I had dinner last night with a good friend of mine, Valérie Sangin, a photographer who specialises in creative portraits and of course we had to catch up and I got her to share some of her experience, working in Montreal.
Things weren’t that peachy. Talented to bits, and very creative, she has been freelancing for the past few years, working as a wedding photographer during summer times to pay the bills. A bitter sweet experience studying at Concordia university made her realise she wasn’t interested in photography in the world of art. “There were no criteria you could operate on. Things are so subjective, it completely depended on the mood of the tutor to determine if she would like the work or not”.
After her studies, she opened a studio with some friends from school which was quite successful. She appeared in a movie. She organised the photoshoots for “A makeover story”-type of television show for a well-known Quebec TV channel. But nothing would ever come out of it. When she met professionals in the TV industry, they already had their own photographers. There is no space for new professionals in the city. The community is small and stays small with it’s own superstars and idols. As she pointed out, when there’s only 50 people who do the same thing, there’s only competition for the few jobs around, no sense of camaraderie.
She’s now back to freelancing on her own and finds the environment difficult. “I hate having to fight for the right to do what I want to do” she cries out, “it doesn’t make sense to spend 90% of my time trying to find work that will take me a few hours to actually do. A photoshoot isn’t that long after all”.
We also spoke about former friends and colleagues, noting that most of them now have completely changed career paths, working in jobs completely unrelated to design. “People just give up” she told me.
She remains ambitious and optimistic though. When I asked her where she sees herself in 5 years, she answered “I’d like to be a creative portrait photographer for celebrities. Like Annie Leibovitz, but I want total control over the photoshoot”.