Erasmus University Rotterdam

Master Thesis in Global Markets, Local Creativities (GLOCAL)

Uncertainties Through Time: Career Trajectories of

Fashion Photographers

Author: Daria Maglevanaia

EUR Student number: 545879
545879dm@eur.nl

Supervisor: Dr. Maarten van Dijck

Academic Year 2018-2020

Rotterdam
Table of contents
Acknowledgement 3
List of Figures 4
List of Tables 4
Introduction 5
Theoretical Background 10
The Genesis of Fashion Photography 10
The Institutionalization of Fashion Photographers 13
Social Structure of the Field of Fashion 14
Gatekeeping in Fashion 16
Role of Social Capital on Professional Development 18
Professionalization and Precarity 20
Shift to the Digitalization 22
Framework for Measuring Professional Status in Creative Industries 24
Methodology and Data 27
Research Sample 27
Methodology 28
Results 32
The Field and It’s Symbolic Status Structure 32
Economic Capital and Status 44
Social Capital and Importance of Previous Connections 55
Formal Networks 55
Informal Networks 62
Cultural Capital 65
Professional Lifestyle 67
Conclusion 69
Reference List 71
Primary Sources 71
Secondary Sources 72
Appendix 77
Interview Guide 77
Networks Visuals 79

2
Acknowledgement

Most of all, I would like to thank myself. The process of this research not only provided
me with the extended knowledge of the topic but also gave me an opportunity of a self-
reflection on different sides of my life. To go to the counselling was one of the best decisions
in the last 2 years of my life, which opened my eyes to the simple truth: a done something is
better than a perfect nothing.
I am expressing deep gratitude to my friends Elizaveta Ozernova, Anastasiia
Menshikova and Huma Irfan for their various help, including research inspiration and memes.
Together we went through the difficulties and challenges during our International Master’s
studies. Most of all, I would like to thank my partner Paul McGurk who was there during all
ups and downs, motivating me to keep going on. I am thankful for the support of my colleagues
at NetApp, who made me believe that I can learn anything from data storage to fashion history.
I appreciate the work of all participants of the “Histories of Local Creativities” seminar for the
fruitful and helpful discussion, which led me from some abstract ideas to the interesting
research results.
Finally, I would like to thank all photographers with whom I was lucky to talk for their
priceless input into this research and creative labour studies in general. This paper could not be
done without their kindness and passion for their profession.

3
List of Figures

Figure 1 Fashion assistants community blog ........................................................................... 21

Figure 2 Conversion of capitals in the field of fashion ............................................................ 25
Figure 3Distribution of collaborations per year on models.com data ...................................... 32
Figure 4OLS Network Model -- Magazine advertisements ..................................................... 41
Figure 5OLS Network Model -- Magazine editorials .............................................................. 42
Figure 6OLS Network Model -- Magazine covers .................................................................. 43
Figure 7OLS Network Model -- Commercial work for brands ............................................... 44
Figure 8Linear model on photographers’ symbolic status and brands .................................... 45
Figure 9Example of Chanel fragrance advertisement at a bus stop ......................................... 46
Figure 10 Example of Dolce & Gabbana fragrance advertisement at a bus stop .................... 47
Figure 11 Linear model on photographers’ symbolic status and magazines ........................... 49
Figure 12 Logistic model on photographers’ high-status group and brands ........................... 50
Figure 13 Logistic model on photographers’ high-status group and brands ........................... 52
Figure 14 Decision tree on commercial collaborations in 2019 outcome ............................... 60
Figure 15 Decision tree on cover photoshoots in 2019 outcome ............................................. 61

List of Tables

Table 1Correlation between symbolic status and coreness...................................................... 36

Table 2Correlation between statuses of photographers with magazines and brands ............... 38
Table 3 List of feature importance for the decision tree model on commercial collaborations
in 2019 ..................................................................................................................................... 60
Table 4 List of feature importance for the decision tree model on cover photoshoots in 2019
.................................................................................................................................................. 62

4
Introduction

"Oh, don't be ridiculous, Andrea. Everybody wants this. Everybody wants to be us."
says Miranda Priestly, the editor of the influencing fashion magazine to her assistant in the
movie “The Devil wears Prada”.1 It shows how status recognition is visible in the field of
fashion and how difficult it could be to reach prominent positions. Some groups in this field
are playing a role in establishing control over what is recognizable and can be accepted and
what is not. It is working on a mechanism of distinction, where participants choose their
connections based on a background similarity.2
The field of fashion production has a duality in its nature, which can be material and
symbolic, where the second one focuses on intangibility and uses status recognition to produce
not only garment as it is, but also symbols and meanings.3 In general, the fashion system
includes two main types of activity, which are expressed on the one hand in the textile and
clothing industries, and on the other hand, activities called intangible production. It includes
the development of design, planning and communication with agents inside and outside the
fashion industry, the creation of symbols and meanings, using the work of professionals with
various backgrounds, agencies and special personnel.4 It spreads across the field not only to
consumers of fashion production, but also among people who are participating in the creation
of its visual side such as fashion photographers.
Engaging participants as photographers into the process of creating symbolic meanings
and representation through the picture was developed through the time. To define symbolic
capital we will refer to Pierre Bourdieu’s study of class distinction where "symbolic capital ...
is nothing other than capital, in whatever form, when perceived by an agent endowed with
categories of perception arising from the internalization (embodiment) of the structure of its
distribution, i.e. when it is known and recognized as self-evident".5 In the field of fashion
photography the mentioned process takes place within the institutionalized environment. The
adoption of photography as the main medium of communication between a magazine and its
readers did not happen immediately. Until the 1920s, fashion magazines were mainly
illustrated and filled with drawings. Only since the end of the XIX century, photographic

1
David Frankel, The Devil Wears Prada, Comedy, Drama (Fox 2000 Pictures, Dune Entertainment, Major
Studio Partners, 2006).
2
Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016).
3
Pierre Bourdieu, The Field of Cultural Production (Columbia University Press, 1993).
4
Enzo Rullani, La Fabbrica Dell’immateriale. Produrre Valore Con La Conoscenza (Studi Superiori, 2004).
5
Pierre Bourdieu, ‘The Social Space and the Genesis of Groups’, Theory and Society 14, no. 6 (1985): 723–44.

