Several of my readers have asked me how you get started as a photographers agent. I put the question to Caol LeFlufy owner of LA based agency Eye-Forward who handles photographers Patrik Giardino, Sam Jones, Frank Ockenfels 3 and Christopher Wray-McCann.

APE: How did you get started as an agent? Walk me through the beginning of your career.

My brother and father were both amateur photographers growing up and I spent time in the darkroom with my Dad when I was very young. Then I studied photography in high school with an inspiring and encouraging teacher who I am still friends with. After high school I traveled taking pictures and then returned to Vancouver, Canada where I grew up and started working in a camera store and freelancing as a photographer. In that regional market I did a little bit of everything to stay alive but mostly did editorial portraiture. I started to work for national publications and was successful marketing myself as a West Coast photographer that the magazines could hire instead of flying someone out for assignments in the Western Provinces. After seven years of earning my living that way and also teaching photography at a local community college in Vancouver, I moved to Toronto to expand my business but with my sights really set on getting to NYC. I loved magazines like Vogue and Rolling Stone and I figured that sooner or later I would have to challenge myself on that level.

After some struggles in Toronto I started to feel like maybe taking pictures for a living was ruining my love of photography somehow and I started to think that I was a good photographer but not a great photographer. I began to realize that not every photographer is suited to being a working commercial photographer day in and day out. Then I was visiting friends in NYC one weekend and one of them was assisting Steven Meisel. On a Sunday night there was a call that Steven’s other assistant had put his back out and my friend had to find a new assistant right away for the shoot in the morning. I got the job, loved it and got a long with Steven, so he said if I wanted to stay around and assist I could. Being around a photographer of that level and working on shoots for the major magazines thrilled me. For a while I went back and forth to Toronto still shooting and then coming back to NY to assist.

Steven was represented by Art + Commerce and they represented Annie Leibovitz who was one of my heroes at the time. The agency was very small then and two of the three partners came to Steven’s shoots and I got to know them. Annie’s studio manager quit suddenly so I asked to be considered for the position and with their help and Steven’s I got the job. This was one of the most important work experiences of my career. I realized here that I loved the business of photography and could use my organizational skills as well as my other strengths and work with a photographer and not be one every day. I was thrilled and challenged in a way I had never been.

I began to work closely with Jim Moffat one of the partners of Art + Commerce on all of Annie’s jobs. After working for Annie for several years I went to Art + Commerce to be Jim and Anne Kennedy’s assistant. In addition to helping with them with all the photographers I started to produce Annie’ s American Express portrait campaign because there were no print producers in those days. After several years doing that I went to work for Outline Press to run the NY office and start a representational wing for the company. Outline had tremendous growth over those years in both the stock sales and the assignment work. Art + Commerce had been asking me to come back to be an agent so I eventually returned and brought Frank Ockenfels along with me from Outline. I worked at Art + Commerce for ten years as an agent representing Frank, Mary Ellen Mark, Taryn Simon, Ellen von Unwerth, Max Vadukul, Perry Ogden, Max Vadukul and Richard Burbridge. During this time I began teaching at ICP and actively collecting photography and photography books.

APE: What was it that made you realize it was time to start your own agency?

I moved to Los Angeles for personal reasons and that was why I started my own agency.

APE: For aspiring agents out there what are the essential skills to have? What things should they be working on?

The skills I think you need are in no particular order:

-A knowledge and love of photography – the history of etc. (seems obvious but you would be surprised…)
-Be an organized person
-An ability to multi-task
-An ability to solve problems and think outside of the box
-Good people skills and good communication skills
-Be a good listener and not just to the clients but to your artists (Some times you may feel like you are a therapist)
-Be an effective negotiator
-You have to be a pro-active person not a passive person
-You have to be willing to work hard.
-You have to really want to do it.

APE: This is going to sound insane but how do you land jobs for your photographers?

Hard one to answer…
I think I land jobs by representing good artists and developing good relationships with clients and promoting my artists effectively and trying in every job to make sure that not only the client is happy but that the artists has all that he or she needs (support of all kinds) to do a great job so that we continue working with the client.

There is also a huge element of luck and I am not joking.

APE: What advice would you give aspiring agents?

To carefully research and select the artists that they decide to work with and understand it is a partnership and hopefully one that will last a long time. I would also give the advice that it may take a while to build your business and that you have to be patient. A lot of your time will be spent planting seeds with clients and sometimes the results are not as quick to come as you would like. The whole business is about forming good relationships with your artists and your clients.

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21 Comments

  1. Wow.

    Great interview. I love that she admits how greatly luck figures into this mysterious equation of getting work as a photographer.

    • @Steven James Scott,

      …but you know what they say about luck.

