The Secret Formula For Success

When people ask me how did I go from working in a different industry and in a different country to starting a photographer career in the UK, I always feel like they want me to share a secret formula that will make all their dreams come true. The reality is that there aren't any formulas or magic tricks. You just have to want it as if your life depended on it. But, even if there are no secret formulas, there is a very powerful tool that you can add to your business skills toolset that will definitely have an impact on the success rate of your projects. Networking.

When I arrived in London at almost 40 and without knowing anyone in the business, I knew that I had a significant disadvantage in comparison to other fellow photographers. I didn't have a history in the UK, I was new, and I didn't know anyone from school, uni or from being brought up here. So, my solution to that lack of connections was to network like crazy. I literally typed in Google 'networking events for photographers in London' and started going to as many events as I could possibly fit in my diary.

Armed with a set of freshly printed business cards, I went from event to event introducing myself to as many people as I could. To this day, some of those connections that I made are still active, and I've made some really good friends from those interactions.

Apart from going to networking events, I’ve also joined professional communities and trade organisations that have helped me grow my network and strengthen my connections within the industry. Here are some of the communities that I’ve found the most useful:

• The Freelancer Club: in 2008, Matt Dowling unsuccessfully spent his last £300 on a lawyer to recover £11,000 that was owed to him from an unpaid invoice. Not long after, Matt met Nina, a freelance model who had her own set of freelance challenges. They shared their experiences and wrote a list of all the things they wished they had access to when they started out. They always wanted Freelancer Club to be more than just a jobs board and vowed to dedicate their efforts to freelancers who felt helpless, lost or frustrated. Today, Freelancer Club is a creative network that campaigns to end exploitative unpaid work and has become one of the leading voices in the creative freelance community.

• The London Creative Network: LCN is a development programme for creative practitioners in London. Delivered by SPACE, with Cockpit Arts, Four Corners and Photofusion, and part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund Programme from the EU.

• The Association of Photographers - AOP: The Association of Photographers is one of the most prestigious professional photographers' associations in the world. It aims to promote and protect the worth and standing of its members, to vigorously defend, educate and lobby for the interests and rights of all photographers, especially in the commercial photographic industry.

• The Trampery: The Trampery is a London-based social enterprise, specialising in shared workspace and support for entrepreneurs and creative businesses. They run Pathways, a learning programme designed to provide the space, resources, tools, time and support network for entrepreneurs who are doing pioneering work. The programme is funded by the European Regional Development Fund from the EU.

• The Societies: The Societies of Photographers is a group of organisations that encourage high professional standards and ethics in photography by providing continued training programmes for experienced professionals along with the newcomers to the business. The Societies of Photographers annual Convention is a four-day action-packed programme where brands and peers show the latest in trends, technology and design.

• The Boxed Community: the newly formed Boxed Community is a curated online community and virtual co-working space that provides support and development for entrepreneurs (startups, freelancers, and their teams) through ongoing learning programmes, business and personal development support as well as access to fellow members internationally. For more information, or to get on the waiting list, contact nicole@boxedcommunity.com

As Isa Rae, the producer and actress known for Insecure, says: we have to build connections with the people around us who are as hungry as we are. So, go out and meet them!

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Showing We Care

When I left home at 19 years old, I was very lucky to have a strong support network that took care of me until I was able to get back on my feet. I couch-surfed from friend's house to friend's house for weeks, which admittedly was very distressing, but I never had to sleep rough. I don't think my friends were fully aware of how much they were doing for me at the time but, looking back, they unknowingly prevented me from ending up on the streets. I feel like I would have to live a few lifetimes before I am able to repay them for their kindness.

In the UK, approximately 1 in 200 people are homeless and, according to figures from City YMCA, 93% of those who seek shelter in their facilities are aged 18 to 24.

I am a member of Out For Good, an organisation formed by LGBTQ+ people who want to make a real difference in their communities, and we are collecting donations to put together care packages for a shelter for young Londoners affected by Homelessness. These packages will be distributed to young people by the City YMCA.

With your donations, we will be able to fill these care packages with items such as deodorant, perfume, aftershave, razors, shaving gel, hair products, sanitary items, combs, brushes, flannels, hand sanitiser, lip salve, toothbrushes and toothpaste.