5
images gradually filled the pages of magazines, and photographers were invited to take on the
role of art designers. The emergence of full-color printing and the possibility of high quality
printing provided for the options and opportunities to change the appearance of magazines and
attract more professionals for work. Not only because of the improvement of printing
technologies, but also the growth of machines which were capable of producing garment pieces
for mass production, the need in creative professionals who will help to sell it increased.6 The
market began to grow sharply, which entailed the diversification of players, connecting their
status positions to institutions or projects of their work. As was mentioned earlier, on the field
formed agents-taste-makers (some brands, magazines, editors and critics) who set the rules, as
well as those participants whose legitimacy was not (or not yet) recognized. Their career
trajectories linked not only to their professional characteristics and skills, but also to status
positions of those with whom they are collaborating.7
Looking at the example of the position of creative professionals who are participating
in symbolic production, there can not only be seen a gap between status positions but also in
their cultural and economic capital.8 The first one (cultural capital) provides an opportunity for
reading specific codes which culture (fashion) makers are producing (they can be implemented
into person through socialization and people can learn them), but the economic one gives the
opportunity to obtain those codes (interpretive frameworks representing the world as it is
understood within a culture or a subculture)9 The ability to pay for education, pieces of art etc..
However, creative professionals often do not have financial power (sufficient level of economic
capital) and have to build strategies on how to stay in the unstable professional field and survive
financially.
Due to the described characteristics of the field, sometimes there is a tendency to hire
already well-known “successful” teams among producers and organizers who have influential
positions in the field (monetary or symbolic). For example, in movie production investors
choose a production team with historically guaranteed spin-offs from produced hits instead of
risking it with unproven individuals.10 On the other hand, there is a tendency of the creation
and cultivation “enterprise culture”. Richard Caves describes that as a process where creative

6
Norma M. Rantisi, ‘The Ascendance of New York Fashion’, International Journal of Urban and Regional
Research 28, no. 1 (2004): 86–106, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0309-1317.2004.00504.x.
7
Patrik Aspers, Markets in Fashion: A Phenomenological Approach (Psychology Press, 2006).
8
Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction, 1 edition (London: Routledge, 1986).
9
Daniel Chandler and Rod Munday, A Dictionary of Media and Communication (Oxford University Press,
2011), https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199568758.001.0001/acref-9780199568758.
10
Howard Becker, Art Worlds, 25th Anniversary Edition, accessed 6 December 2019,
https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520256361/art-worlds-25th-anniversary-edition.

6
workers decide to follow the “independent” professional pathway, taking risks about their
future professional success.11 In general, this process supports high competitiveness between
potential workers, but also provides opportunities to enrich career experience through the way
to professional recognition. So, these conditions of entering the professional market and future
selection can be related to photographers’ labour market strategies because of the possible
absence of permanent employment or being included in hierarchical corporate structures with
the traditional career growth pathway.
Decisions regarding career trajectories also complement financial uncertainties of most
participants. Because of the precarious nature of the work, people who are working on the
symbolic production look for work positions which can get them closer to the professional
networks with the high-status position in the field.12 To be among these influencing social
networks, photographers, stylists, journalists, models and many other professionals who are
just entering the market have to start from unpaid placements which is an institutionalized
practice for legitimate actors (people or organizations in the field with the status and power and
participating in setting up norms and values). These people need to obtain connections with
networks that can work as a status recognition element for the future steps on their career
ladder.13
Obtaining connections and broadening social capital could be done not only during
working hours, but also during free-time activities with people who are somehow connected
with the creative production. It also helps creative professionals such as photographers to make
extra money on the side. This leads to a situation where a photographer can be at the same time
part-time online fashion magazine editor, DJ or a web developer, with a smoothed schedule
between work and leisure time, because through daily communication they have to build
connections which will provide them professional growth.14 Such a trend on a mix of
professional activities and skills, especially among creative professionals, grew during the last
decade and led to the specific term of “slashie”, describing people without strongly identifiable

11
Richard E. Caves, Creative Industries: Contracts Between Art and Commerce (Harvard University Press,
2000).
12
Ashley Mears, Pricing Beauty: The Making of a Fashion Model (University of California Press, 2011).
13
Aurélia Gualdo, ‘Le plus beau métier du monde, dans les coulisses de l’industrie de la mode, Giulia
Mensitieri, Editions La Découverte, Paris, 2018, 276 pages’, Terrains/Théories, no. 8 (7 November 2018),
http://journals.openedition.org/teth/1442.
14
Maurizio Lazzarato, ‘The Misfortunes of the “Artistic Critique” and of Cultural Employment’, in Critique of
Creativity Precarity, Subjectivity and Resistance in the ‘Creative Industries’, 2011.

7
place in a specific career field.15 However, every next step up the career ladder depends on the
status of affiliation, or of an agent with whom the creative worker was collaborating.16
In previous research, most of the focus on precarious labour regarding fashion was built
on garment producers and the violation of human rights of factory workers in developing
countries as representatives of the material side of the production.17 On the other hand, the
connection between immaterial and symbolic capital was investigated in the work of designers,
models or influencers.18 The main perspective of this studies was framed around low wages
for creative professionals, blurred borders between work and leisure time and difficulties of
becoming recognized in professional field.
In my research I will focus on agents in the field of fashion production who are
recognized as photographers. Professionalization of various creative professionals was studied
before. From the point of visual art producers, careers of painters were more interesting for the
research in a historical perspective.19 However, the previous researches devoted to fashion
photographers mostly were qualitatively evaluating the construction of aesthetic meanings in
the work of fashion photographers, the positions and roles of photographers in the supply chain
of symbolic production, the cultural history of these professionals and so on. In my case, I will
be looking at photographers and their role in the professional field from the two sides: their
background which is not directly connected with their professional positions (informal
networks) and the perspective of the background of agents with whom these photographers are
collaborating (as they are participating in the status formation). In this research, agents in the
field of fashion are understood as any participants in the material and symbolic production that
can be people (a single person, such as photographer), a group generalized by professional or
status criteria (ex. editors of fashion magazines) or an organization (ex. Conde Nast publishing

15
‘Urban Dictionary: Slashie’, Urban Dictionary, accessed 23 January 2020,
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=slashie.
16
Ashley Mears, Pricing Beauty: The Making of a Fashion Model (University of California Press, 2011).
17
Phil Taylor and Peter Bain, ‘“India Calling to the Far Away Towns”: The Call Centre Labour Process and
Globalization’, Work, Employment and Society 19, no. 2 (1 June 2005): 261–82,
https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017005053170.
18
Emanuela Mora, ‘Collective Production of Creativity in the Italian Fashion System’, Poetics, Approaches to
material culture: the sociology of fashion and clothing, 34, no. 6 (1 December 2006): 334–53,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2006.10.003.
19
Nathalie Heinich, The Glory of Van Gogh: An Anthropology of Admiration (Princeton University Press,
1997).

