Page 135 - Demo

www.MOSTmag.com || FITNESS MAG A ZINE || 135FMM: What has been your most memorable moment in your career so far?JP: That is honestly a hard question to answer since I consider photography such a survival type industry. There have been so many great moments in my career %u2013 but the best moments are the ones that ensure you can continue making great pictures. So perhaps it is a project that covers your bills for the next month or so and allows you to do some personal work. Perhaps it is a personal project that fuels your creative needs for a few weeks. Whatever it is that keeps you going in the industry.FMM: What percentage of your work is fitness related, and after working in so many various capacities and fields as a photographer, do you find that fitness related work is your favorite and most interesting thus far?JP: Fitness and sports portraiture is what we specialize in so a lot of people hire us based upon that style %u2013 whether it is individuals looking to grow their portfolio, magazines looking for that style in their publication or commercial clients in that industry. Now does that mean we cannot do other work? Absolutely not-one of my best clients is an architecture company, and I work on ad campaigns for country clubs and so on. However, I believe it is important for artists to develop a style that is unique and signature to themselves and they will live and die based upon that style. There will be clients who gravitate towards the work you do and some clients that will not. That is okay; you do not need every client. The goal is to target the ones who share the same view and vision as you.FMM: Who has had the most influence on you artistically? Where do you find inspiration?JP: The great thing about inspiration is that there are endless sources of it. I am constantly tearing out pages in magazines, following photographers on Instagram, writing down inspirations from movies I%u2019m watching or books I%u2019m reading. Early on in my career it was photographers like Bruce Davidson or David LaChapelle, each with a very unique approach to how they told stories through images. Today it is a variety of sports and portrait photographers %u2013 but also filmmakers and writers.FMM: Did your marketing skills develop out of your own desire to be published after you had developed your craft as a photographer?JP: I actually worked in marketing for many years while I was building up my photography business. Although working in a corporate environment is not what a lot of people desire to do but I am very fortunate I was able to have that in my journey. I learned a lot about how to develop relationships, how to pursue work, how to get repeat business and more. I was also very fortunate to have had fantastic mentors along the way from my work in marketing, to fellow photographers and even one of my former college professors who shared with me invaluable knowledge on how to successfully grow my own brand.FMM: You created the Fit Model Guide, do you have a tip you can share to our readers from the book?JP: The FitModelGuide.com e-book has a few pillars but at its core it is about developing the right relationships to earn the right to pitch and be published. That comes from spending the time up front to learn about the publications you want to work with. What are they doing presentation-wise, what are their needs, their goals and what do they find important. After that it is about demonstrating to them that you can help them achieve their goals and why you are the best choice. That is the pitch. After that comes the delivery. Not just delivering, >>>