Donations will be accepted from February 11 to March 13, 2020, and the care packages will be put together on Sunday, March 15.

Please make your donations on this link: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/care-packages-for-homeless-young-londoners?utm_term=z8j4465Rx

City YMCA London is an independent charity affiliated to the YMCA movement, that works across some of London's most deprived boroughs to give every young person the opportunity to build a future of their own choosing. They have helped over 30,000 isolated, homeless young people struggling with family breakdown, school exclusion, poor mental health and drug and alcohol problems. Their accommodation offers a safe place for young people experiencing homelessness to piece their lives together.

Out for Good is an LGBT+ organisation for people with one thing in common, a willingness to make a real difference in their communities. Members dedicate their talent, time and commitment to help everyone in their community thrive. They act as role models, breaking down barriers in the wider community.

JustGiving is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) under the Payment Service Regulations 2017.

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I Refuse To Be One-Dimensional

Long before I started writing this blog, and even before becoming a photographer, I lived in a very different reality. It is difficult to remember a time when I didn't work in the Creative Industries, and some days it feels like I have been doing this forever. But, I used to live a very one-dimensional life where my career defined me as a person, and I wasn't involved in much else other than what I did for a living. From 9 to 6, I worked in the office, and after work, I would hang out with my friends and colleagues from the office. I spent almost a decade growing up professionally, but as a person and as a human being, I became stagnant.

These days, I sometimes feel that there are so many dimensions to me that it's hard to keep track. I find it difficult when others want me to define myself in just a few words. I work as a photographer, yes, but I am so much more than my work. And I am involved in so many different things that I have to tailor my introduction depending on the person that I am talking to. For my community projects peers, I am a photographer exploring social issues. When I'm in commercial environments, I work in Fashion. For my poetry club, I'm a writer. When I'm at the Ethical Society, I'm a fellow humanist. And for my mentees, I am sometimes mentor, sometimes project manager. To name a few.

Admittedly, we can't possibly go around introducing ourselves by saying the long list of things that we are involved in. But, sometimes, introductions can feel very limiting. Like when I have to introduce my work to someone who has never seen it before. Having just one online portfolio that shows a range of everything I do can sometimes get confusing. In this industry, you are supposed to be one-dimensional. Unless you are really famous, then you can do whatever you want. Otherwise, your portfolio must reflect the type of photographer that you are trying to sell yourself as.

Some types of photography are complementary. You can be a Food and Travel Photographer, or work at the same time in Fine Arts and Portraiture. But, when I try to explain that I am interested in exploring current social issues but that I also shoot commercially as a fashion and portraits photographer, it sometimes feels like I'm talking about two contradictory things. It might be because you are not seen as ethical when you work inside an industry like Fashion. But, like I always say, change comes from within, and it is us who work inside the industry who have the power to change it for the better.

What all the things that I do have in common is me. I am so much more than one thing or the other. I am the sum of all of them and so many more that I don't have enough space to mention. Like the founder of the fashion brand Sabinna, designer Sabinna Rachimova, said today: I like "taking on too many projects at the same time, forgetting that the day has only 24 hours". But we wouldn't do it any other way because this is who we are, right Sabinna?

Photo credit: behind the scenes taken by Diana Buntajova.

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Ceci N'est Pas Un Drill

This is not a drill. This is happening for real now. This coming Friday, January 31st, 2020, the United Kingdom starts the transition period to leave the EU. After 3.5 years of uncertainty on whether this might actually happen, on December 31st, 2022, the UK will officially be out of the EU. Funny enough, the Brexit campaign was based on vilifying immigrants, but anyone who has ever emigrated can tell you that migrants might be the only ones with the skills to navigate the tough times ahead. Adapting to this new reality is going to take a lot of resilience and a lot of sacrifices.

Leaving the EU means closing the borders to free movement. The Government has introduced a points system for those who want to immigrate to the UK as of 2021, which is being advertised by saying that the UK wants to welcome “talent from around the world while reducing low-skilled migrants.” The PM also added that “the UK is open to the most talented minds in the world.”

