2 mins
HJ VOICENOTES
Roman Sys shares his thoughts on shooting collections as a young stylist trying to break into the industry
ELLE KYDD
“THE WAY PEOPLE NOW POST ON SOCIAL MEDIA IS A MORE RAW AND HONEST DEPICTION OF REALITY. WE ARE NOW CONNECTING OVER IMPERFECTIONS"
I’m 27 and as a young hairdressing professional I know it’s essential to create a platform for my creative work. But instead of going down the route of hiring a photographer and a team of make-up artists and stylists, I’m capturing it on my iPhone. I work holistically, often it’s just me, my models and my iPhone and I find I can have more creative control that way. I like capturing models in simple clothes that are self-styled.
I find it's hard to create beautiful images without a boss or company to fund a project. If it’s funded by a brand or salon company, it has to be useful in some way, for example used in marketing or branding. I worry things will start to feel like an echo chamber when people use the same creative teams. The standard of photography we see in our industry is sometimes so high that you either need to have the existing contacts or you have to pay a lot to get them to work with you.
I’m really inspired by the singer Patti Smith’s words, she said as soon as you start making rules on how to be free or creative, you miss the point.
Personally I get a lot of inspiration from artists and photographers – from classic portrait to photography magazines like Pylot. I love getting lost in art galleries – I look at pictures in an open-minded, objective way and ask myself why they are effective.
I think the pandemic forced all of us to be creative in an organic way. We didn’t have the opportunity to be so perfectionist. Looking at the shoots that Vogue and other publications did during the pandemic, they were art directing shoots virtually and even getting models to shoot themselves. From that moment on, Vogue in particular, has become a lot more accessible to a wider audience.
The way people now post on social media is a more raw and honest depiction of reality. We are now connecting over imperfections. Social media is a powerful tool, but I do have a love/hate relationship with it. I love that it’s accessible, but what I’m personally trying to create are images that are absolutely not throwaway. I think social media can be a bit disposable, so I would like to bridge the gap between accessible and beautiful imagery.
Although I’m creating this way out of financial necessity, it does really excite me too. I would say to anyone reading this to pick up their phones, play around with the settings and explore what you can do.
#BHA24 BURSARY
Hairdressers Journal International and Schwarzkopf Professional are delighted to announce the new #BHABursary, which gives you the opportunity to win a shoot to enter a Regional or Newcomer category in the 2024 British Hairdressing Awards. Visit www.hji.co.uk/the-bha-bursary for more info and T&Cs