8
house).20 Regarding my focus on fashion photographers they can often perform various
functions that intersect with other areas of cultural production.
Following the framework of the role of status recognition in the professionalization
processes and working uncertainties, the thesis aims to answer the following research
question: How do fashion photographers build career trajectories within a professional
network in the 1990s-2020s?
To investigate this, the research question will be followed up by finding answers to: 1)
How do symbolic and economic capital of the agents with whom photographers are working
connected to photographers’ recognition in professional networks (social capital)? 2) How do
formal professional connections influence the career pathway of fashion photographers? and
3) What is the role of informal networks (through university experience, friendship, family
relations and so on) on career trajectories.
Additionally, answering a question how working conditions and uncertainties affect not
only the internal sustainability of creative workers in the fashion world, but also how the shift
to protect workers in the industry can be profitable for the development of markets for creative
professions both for academic research on modern precarity and for potential policy makers.

20
M Schertler, T Kreunen, and A Brinkmann, ‘Defining the Role of Fashion Blogs: Have Blogs Redefined
Consumers’ Relationship with Fashion Brands or Do They Simply Offer a New Marketing Tool for Retailers?’,
2015.

9
Theoretical Background

This chapter will explore how fashion photography turned through the centuries into a
separate sub-field of fashion production and became an important engine for various areas of
social life (from technology development to the role in cultural policy making). We will
discover where fashion photographers are placed in the industry and how the field of fashion
photography is structured. It will help us track recognition processes and factors which are
(re)producing professional inequality. In addition to the theoretical framework, several issues
connected to the precarious nature of creative labour and its effect on career trajectories will
be addressed.

The Genesis of Fashion Photography

This part will examine the history of fashion photography. An appeal to the issues of
the genesis of fashion photography is required to analyze the features of this type of shooting
and its differences from other types of photographic and fashion production.
The history of fashion photography is inextricably linked with the development of mass
printing, shooting techniques and the fashion industry. Initially, the function of capturing and
displaying fashion trends in magazines was performed by illustrations since printing
technology did not allow reproducing photographs.21 Typically, the reproduction of images in
magazines was carried out with the help of an artist who produced prints from photographs.
Illustration in the field of journalism had become the main way of communicating between
fashion magazines with their audience. Thus, various illustrative sources also determined the
development of expressive means of fashion photography.22
When talking about the emergence of fashion photography it is worth looking back at
the mid-1800s.23 At that time, there was an intensification of technological progress with the
help of which the sphere of clothing production shifted. Industrial revolution helped with the
improvement and automatization of weaving and popularization of sewing machines, but also
because of the development of the chemical and printing industry. It was followed by the
development of fast transatlantic communication (telegraph) and transportation (mostly due to

21
Roland Barthes, Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1981).
22
Barbara Burman, ‘Fashion in Photographs 1860–1880 • Fashion in Photographs 1880–1900 • Coco Chanel’,
Journal of Design History 6, no. 3 (1 January 1993): 220–22, https://doi.org/10.1093/jdh/6.3.220.
23
Agnes Rocamora, ‘Fields of Fashion: Critical Insights into Bourdieu’s Sociology of Culture - Agnès
Rocamora, 2002’, accessed 13 December 2019,
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/146954050200200303.

10
the development of large steamships and the expansion of railroads) with the growth of
factories and trade between America and Europe, and roughly speaking, it led to the
industrialization and globalization processes.24 To stimulate consumption, companies launched
catalogue printing with the advertising of these clothes. Often, they were owned by department
stores, but a new wave of independent magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar (1867) and Vogue
(1892) began to emerge in the market. Despite the fact that they were launched by local
businessmen, they had a classic structure of periodicals with the strong positions of editorship.
Although initially, compared to catalogues, magazines were distributed among people with
higher social status, but closer to the 20th century they grew into an advertising platform that
was not only attracting people who could afford to buy stuff, but also those who would buy
such periodicals because of the desire to belong to the lifestyle depicted in it.25 It followed the
tradition of the first fashion magazines, which were produced by royal societies in the 16th
century to show their audience new trends that were created by tailors for the high society.26
Thus, in the case of selling the “desire” to belong to a certain status group, modern magazines
were showing trends which could be affordable for mass production. Magazines began to move
from texts to illustrations, then to illustrations which were made based on photos and finally to
photography, connecting entire teams of professionals working on the creation of photoshoots.
From the beginning, the initial idea of magazine production was to sell fashion trends beginning
from pieces of cloths, accessories or cosmetics to lifestyle. This can be observed in magazines
in the beginning of the 20th century. For example, they were full of articles with the trend
music notes for playing the piano or tutorials on how to dance the latest “state-of-the-art”
techniques. However, while at the time of fashion photography inception, photographers were
looking for innovative techniques to grab the consumer’s attention, there was built the main
idea of representing the “ideal” glossy luxurious lifestyle, approved bodily standards and so
on.27
Moreover, the production intended for marketing among elite consumers has shifted in
the mid-20th century to the advertisement of a lifestyle to motivate people to consume mass

24
Norah Rantisi, ‘The Ascendance of New York Fashion - Rantisi - 2004 - International Journal of Urban and
Regional Research - Wiley Online Library’, accessed 13 December 2019,
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.0309-1317.2004.00504.x.
25
Brian Moeran, ‘More Than Just a Fashion Magazine’, Current Sociology 54, no. 5 (1 September 2006): 725–
44, https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392106066813.
26
Joan DeJean, The Essence of Style: How the French Invented High Fashion, Fine Food, Chic Cafes, Style,
Sophistication, and Glamour (Simon and Schuster, 2007).
27
Brian Moeran, ‘Fashion Magazines and Fashion as a System of Magic’, Anthropology Today 33, no. 2
(2017): 3–9, https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8322.12334.