Admittedly, if the country is closing the borders as of 2021, a migration system needs to be put in place. But all those words that are being used like “most talented minds” and “reducing low-skilled migrants” send a clear message: the immigrants that we have nowadays are low-quality, and we need better ones. We want diversity, but we want it our way.

Defining what “most talented” and “low-skilled” mean will have a significant impact on many industries, including the Creative Industries. Lately, one of the criteria used to filter out the wrong type of immigration has become very controversial.

Currently, most skilled workers from outside the EU coming to the UK must have a job paying at least £30,000 a year. If nothing changes, this threshold will also apply to EU immigrants as of 2021. When you look around you, you might think that these low-skilled immigrants occupy jobs like cleaning staff, caregivers, security guards, to name a few.

The reality is that many skilled jobs nowadays, especially in the Creative Industries, don’t make it to the threshold either. The Creative Industries rely heavily on freelance workers, and according to a study conducted by Glassdoor, the average freelancer in this industry makes less than £30,000 a year.

I’ve written extensively about how the Creative Industries contribute to the economy of the country. One of the secrets of such success is the creative immigrants who come to enrich the industry. If we filter out those creatives, we would not only weaken one of the pillars of the UK economy and the UK branding across the world, but we would also leave many a position unfilled.

Some might think that it is an opportunity for UK nationals to have access to those jobs. Still, a study by the Creative Industries Federation shows that a third of creative business agree that there aren’t enough young people interested in creative careers in the UK. So, with these immigration regulations, we will not only have fewer people to fill those positions, but also the people available would only speak among themselves and not receive valuable influences from people from other parts of the world.

And this is only within the Creative Industries. Now take those figures and think about the whole of the UK economy. There aren’t enough UK nationals to do those jobs. Either because there aren’t enough UK nationals in the first place, or because they are not prepared, or they are not willing to do those types of jobs.

From freelance photographers like myself to multimillion-pound productions of the likes of Game of Thrones, being labelled as a creative from the UK makes us a referent around the world and adds immensely to our brands. And that reputation comes from the diversity of our industry. Why would anyone want to change that?

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Ego Can't Exist When You Start All Over Again

When I arrived in London 7 years ago, everything was new to me. I was starting again in a new country, in a different language, in a different industry and at a very different age than the one I had when I started in my previous career. This time, I was about to become 40, and I had left my former industry, in which I had 20 years of experience, to pursue a career in photography. All the odds were against me, but here I am, still working as a photographer and now writing about my life as a creative on this blog. As they say, 'hunger is a good kitchen', and I can tell you that I was really hungry for becoming the person that I am today.

Uber-talented singer-songwriter Erika Ender was interviewed by Erika de la Vega last year. During the interview, she spoke about her beginnings in the US market and about having to start from zero in a different country. Erika said: "Ego can't exist when you start all over again." Only when you free yourself from all your baggage and all your preconceptions, and you are open to learning from others and to accepting new opportunities is that you are ready to start anew.

This past weekend, right at the end of a shoot, the client asked the person who was assisting me what had he learnt from the experience that day. He immediately replied that he had never seen anyone use an old bedsheet to cover the model while they were changing during an outdoor shoot (a trick I learnt from a stylist many years ago).

His answer got me into thinking that, apart from going out to meet people like crazy, one of the things that I did when I arrived in London was to assist other photographers in order to learn about the industry and the craft. I worked with many photographers in anything from unpaid portfolio updates to properly paid client work, and from those experiences, I gathered a wealth of knowledge.

Today's post is to pay tribute to all of those photographers who let me assist them when I didn't have a clue of what I was doing, and to their crew members because every single one of them taught me invaluable lessons, some of which I still apply today:

• Chris Streule: he was the first person in the industry that I met in the UK. From him, I learnt how to put together a crew for a shoot.

• Sam Gyang: the first photographer who I ever assisted, he taught me that the best lens for portraits is an 85mm.

• René August: the first photographer who I assisted in a studio setting. She taught me how to set up lights, install modifiers and contact model agencies.

• Andrew Clark: during his shoot, I met a person who would become one of my long-time collaborators.

