What does it truly mean to collaborate with other skilled professionals and who are the beneficiaries of such a unique experience?
I felt very inspired to share my thoughts based on my understanding and experience in the business of collaborating. From the beginning of time, the beauty industry; photographers, models, stylists, hairstylists, designers, and other skilled professionals have been teaming up to collaborate on projects that would be beneficial to everyone involved.
I have had very pleasant experiences with collaborating with other international professionals, some of whom I have never met in person. Within 2-3 weeks of doing my part, I would receive via email, a few edited copies of beauty shots of my work that I can share to my social media platforms. (NB: I said share, not re-post, big difference) There is an agreement that whenever all the parties involved share the images, everyone is tagged and credited respectively.
This seems very simple enough and a fair exchange for our individual talents combined. However, it has been my experience when trying to collaborate with other local professionals, there isn’t a very clear understanding of how collaboration among professionals should work. I recall my first heartbroken experience with a photographer, I loved his work and we agreed to collaborate on a special project I wanted to work on.
I was able to get a stylist whose work I also admired, she organized the models and we were all set. When I made the contact with the said photographer, from the discussion, he was definitely expecting to be paid, after some explaining was done we came to a mutual agreement and time and day was set. The night before, I made my rounds to reconfirm with everyone. I called and called and called Mr. Photographer to reconfirm and there was no acknowledgment. So I canceled the shoot and never bother with that particular photographer again or even attempted to make it happen with any other. I was too disappointed and traumatized.
My other experience was taking a very expensive Editorial Masterclass that was hosted by local professionals featuring international base Pro Makeup Artist, the class included a photoshoot. To my horror when I received those images they were all in its raw form, which meant I could not have used them publicly without possibly paying the said photographer to edit them. I ended up using someone who was based in the US and paid US$35.00 each to get the images edited professionally. The icing on the cake was the photographer wanted to dictate how and where I used those images which I paid for, twice.
I also teamed up with a hairstylist, did a photoshoot for her and the agreement was she would credit when she posted to her social media platforms, I never received the credit nor was I even gifted with a photo to use in my space.
And my most recent experience was another epic fail before it even started. Most seem to think a collaboration with other skilled professionals should only be beneficial to the person who initiated the collaboration. And everyone else who is involved should only settle for hashtags, credits, and re-posts.
By right everyone involved should be given digital copies of those images for posting to their own individual social media platforms. How could one not see that what benefits one, could and will benefit all? From the photographer to the model and every skilled professional involved. These are just a few collaboration mishaps from my chronicles.
My reasoning is this, if I am the one initiating the collaboration and I am teaming up with 3 or 4 other professionals which include the models, then we all should have images for our individual portfolios. If I post to my individual platforms and tag those involved as a form of credit it really doesn’t serve the others to their fullest advantage, your work will only be viewed through the eyes of my followers. My following is not the same as that of the stylist, the model, the photographer, or the hairstylist. The right thing to do is share the edited images with everyone so us posting to each of our social media platforms with the agreed-to hashtags and credit tags we would have all won individually and collaboratively because our reach is a combination of all involved and thereby reaching more people in totality. Everyone wins that’s my idea of an ideal collaboration.
My lesson learned to date is, this does not have to be a selfish business, we could choose to be selfless. The fact of the matter is, when we get together we can reach a wider audience if only we can see beyond our own selfish ambitions to just promote our-self using others. Sometimes it’s not what you do, it’s how you do it. One of the things to note as a group of professionals getting together with a common goal is, it is within our power to make the rules that would benefit everyone getting together once it is with the right intentions. Everyone should walk away feeling accomplished and content because everyone is equally giving 100% of their time and skills.
I have a lot of admiration and respect for international based professionals, I admire the way they support and push each other. Oh yeah! I am sure there are rivalries and cliques, the point is from my observation, there are a lot of successful professionals collaborating. I believe truly gifted, well-grounded skilled professionals always respect and support each other. I wish to see more of this both locally and regionally.
Refresh, Rejuvenate, Exhale, Reprogram 