11
production goods.28 This process also depended entirely on the manufacturers of garment
production, because they were, and still are, the main source of income for magazines. This
was based on the brands purchasing advertisements on magazine pages or a text which will be
written about the client-advertiser, or goods which will be used and mentioned in the
photoshoot.29
By the end of the 1980-1990s, fashion had become a global consumption machine. It
was the era of designers who were selling and promoting themselves as celebrities. For
example, in the second half of the decade, Vogue magazine was associated with designer
brands. Each photo there was an advertisement, since luxury fashion houses were competing
for attention to their clothes, shoes, and handbags.30 At this time in the fashion magazine
industry the concept of “glamor” arose, which determined the style of fashion photographs.31
In the 1990s grunge, minimalism and hedonism influenced the development of fashion
photography. In connection with these phenomena, personalities appeared in the photos of
fashion magazines as an alternative to classical beauty. At this time, Anna Wintour became the
chief fashion editor of the American Vogue. One of her decisions was to modernize the
appearance of magazine pages and the way shootings should be framed by stories. In her
memoirs, she noted that she liked to post images, take thematic pictures, and use storytelling.
It was inherited from the former editor-in-chief Grace Mirabella, but with a new focus on
celebrities.32 These stories were subsequently performed by a team that pays great attention to
the preliminary preparation of the shooting. A key characteristic of fashion images in the 1990s
was that filming in magazines requires consistent and pre-organized work of the team.
Summing up, we can say that the appearance of fashion photography is associated with
the technical capabilities of the printing industry, which determined the transition from
fashionable illustration to photography. In the process of development of print media, an
independent genre of fashion photography was formed. Being part of a glossy magazine, the
formation of the stylistic foundations of fashion photography was created under the influence

28
Ann Marguerite Tartsinis, ‘Icons of Style: A Century of Fashion Photography, 1911–2011’, Fashion Theory
0, no. 0 (15 February 2019): 1–6, https://doi.org/10.1080/1362704X.2019.1565449.
29
Tartsinis.
30
Alberto Oliva, Norberto Angeletti, and Anna Wintour, In Vogue: An Illustrated History of the World’s Most
Famous Fashion Magazine, 2nd edition edition (New York: Rizzoli, 2012).
31
Nathalie Herschdorfer and Sylvie L., Coming Into Fashion: A Century of Photography at Conde Nast, New
ed. edition (London: Thames Hudson, 2012).
32
Danielle Ligato, ‘The Fashion Content Of Vogue’s September Issues Under Editor-In-Chiefs Grace Mirabella
And Anna Wintour’, Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 1 January 2011, https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/656.

12
of fashion chief editors and photographers. It also divided the field into categories and work
specifics for photographers, such as working for the commercial side or editorial.

The Institutionalization of Fashion Photographers

When in the late 1980s Anna Wintour took over as editor-in-chief of the American
Vogue, she decided to create her own team of photographers: Patrick Demarchelier, Arthur
Elgort, Stephen Klein, Annie Leibovitz, Peter Lindeberg, Craig McDin, Stephen Meisel, Herb
Ritts, Mario Testino, Ellen von Unvert, Bruce Weber. Her plan was to appeal to different
photographers so that different approaches to fashion photography would be presented on the
pages of the magazine.33
For decades, the same names have appeared in various editions of Vogue. Each of the
photographers, while working in the magazine, formed his or her own vision, personal opinion,
author's style, his or her own visual language. As a result, the pages of the magazine began to
differ in their artistry, originality and sophistication. As a result, the team of photographers
achieved success in public and media. Subsequently, they acquired independence and
individuality.34
Colin MacDowell, a fashion historian and journalist, observer of the British The Sunday
Times, says that it is the fashion photographer who is the real ruler of this industry, its
significance sometimes exceeds the significance of even famous designers. “Fashion is
completely dependent on promotion, so the photographer is the king in it. One thing remains
unchanged: a beautiful woman, good clothes and a photographer’s talent are strength”.35
In this regard, the preparation for the photo shoot was comparable to small-scale film
production. The purpose of fashion photography was to attract the viewer not only to a single
image, but also to a narrative story. In connection with these conditions in modern art
production, much attention has been paid to production processes. It was necessary to include
a number of specialists from various fields of professional activity in the work of the journal.36
Photoshoots in the magazines were always carefully planned and organized, depending on the
shooting concept and the number of magazine pages.37 As a result, photography in a magazine

33
Oliva, Angeletti, and Wintour, In Vogue.
34
Oliva, Angeletti, and Wintour.
35
‘Colin McDowell’s Fashion Moment: The Stylist’, sec. unknown section, accessed 27 February 2020,
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/colin-mcdowells-fashion-moment-the-stylist-0qvq3cb7d35.
36
David Throsby, ‘Defining the Artistic Workforce: The Australian Experience’, Poetics 28, no. 4 (2001): 255–
71, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-422X(01)80003-6.
37
Oliva, Angeletti, and Wintour, In Vogue.

13
is not the work of one person, but the result of the interaction between several people: a
photographer, model, makeup artist, retoucher, editor-in-chief, stylist and so on. The assembly
of this team is the most important factor in creating successful fashion photography in a
magazine.38 The photographer is the guideline of this process, whose role is to combine all
these talents and create compelling images that are undoubtedly artificial designs, but which
are able to seduce and inspire.39 Fashion magazines remind us that fashion photos are not
created in a vacuum. They have a specific commercial purpose, and they are the product of a
complex collaborative process. Therefore, photography in a fashion magazine is a time-
consuming process that requires participation of specialists with different professional
competencies. Such attention to the process and quality of photography has led to the
professionalization of fashion photography.