• Andrew Hiles: I assisted him many times at the very beginning, and every opportunity was an invaluable lesson on how to produce a shoot and deal with clients.

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On Identity: Where Am I From?

Benjamin @ 2019 JC Candanedo

Ancestry and identity are two different things. Ancestry speaks of your predecessors, of the people who mixed up to create the gene pool in you. In this sense, we are all mixed, and we are more similar to each other than some are happy to admit. But, identity speaks of your tribe, your community, your cultural heritage, and how you fit in with those you identify with. Some people have very defined identities, but for the rest of us, especially those who come from mixed ethnical backgrounds, trying to fit into one single group can often lead to an identity crisis.

Throughout my life, my identity has often been defined by how others perceived me. Growing up in Panama, most people knew that I was from European descent even if they really didn’t know where in Europe was Catalonia located. When people asked me “where are you from?” and I responded saying “I’m from here, I’m Panamanian”, people would often ask me “yeah, but where is your family really from?”.

This experience repeated itself in other parts of the world where I’ve lived. In Barcelona, I wasn’t Catalan enough. I was always deemed as Latino or sometimes southern Spanish. In New York, I was Latino and, more specifically, Mexican. For the people who I met while living in France, I was Catalan from Barcelona. While in Sydney, I was from London. And now that I live in London, the majority of people see me as Catalan even though I always say that I was born in Panama.

After the question: “Where are you from?”, there is always an internal dialogue: “Where am I from?”. When my friend Patricia told me about her son’s potential identity crisis, I couldn’t help but feel completely related to his story. Patricia and her husband are first-generation Brazilian immigrants in London, but their son Benjamin was born in the UK.

At home, they speak Portuguese, trying to keep their Brazilian culture and heritage alive. But Benjamin speaks Portuguese with a strong British accent, and when in Brazil, some of his relatives call him the “little Briton”. Patricia worries that Benjamin will never fully feel Brazilian, but, like me, it’s in his hands to define his own identity.

You can learn more about my projects and personal work on the Projects section of my website.

Photo credits: Benjamin © 2019 JC Candanedo

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When The Student Is Ready, The Teacher Will Appear

I first heard this ancient Chinese proverb about a year ago: "When The Student Is Ready, The Teacher Will Appear." I heard it from someone when we met after I offered to help them when they told me that they had been struggling with a personal project for months. That person said to me that the major challenge that they were facing was acknowledging that they needed help to develop the project. It wasn't until they realised that they needed to look for help that I appeared in their life. We now have a mentor/mentee relationship that has lasted for almost a year.

It wasn't by a miracle that we met on that day, nor crazy coincidence nor luck. I'm sure they had met many people before me who would have made excellent mentors. They just weren't ready to be helped and thus missed out on those opportunities. When they finally acknowledged that it is OK to ask for help, they seized the opportunity they saw when I offered it.

Since then, I have started mentoring both students and established professionals to help them develop their projects using my experience of 20 years working as a Project Manager in my previous industry.

At the end of last year, I joined the Beyond Barriers Mentoring Scheme from Kingston University as a student mentor. The programme was developed to achieve equality, diversity and inclusion in graduate employment and improve access and opportunity by offering support to under-represented and disadvantaged students. Who wouldn't want to be part of such a beautiful endeavour?

I've also been helping out students from the University of London who have reached out about learning what it means to have a career as a photographer.

As I've said in previous posts, our biggest challenge as a society for the new decade is bringing people together. What better way of creating connections than sharing my expertise with others. If you find yourself with some spare time in your hands, why not offer advice and support to younger generations or even peers and help them overcome their challenges.

I can assure you that you will not only learn as much from them as they will learn from you, but you will also create new connections, expand your network and contribute to making your industry and your community stronger.

Photo credit: behind the scenes shot by Tori Dance.

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The Day After

I wrote this post a couple of days ago after coming back from having lunch with friends. During the meal, one of them asked us not to talk about politics because they didn’t want to feel sad all the time and politics made them sad. This political climate has caused too much division and too much pain. We need to find a way to fix this.

