to realize by 2010. But my biggest and most “secret" dream would be working for the “yellow magazine”: National Geographic! Will I ever get there?
If you are interested in learning more about Daisy Gilardini, you can visit: www.daisygilardini.com.
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