Social Structure of the Field of Fashion

But what is the field of fashion production? Following previous discussion about the
emergence of fashion photography it could be noticed that there are two parties, those who are
producing goods and those who are promoting them.
Yuniya Kawamura defines fashion as “both material culture and symbolic system”. The former
one is focused on the production of material commodities while the latter one is an intangible
system of signification.40 As a system it is made of “things and signs, individual and collective
agents, which all coalesce through practices of production, consumption, distribution and
representation”.41
This structure of the field of fashion was also illustrated in Roland Barthes’ work.42 It
works as a system where agents produce the signs which can be recognized by people who
represent specific status and share similar status characteristics. Different forms of capital as
money, knowledge, connections are the resources that agents with different status positions are
using as background knowledge to distinguish other participants of the field and open doors to
professional recognition through collaborative work.

38
Robin Derrick and Robin Muir, Vogue Covers: On Fashion’s Front Page (London: Little, Brown UK, 2010).
39
Jennifer Craik, The Face of Fashion: Cultural Studies in Fashion (Routledge, 1994).
40
Yuniya Kawamura, Fashion-Ology: An Introduction to Fashion Studies (Berg Publishers, 2005).
41
Agnès Rocamora and Anneke Smelik, eds., Thinking Through Fashion: A Guide to Key Theorists (London
New York: I.B.Tauris, 2015).
42
Roland Barthes, Systeme de La Mode (University of California Press, 1990).

14
 As previously described, the field of fashion focuses not only on the making of material
objects, but also on giving them specific meaning. Pierre Bourdieu explains that the creation
of a symbolic value for these objects is based on beliefs among participants of the field.43
Culture production, including fashion, is directly related to mechanisms which are
forming social inequality, as well as support its recreation. It can be seen in the very process of
consumption practices of symbolic products and their production. Choices of the cultural
products depend on the lifestyle of different social groups and are closely connected with
inequality.44 Inequality is inherent in any society. Describing this phenomenon, the term
stratification is used, which indicates the presence of structured differences between groups.45
If we talk about a cultural product, then its creation is also carried out in a hierarchical system.
The position in the classification or hierarchy depends on the capital of the producer: economic
(money) capital and cultural capital. The latter one can be incorporated (knowledge which
person has), institutionalized (degrees, diplomas) and objectivated (ownership of physical
knowledge realization such as books or paintings). Thus, the status of the producer has a direct
impact on the cultural products themselves.46 In turn, social significance of this status is
determined by prestige or social appreciation, which is fixed in culture, and therefore in public
opinion.47
The field of cultural production is a field where competitors constantly struggle for the
cultural recognition of their works and their talents. Only those agents who are authorized to
make a professional recognition can do that.48 All professionals have special abilities, skills
and knowledge that they possess only when recognized by colleagues. Cultural producers
create not only for the consuming public, but also for the professional society, partners and
their competitors. Therefore, creators make their claim to cultural legitimacy every time they
produce a cultural product.49 Thus, in the field of culture there are always products that claim
to be “the best in their genre” in one way or another. A certain combination of technical
characteristics, stylistic features or the presence of certain status agents among the production
team can provide the products with a favorable symbolic position among all representatives, as

43
Agnes Rocamora, ‘Fields of Fashion: Critical Insights into Bourdieu’s Sociology of Culture - Agnès
Rocamora, 2002’, accessed 13 December 2019
44
Bourdieu, The Field of Cultural Production.
45
Anthony Giddens, Sociology, 6 edition (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2009).
46
Paul DiMaggio, ‘Classification in Art’, American Sociological Review 52, no. 4 (1987): 440–55,
https://doi.org/10.2307/2095290.
47
Giddens, Sociology.
48
Bourdieu, The Field of Cultural Production.
49
Bourdieu.

15
well as the appreciation of the “public”, which ultimately can move them to the financial
success of agents.
There started the formation of gatekeeping groups and the creation of a division
between participants. In most cases, this manner of symbolic status recognition is necessary
because of difficulties in specifying factors of professionalization in comparison with other
occupations, such as medical personnel or law professionals. However, the fashion labour
market has its own specificity regarding the influence of institutionalized cultural capital such
as a university degree, on future career trajectories. It is based on the symbolic meaning of
networks and connections with influential people from the professional side, which can lead to
future recognition. While in the case of medical professionals, it is important to obtain specific
knowledge, work in the visual fashion production has similarities with other creative
production fields through its precarious nature and entrepreneurial nature of participants and
does not always require a specific degree and set of skills.50
However, plunging into the production of magazines, it has all kinds of professionals
who are placed on a different level of status hierarchy. These include not only those who are
involved in material production but also those who are participating in labour processes from
adjacent creative industries. Through the results of their work, the position of the magazine
within the field of fashion production is determined via translated codes.51 The materials they
are producing have their own meaning, which can be understood by people who are familiar
with that particular cultural background.52

Gatekeeping in Fashion

Some participants (individuals or groups) in the field of fashion production whose

legitimacy is approved by other agents have a gatekeeping role which includes access to
information, power, creation and reproduction of rules and the right of selection of what and
who can be accepted within the field.53 Although, talking about the cases where the magazine
is dependent on the advertiser, who pays for the financially valuable advertisement has a power,

50
Lois S. Gray and Ronald Leroy Seeber, Under the Stars: Essays on Labor Relations in Arts and
Entertainment (Cornell University Press, 1996).
51
Mora, ‘Collective Production of Creativity in the Italian Fashion System’.
52
Basil Bernstein, Class, Codes and Control: Applied Studies towards a Sociology of Language (Psychology
Press, 2003).
53
Steve Bruce and Steven Yearley, The Sage Dictionary of Sociology (London; Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE,
2006).