  2. Really great story! I’m always intrigued by how all of the pieces come together and how people end up doing what they do. I actually took a fashion photography class with her way way back and made a lot of great contacts and got some encouragement. Looking back on it, it was one of the pivotal points in getting me started.
    R

  3. Great interview, i don’t really believe much in luck in this business, maybe 10% is luck but the rest is planning, choosing the right ppl and keeping a good relationship with your clients and be flexible and …working hard, if you put the time in what you do eventually it will pay off.
    Just my take, i am not an agent, i couldn’t sell myself even if i was the only photographer out there :)

  4. Carol is easily one of the nicest and most kind people I have come across in photography. Her people skills are truly something out of this world. I was lucky enough to be an intern at A&C while she was there. And I learned a lot in the little time that I did my internship. She truly is a hard worker and usually the first one there and the last to leave.

    Luck can only get you into the room, it’s hard work and hunger that keeps you there.

  5. Luck = preparation + opportunity

  6. Nice article on both parts- thanks Rob and Carol

  7. Great post! Thank you both!

  8. Thanks for this, really insightful. Have you ever done interviews with/of people working in photo editing/research? Would love to hear their story too.
    S

  9. Great article!

    So interesting to see how a successful career develops.

    I am not a copy editor, but it appears you double printed the following name, Max Vadukul.

    “I worked at Art + Commerce for ten years as an agent representing Frank, Mary Ellen Mark, Taryn Simon, Ellen von Unwerth, Max Vadukul, Perry Ogden, Max Vadukul and Richard Burbridge. During this time I began teaching at ICP and actively collecting photography and photography books.”

    Best regards,
    Joe

  10. Carol is not only a brilliant agent, but one of the nicest and most helpful people in the business. A class act, through and through.

  11. Thanks for the great interview. An agent that puts their top skill as the love of photography shows an understanding for not only her photographers but the resect that is much needed in this industry.

    Thanks Carol!

  12. chris p – i echo your sentiments. i’ve had the pleasure of working with carol and one of her photographers on a multi-shoot job and not only did i enjoy it, but i learned a lot from the experience!

    she really is one of the best agents out there. genuine, friendly, competent, knowledgeable, flexible, smart, interesting…love her!

  13. Wonderful article. Thanks for the insights. And think about the words of Rene Decartes when he said, “Luck is the residue of design and desire.” Your commitment speaks volumes to those attributes.

  14. I remember Carol when she was getting started in Vancouver about ….oh, a few years ago. She was always nice, great with people, totally organized and really on the ball, and obviously heading places..no wonder she has done well!!

    Chris Helcermanas-Benge

  15. I’m acquainted with more than a few agents and managers, mostly of the actor/writer variety. Although I enjoyed reading your interview with Ms. LeFlufy, her “Getting Started As a Photographers Agent” story is, in a general sense, somewhat familiar. (i.e., when it comes to how many agents and managers became agents and managers.)

    As with many endeavors, a fairly linear and natural progression often represents the career paths that details many individuals’ rise to one position or another. Not that that’s a bad thing. It’s not.

    While providing more fanciful tales, pure Cinderella stories are much rarer and unlikely to happen to most people no matter how much or how often they wish upon a star.

  16. It’s so refreshing to read about an agent who is truly knowledgeable and passionate about what she does. It’s a very stressful process on photographers to find a new agency or change agencies. Many agents don’t realize how important the relationship is with their artist and that it is truly a “marriage”, in which both parties require passion, hard work, and dedication. I’m happy to know there are still some genuine ones out there!

  17. Just catching up with this wonderful thread. It was a great read. As a Commercial Photographer, still growing my business after many years, and struggling still on some level, I’m humbled by the stories that everyone has shared. Thank you.

    My background is in the Outdoor Industry, working with manufacturers of outdoor sports gear, but I also do documentary work, portrait work, even an occasional wedding. I fill in with almost any job that comes my way.

    I know many photographers feel it’s important to specialize, and I can’t argue with that. However, for as many that say specialize, others I know with National, even International exposure, feel the opposite. That is, they don’t specialize in anything, but rather pride themselves in “not specializing.” All the rules I grew up with in this industry, somehow have all be broken for me by others that I look up to. Guess that’s why we call ourselves artists.

    In today’s industry, though, in this world of promulgated digital photography and an economy that forces everyone in need of photography services to believe that Point & Shoot cameras can do the same job that SLRs, medium and large formats can do, it’s hard to stand firm on being a specialist, especially when bills have to be paid.

    My biggest revelation as a photographer was that I was an artist, too! I know that sounds crazy, but I love photography so much…love the shooting, the excitement of a shoot, meeting the people and traveling to new places…I never factored into any of it that I was an artist. I just shot and shot. But my perspective as an artist, finally, has changed my entire perspective about my work. I still can’t afford to be a specialist at this point, but I am an artist.

    I think younger people that start out knowing that they want to be photographers, and study photography, have they same frustrations, but they also can enjoy the luxury of being single, having the freedom to move around and having the time to take to build those many needed friendships and relationships in the industry to help them along the way.

    To all those just starting out and those that made a career change to follow a life-long passion, never give up on that passion OR your art. Keep on shooting, always.


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