Case Studies

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Monty Rakusen - photographer

Monty - how did you get into photography?
I was interested in art and, although my parents wanted me to study geography at university, my art master and his wife convinced them to let me go to art college. I studied illustration and graphic design and in my own time I did some photography.

I'd become quite interested in fine art, so I started doing a type of super-realist illustration that took a long time to complete. I worked a lot from photographs, and realised that photography would help me to achieve what I wanted to achieve. Although my degree course didn't have a photography module, they let me study photography.

How did you develop your technical skills?
I got a first class honours degree and decided to set up in business with a friend. We didn't know anything about running a business and learned as we went along.  Eventually the partnership split up. I felt that I didn't know enough about professional photography, even though I'd been running a commercial design and photography business. My knowledge of photographic technology wasn't good enough, so I closed down the business and went to work as a studio assistant. It was difficult - I hardly earned any money and the two photographers I worked for treated me quite badly, but working as an assistant is the best way to learn. You learn photographic techniques and you also learn how to deal with clients, how to progress a job from beginning to end. Now I train up assistants - I don't believe there is any other way to become a photographer. Photography is one of the few crafts where you really can't do it by yourself, you have to learn from a master. Eventually I was made redundant, and I set up in competition.

When you train up assistants are you worried that they may take your clients?
All my assistants work freelance and I encourage them to have their own clients. We have an agreement - there are thousands of clients out there so we're not competing for the same people. A lot of my assistants go on to do things that are different to my work. Others come back to help me, use this studio or email me for help, so we maintain a relationship.

Have you been tempted to build the business and have a lot of people working for you?
Yes, we tried to do that but my clients want me to do their photography personally. They don't ring me up to do a job to end up with someone else doing it. Also, as my reputation has grown, the relationship with my clients has become very personal. For example with one of my major clients, British Energy, I'm not just the photographer but someone who is increasing the company's profile, who is changing the face of power generation in this country.  That's how the clients see it.

I am talking from a position of strength now, but it's taken me a whole lifetime to get to this! We're very fortunate but it may go wrong tomorrow. That's the nature of the business.

Do you actively seek new clients or has the business grown organically?
If anything, our problem is too much work; we've been fully booked for about a year!

We have very active marketing policy and send direct mail to about 400 people every month. In the last month I've gone into a photographic contact book with a themed page of industrial shots from British Energy, and I've already had two enquiries leading to at least £5000 in work. This seems to produce better results than showing a random mixture of photographs. Young photographers don't like doing our sort of work because it's not trendy. I'm the only industrial photographer in the book, so I've developed a niche market and I'm getting the phone calls.

I'm also a member of the British Association of Photographers. It's quite expensive but it gives you credibility.

Did you intend to focus on industrial photography?
I think you have to find what you're good at and major on that - although that doesn't mean you can't do other things. Over the years our product photography has waned, and now we focus on energy, social housing and other environmental issues. Increasingly I find that I'm acting as a consultant, interpreting the client's message.

How do you do that?
I go to a lot of meetings and ask clients about their companies. Are you a friendly company? What do you want to communicate? How can we weave your message  into the photography? 

Many people's experience of photography is very poor - they've only met a photographer at a wedding so they expect a guy to turn up on his own with a bag over his shoulder. I arrive with a lot of equipment, an art director and an assistant and the clients don't have to tell us what to do.

How do you get to the core of a brief and determine what clients really need?
Most of my clients are very positive when they see the work that I do. Generally people ring me up because they want me to do something, so the initial barrier is broken. I'm not going round with my portfolio begging people to use me - they already have confidence and want to work with me.

Before a shoot, I have detailed discussions with the client to determine what the job is about. We talk about the style of the pictures and the client will have prepared visuals.

Can you give us an example?
I'm going down to London tomorrow night. I know where I'm staying, when and what I'm shooting. Liz, my wife and marketing manager, sorts all the details out.

I'm working with a very professional agency called Gasoline that I've worked with before, so I know what they are talking about. The project is related to social housing, for a company that renovates houses for elderly people. They're far removed from the stereotype of builders - they really want to help people so I have a lot of sympathy for them. We've talked about style and what they are trying to communicate - it's all inspirational and very natural. I'm working with real people, not models.

When I leave for a shoot, I have a shooting list that describes how everything will be. I walk into wherever I'm going to take pictures, look around and say, 'We'll do that and that,' but I never get the camera out. The last thing I do is take a picture and that's the quickest part of the job. I spend a lot more time discussing and looking around than taking pictures

Do you use traditional photographic methods or digital technology?
I don't shoot any film at all. If you're a busy photographer, time is money. Three years ago we made a £40,000 investment in high end digital equipment. In a way, this has made us even busier because it's changed the clients' experience. Before we were always taking Polaroids to get an idea of the shots but now clients can see the pictures as we're shooting them.

I'm a large format photographer - I recently did some photographs for Yorkshire Forward that  were nine metres wide - and that influences the technology I use.
I'm not saying that digital is best; 35 millimetre is fine for press photography. But there's a difference in the way that you approach photography if you're using digital and 35 millimetre. Like I said, I spend a lot of time looking around before I take any shots whereas the moment you have a 35 millimetre round your neck, you put it to your eye and start taking pictures.

What happens after a shoot?
I have a post-production brief that helps me to retouch and edit images. The client will choose the images but sometimes we'll need to make changes - for example, they'll want a person dropping into the image. With a really good brief, we'll get photographic references and style pointers.

Is it important to keep updating the technology?
Yes - that's what our clients pay for. The basis of our business is quality, and we make no concessions whatsoever so we have to have the right equipment to get results.

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