16
the field of symbolic production is very hierarchical and depends on the editors’ role.54 The
gap between the positions of agents is wide, based on whose voice is more valuable for the
internal creative production environment as well as the boundaries between hierarchical groups
which are constructing norms that are accepted within the field. On the one hand, it can be
observed from a physical side, for example during fashion shows through segregation in space,
when on a first row sit the most influential and high-status people such as chief editor of Vogue
US Anna Wintour or Queen Elizabeth II. On the other hand, it is characterized as an industry
with symbolic borders and hierarchies between groups of agents that have a different level of
economic, cultural, social, and symbolic capital.55 This inequality arises because of the division
of products into categories between mass and elite audiences, which Pierre Bourdieu speaks of
in the context of art consumption.56
The institutionalization of the fashion industry and the way it is structured nowadays,
according to Herbert Blumer, occurs through the class segmentation of the society when
organizations become included in mass consumption. This includes both fashion houses and
magazines.57 They started to produce legitimate trends by using each other’s resources such as
money or audiences. This forms a gatekeeping process, which creates selection processes for
and by legitimate agents, to filter out the “content” that goes into the field of fashion production.
For example, a certain magazine with high-status position in the field has to satisfy advertisers,
select those photographers who have same status positions and choose specific brands to
promote. That is the way how magazine will be able to “speak the same language” with its’
specific audience.
At the same time inequality between agents in the field of fashion production leads to
different status positions according to their cultural and economic capital which can be
observed through the similarity of patterns in consumption practices and the expression of
taste.58 Since the main "seller" of fashion trends and lifestyle are magazines, they vary not only
in their positions in the field but also in the audience they aim at. In addition to this, the
differentiation of visual fashion production was studied by Roland Barthes.59 In his research,

54
Joanne Entwistle and Agnès Rocamora, ‘The Field of Fashion Materialized: A Study of London Fashion
Week’, Sociology 40, no. 4 (1 August 2006): 735–51, https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038506065158.
55
Paul DiMaggio, ‘Classification in Art’, American Sociological Review 52, no. 4 (1987): 440–55,
https://doi.org/10.2307/2095290.
56
Pierre Bourdieu, The Field of Cultural Production (Columbia University Press, 1993).
57
Herbert Blumer, ‘Fashion: From Class Differentiation to Collective Selection’, The Sociological Quarterly
10, no. 3 (1969): 275–91, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1533-8525.1969.tb01292.x.
58
Bourdieu, The Field of Cultural Production.
59
Barthes, Systeme de La Mode.

17
the difference in the broadcasting codes of magazines for different social groups is shown. This
is done through visual and textual materials that are read differently by people, not only with a
specific cultural and economic background, but also from their lifestyle, because of the ability
to interpret the codes which were incorporated by gatekeepers from the production field.60 This
leads us to Baudrillard’s theory that the current momentum of production and consumption
does not allow us to fully attribute individuals to class groups based only on recognition of
their codes. Such a system allows researchers to assign codes to various groups, expressing
their taste.61 Summarizing the function of fashion magazines in the process of interacting with
consumers, we can say that their main goal is to broadcast consumer practices with a focus on
various groups, depending on the economic or cultural capital and the habits of these groups.
Looking at the mentioned processes of division into status communities we can say that
the field of symbolic fashion production is reproducing itself as well as hierarchical structures
inside it. Applying this to the professionalization of fashion photographers, it provides a
framework for how their career pathway depends on recognition based not only on practical
skills, but also on a background of a person. Thus, it will work as a selection process of those
who are similar in a social dimension.

Role of Social Capital on Professional Development

Selection processes and gatekeeping are based on various features of how a person can
be socially identified and classified. Previously, the reasons for some social group dominance
and taste cultivation was described as a process which is going under the control of different
capitals. However, in his work Distinction, Pierre Bourdieu is elaborating on the importance of
social capital for the pursuing of status positions. By social capital, he means accumulation of
social resources – connections with people through membership in groups (family, professional
etc.) and links through them to other people. These people, with whom the individual is
connected or can be connected through her or his network, can be a powerful resource to move
through the hierarchical structures having money or knowledge.62
At this stage, the fashion industry turned into the field which is working closely with
external markets such as art or technology development. These interactions and collaborations

60
Barthes, Systeme de La Mode.
61
Jean Baudrillard, ‘Fashion, or the Enchanting Spectacle of the Code’, in Symbolic Exchange and Death
(London: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2012), 87–100, https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446280423.
62
John Storey, Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: A Reader (Pearson Education, 2006).

18
are considered by researchers to be a collaborative process.63 The current situation of
production and interaction between agents allows us to look at this field from sociological
models of market functioning. They rethink neoclassical economic theory, focused on markets
as spaces for exchange. This leads to the popularization of professional collaborations not only
between participants within a specific working team but also externally.64 These works touch
upon an important point in understanding the market, namely, “a self-reproducing social
structure among certain producer groups and other agents involved in the process, whose
behaviour is dynamic relative to observing the actions of other agents in the same
environment”.65 Often this phenomenon is considered as an example of groups involved in the
production of intangible goods.
Describing the functioning model of labour relations between agents in the fashion
industry, Brian Moeran emphasizes the dependence of the sub-parts of the production system
on each other.66 This is based on mutual contracts between brands, magazines and other actors
in the field, whose production is on the verge between the material consumption and art, which
is expressed in painting, cinema, and literature.67 The processes of fashion production are aimed
at the final association of the agent itself with the presented narratives in magazines, fashion
shows, commercials and other products. Every participant of the field of fashion production
involved in creating a product based on their status positions and the status positions of
consumers. For example, a fashion brand provides clothing for shooting a magazine with a
similar level of legitimacy in the market, the same in turn chooses a brand based not only on
financial rewards but also on symbolic capital positions. The magazine will be guided by the
same principles when choosing a team (photographers, models, stylists, etc.) for the
photoshoot, paying attention to how recognized are workers.

63
William Baumol, ‘White, H. C.: Markets from Networks – Socioeconomic Models of Production. XVII, 389
Pp. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. 2002. Hardcover £ 24.95’, Journal of Economics 80, no.
2 (2003): 179–81.
64
William Baumol, ‘White, H. C.: Markets from Networks – Socioeconomic Models of Production. XVII, 389
Pp. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. 2002. Hardcover £ 24.95’, Journal of Economics 80, no.
2 (2003): 179–81.
65
Harrison C. White, ‘Where Do Markets Come From?’, American Journal of Sociology 87, no. 3 (1981): 517–
47.
66
Moeran, ‘More Than Just a Fashion Magazine’.
67
‘High Art Down Home: An Economic Ethnography of a Local Art Market, Plattner’, accessed 13 December
2019, https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/H/bo3624344.html.