Adam King, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) software engineer, came up with a tool called Talk To Transformer that generates coherent paragraphs of text one word at a time. The AI software predicts the next word in a text using neural networks to complete the text. I asked Transformer: “How can we bring people together?”, and the software generated an answer that suggested an “interracial alliance”.

We definitely need more allies, and if a piece of software can come up with that conclusion on its own, I don’t see why an intelligent species like the human beings wouldn’t be able to achieve it.

The holidays are over now, and today marks the first day of a new year, a new decade and a new challenge. In the words of Diane from Bojack Horseman: “every happy ending has the day after the happy ending”. Today is the day when we have to start bringing people together.

Photo credit: group shot of the participants of The Trampery’s Pathways Programme.

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An Experiment For The New Decade

In recent posts, I have been advocating for more inclusion and less divide and for finding commonalities with those who are different from us. This includes those with opposing points of views. Before the year ends, I propose an experiment: let's start the new decade by giving inclusion a try. Miranda Dempster, the Editorial Design Director of the New York Magazine, said in a recent interview: "Sometimes you have to try things just to prove why they are not right, but you might discover something else along the way you hadn’t anticipated." Let's keep an open and non-judgemental mind towards other people's opinions, and see where that takes us.

With this, I am not saying that we should condone abuse or hate speech in any way. But it might actually surprise us to learn that, at the core, we all want the same things no matter how different we are.

Someone who does this brilliantly is model Rain Dove. She receives so much abuse online that someone else would have ended up crawling under a rock and disappearing from the face of the planet. However, with kindness and an open mind, she takes the time to listen to her haters and has honest and open conversations with them. Most of the times, she turns haters into allies.

One thing that we must always keep in mind is that others also think that they are right. They also have evidence that we are mistaken. They might be as manipulated as we are. They believe that their point of view is what's best for the world, too. And, you know what? They might be right. Have you ever considered that you might be the one who's wrong?

This is a dilemma that's been on my mind for a few years now. And the election results in many parts of the world over the last few years have made me continuously ask myself that question. How is it possible that over the last decade, people around me are voting for governments with completely opposite views of the world to mine? Am I one of the bad guys?

I think that, just the fact that I am reassessing my views of the world and my stand on the issues that I care for makes me a good human being. A bad person wouldn't even consider that they are wrong. So, my resolution for the next decade is always to try to find common ground with people who have different points of views to mine. As Miranda Dempster said, we might both discover something new.

Happy Holidays 2019 and have a wonderful new decade!

Photo credit: behind the scenes taken by Chloe Rosser.

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Go For The Yes!

This morning, before writing today's post, I was listening to Chantal MIller's Island Girls Rock podcast. Her podcast series is a beautiful source of inspiration that shines the light on Caribbean women and women of Caribbean-descent across the globe. During the last episode of season 2, Chantal interviewed journalist Sherry Ann Dixon, and one of the thoughts that came out of the interview and that resonated with me was how sometimes all we have to do is ask. How many opportunities do we miss just because we were afraid to ask?

Over the last few months, I have been helping out students, peers and other entrepreneurs guiding them in their career paths. This is not something that I planned on doing. What all these people have in common is that they approached me and asked for my help. They either sent me an email, messaged me on social media or straight up asked me face to face. And because I know how much courage it takes to ask someone else for help, especially someone who you think has the knowledge or the experience to guide you, I accepted without a second thought.

After a few weeks working together, two of them confided in me that they almost didn't contact me because they thought that I would say no. In their minds, the possibility that someone who they considered to be a very busy person would take the time and make an effort to sit down with them and help them was very remote. The truth is, I am very busy either with jobs or with personal work, but I strongly believe that the industry is only as strong as its weakest creative. If we all grow together, the industry becomes stronger. You climb, and then you lift others. That's my motto in life.

In Spanish, there is a saying that goes something like "you already have the 'No', so why not go for the 'Yes'?". There is no harm in asking others when you need answers or help. No matter how established or busy you think they are. If they have the time, they will get back to you, but if they don't, don't take it personal. It might be that they are just busy and they don't have the time to get back to you. However, it may also be that they are not ready to help others. Maybe they are at a stage in their careers where they still need to grow before they can lift others with them.

Photo credit: behind the scenes taken by Diana Buntajova.

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