Sophie Traynor: A Freelance Career

For her talk with Huddersfield students, Sophie Traynor gave an insight into her career as a freelance photographer who specialises in beauty, fashion, food and product photography. Presenting a timeline of her career so far after graduating Norwich University in 2013, Sophie went through the wide range of clients she has worked with after self-funding her practice.

Once leaving university, Sophie began to fund her career by working part time jobs, using her wages to buy clothes for models, renting out photo studios and buying lighting equipment, regarding the latter as a worthwhile investment that lasted her years of use. All of this broadened her fashion portfolio, but it wasn’t long until she expanded the types of imagery she was creating and ventured into food photography after landing a commission for Russell Hobbs.

Only three years after graduating, Sophie quit doing part time jobs and started to focus solely on her career as a photographer. Giving herself a five-day week to be involved in photoshoots and finding potential clients. During this time, she began working with social media influencers and bloggers, constantly improving her portfolio and visual presence online.

Sophie’s talk about her practice gives a good understanding of the work that is needed to be put in for a freelance career. Emphasising the importance of investing in your career with equipment that will last for years, building up a strong and varied portfolio to help get your work noticed and how networking with others in the industry can help you to find work. All of which has helped her to work with well-known brands such as Gap, Never Fully Dressed, Primark and Cath Kidson.