19
Professionalization and Precarity

The previously described dependence of career trajectories based on the status of

collaborators leads us to the discourse on precarious work in the field of symbolic fashion
production. For workers involved in this field, there is no single recipe for career growth and
moving up the ladder, and the future path depends on what kind of social circles a professional
is in. This is also affected by informal relationships between participants, and this trend has
been reproducing itself throughout the years. Even in the first magazines which were working
with photographers, they had to find these opportunities to work through the search among
relatives and friends connected to that field. It also works like this at present, when they can be
invited to work after a person has met with another professional from the industry at a party of
mutual acquaintances.68 This led to the absence of fixed work schedule. The borders between
working time and leisure to begin to blur due to the necessary constant communication, as
people needed to build up their social capital to open up further opportunities for professional
development.69 Such a structure has skewness regarding the salary for the type of work, and
will not always be proportional to the level of recognition.70
Talking about the beginning of professional careers in fashion, it is worth mentioning
the discourse of the last couple of years in social media on protection of interns and assistants,
who are just starting their careers. For example, one of the Instagram accounts
(@fashionassistants) sharing in their posts different stories from people who were starting their
career as assistants and faced labour conditions which resemble slavery.71 These people were
asked to work unpaid (Figure 1), staying overnight to finish projects and even having time
restrictions on using the restroom.

68
Mears, Pricing Beauty.
69
Ashley Mears, Pricing Beauty: The Making of a Fashion Model (University of California Press, 2011).
70
Gina Neff, Elizabeth Wissinger, and Sharon Zukin, ‘Entrepreneurial Labor among Cultural Producers: “Cool”
Jobs in “Hot” Industries’, Social Semiotics 15, no. 3 (1 December 2005): 307–34,
https://doi.org/10.1080/10350330500310111.
71
‘Intern 1 no name (@fashionassistants) • Фото и видео в Instagram’, accessed 14 December 2019,
https://www.instagram.com/fashionassistants/.

20
 Figure 1 Fashion assistants community blog

Source: Intern 1 no name (@fashionassistants),

https://www.instagram.com/fashionassistants/. 72

Moving closer to the situation in fashion photography, Patrick Aspers is talking about
the difference in fees for fashion photographers who shoot advertisements and editorials.73 This
is based on the fact that the former work is on the side of the advertiser, who pays money, and
the latter is aimed at producing a fashion product that seeks positions in the field of creative
production. The type of collaboration that they choose can affect their career pathway and the
amount of money that the photographer will receive for work. Because of this division, many
creative professionals have to combine various production roles, being freelancers in
journalism, museums, music (for example, DJ), web development and other fields to expand

72
‘Intern 1 no name (@fashionassistants) • Фото и видео в Instagram’, accessed 14 December 2019,
https://www.instagram.com/fashionassistants/.
73
Patrik Aspers, Markets in Fashion: A Phenomenological Approach (Psychology Press, 2006).

21
their professional circle and to earn enough money. It also gives rise to a lack of guaranteed
health insurance and pension savings.74
Following the framework of working instability within the creative and fashion field
provides an opportunity to look into the tactics of photographers to sustain in the field looking
into their potential mixing of professional roles, and networking mechanisms to find new
opportunities and so on.

Shift to the Digitalization

Despite the appearance of fashion magazines on digital platforms, the status

stratification of agents continues to persist but new groups of agents appear (such as fashion
bloggers or influencers) and can influence recognition processes, as does the dependence on
the marketing function of such resources.75 Therefore, the mechanisms for creating symbolic
content for the sale of a lifestyle could have also changed because of the described
transformations. For example, the emergence of various web platforms and Instagram became
not only one of the important advertising resources, but also a means of communication and
the search for professional connections.76 Agnes Rocamora uses the term “mediatization” to
describe contemporary processes in the field of fashion and how different spheres such as
fashion shows, retail and personality positioning (in current time bloggers) were transformed
into online platforms for professional activity.77 For example, new agents – web platforms such
as The Business of Fashion78 or models.com which started playing a gatekeeping role and
participated in the selection process of what and who is “acceptable” in the fashion production
and its symbolism. This started a new wave of sharing the recognition and legitimate positions,
covering professional activities in business processes and creative workers connected to the
field.

74
Angela McRobbie, ‘Making a Living in London’s Small Scale Creative Sector’, in Cultural Industries and
the Production of Culture, ed. Dominic Power and Allan J. Scott (London and NY: Routledge, 2011), 130–44,
http://research.gold.ac.uk/14568/.
75
Qian Huang and Alice Janssens, ‘Come Mangiare Un Cannolo Con Le Bacchette: The Contested Field of
Luxury Fashion in China, a Case Study of the 2018 Dolce & Gabbana Advertising Incident’, ZoneModa Journal
9, no. 2 (23 December 2019): 123–40, https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2611-0563/9970.
76
Sofia P. Caldeira, ‘“Shop It. Wear It. ‘Gram It.”: A Qualitative Textual Analysis of Women’s Glossy Fashion
Magazines and Their Intertextual Relationship with Instagram’, Feminist Media Studies 0, no. 0 (4 December
2018): 1–18, https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2018.1548498.
77
Agnès Rocamora, ‘Mediatization and Digital Media in the Field of Fashion’, Fashion Theory 21, no. 5 (3
September 2017): 505–22, https://doi.org/10.1080/1362704X.2016.1173349.
78
‘The Business of Fashion’, The Business of Fashion, accessed 27 February 2020,
https://www.businessoffashion.com/.

22
 Although the initial functioning processes of symbolic fashion production continue to
be reproduced for decades, building status does not seem to be a step-by-step process with a
ready to-do list. If earlier distinction of the positions in the field of fashion was a question of
differences in the cultural and economic capitals of the participants, then over time these
processes acquire new meanings and institutions of influence.
There are several studies which were conducted during the last decade because of the
growth of digitalization processes and labour in the fashion field transformations. Patrick
Aspers made an important contribution to the research of the field explaining how fashion
photography functions from the perspective of local markets.79 It is supported by an
explanation of the processes on a supply level and interaction of different professional groups.80
In addition, some works are telling about the importance of photographers’ both technical skills
(equipment and software) and their ability to manage photo sessions combining requests from
brand advertisers and creative editorship ideas.81 On the other side there was shown an example
of the expansion of digital platforms and how lifestyle and magazines are continuing
developing their style on media platforms which can be regarded as a movement from
“conventional photography”. At the same time magazines are looking for collaborations with
those photographers who are moving towards innovative techniques with reference to previous
ones (such as taking inspiration from modernist art or fashion illustration in the 20th century).82
However, we can see here, that most literature is discussing topics of the fashion field status
inequality and supply chains without linking it to interdependence between symbolic positions
in the field and interaction through production processes.
In general, this shift into media and what was done regarding these aspects broaden
research opportunities in various academic disciplines and business, especially if we are talking
about fashion production of visual materials (photography). This perspective provides a rich
soil to look critically on changes happening in the fashion industry, challenges for current
workers and patterns of how the field is functioning.

79
Patrik Aspers, ‘A MARKET IN VOGUE Fashion Photography in Sweden’, European Societies 3, no. 1 (1
January 2001): 1–22, https://doi.org/10.1080/14616690120046923.
80
Patrik Aspers, Markets in Fashion: A Phenomenological Approach (Psychology Press, 2006).
81
Brian Moeran, ‘More Than Just a Fashion Magazine’, Current Sociology 54, no. 5 (1 September 2006): 725–
44, https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392106066813.
82
Lev Manovich, Instagram and Contemporary Image, accessed 23 January 2020,
https://www.academia.edu/35501327/Instagram_and_Contemporary_Image.

23
Framework for Measuring Professional Status in Creative Industries

The career trajectories of fashion photographers as creative workers can be explored

from several perspectives. Creative industries as a platform for professional realization make
it possible to track career dynamics on how the boundaries are built between different agents
that function not only within the same sphere, but also with related industries.83
As an example of the professional dynamics that Zuckerman speaks of regarding the
movie making industry is the change in character requirements for actors in Hollywood.84
Having some transformations, this industry started creating a demand for labor resources
(workers), who not only have a basic professional background in a particular field of
cinematography, but also have diverse skills in creative industries.85 Also, some studies were
looking into working collaborations and how successful players (producers, directors,
scriptwriters) tend to work with each other in further projects in order to reduce risks and
uncertainties in the original product.86
Another important category which is influencing career development in creative
industries, considered by some researchers as abilities and opportunities to overcome social
barriers. They are defining it as “objectified forms of social differences ... identified in
sustainable behavioral models of the association”.87 This may show that further career success
depends on how social capital is converted in the professional sphere, patronage, or emotionally
involved relationships.
Symbolic capital, being one of the instruments of building professional ties, serves as
one of the sources of the division of the labor field in the fashion industry. They are created by
the participants themselves to categorize objects, people, practices, spaces and time.
Construction of hierarchies based on consumption patterns have been studied previously.88 One

83
Svenja Tams and Michael B. Arthur, ‘New Directions for Boundaryless Careers: Agency and
Interdependence in a Changing World’, Journal of Organizational Behavior 31, no. 5 (2010): 629–46,
https://doi.org/10.1002/job.712.
84
Ezra W. Zuckerman et al., ‘Robust Identities or Non-Entities? Typecasting in the Feature Film Labor
Market’, Working Papers (Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management, 2 June
2003), https://ideas.repec.org/p/mit/sloanp/3519.html.
85
Siobhan O’Mahony and Beth A. Bechky, ‘Stretchwork: Managing the Career Progression Paradox in
External Labor Markets’, The Academy of Management Journal 49, no. 5 (2006): 918–41,
https://doi.org/10.2307/20159809.
86
Robert R. Faulkner and Andy B. Anderson, ‘Short-Term Projects and Emergent Careers: Evidence from
Hollywood’, American Journal of Sociology 92, no. 4 (1 January 1987): 879–909,
https://doi.org/10.1086/228586.
87
Michèle Lamont and Virág Molnár, ‘The Study of Boundaries Across the Social Sciences’, Annual Review of
Sociology 28 (2002).
88
Bethany Bryson, ‘“Anything But Heavy Metal”: Symbolic Exclusion and Musical Dislikes’, American
Sociological Review 61, no. 5 (1996): 884–99, https://doi.org/10.2307/2096459.

24
of the examples was the case was focused on transferring of knowledge, attitudes and statuses
within the creative work field between student, and their supervisor.89 On the other hand, there
are professional specializations which do not require institutionalized educational preparation,
and a further career depends on the status of previous labor affiliations. In this case, there is an
exchange of symbolic and economic capital. Such a process of career paths is displayed on the
model created by Ashley Mears (Figure 2).90 She says that those agents who initially have work
collaborations with high economic remuneration subsequently run the risk of being outside the
professional market without gaining stable higher status positions. At the same time, there are
those employees whose goal is to achieve legitimate positions and carry out activities “for the
sake of creativity” and whose work may be low or unpaid. However, their professional
collaborations mostly can be with high-status agents, after what their social capital and
recognition from other legitimate actors will grow up. As a result, they occupy prestigious
market positions that are converted into high economic capital.

Figure 2 Conversion of capitals in the field of fashion

Source: Ashley Mears, Pricing Beauty: The Making of a Fashion Model (University of
California Press, 2011). 91

In addition, there are a number of studies devoted to the topics on mechanisms of status
obtaining and recognition. Mostly, they are offering to track the interaction between agents and

89
Richard A. Peterson and Roger M. Kern, ‘Changing Highbrow Taste: From Snob to Omnivore’, American
Sociological Review 61, no. 5 (1996): 900–907, https://doi.org/10.2307/2096460.
90
Mears, Pricing Beauty.
91
Ashley Mears, Pricing Beauty: The Making of a Fashion Model (University of California Press, 2011).

25
influence of them on each other through analysis of the structure of social networks. This
provides an opportunity to transform collaborative relationships into structures that assign
status, as well as to look at the patterns of its formation, depending on a number of factors,
including the agent’s entry into the market, homophily in the choice of professional
partnerships, etc. For example, in Joel Podolny’s sociological study of status signals in various
markets, the author defines a position in the hierarchy which “shapes others’ expectations and
actions toward the individual and thereby determines the opportunities and constraints that the
individual confronts”.92 A similar methodology is followed by Katherine Giuffre, who was
studying success factors in art worlds and using hypotheses about the structural equivalence of
agents that are on opposite sides of the “sand pile”.93 In these terms the field of creative work
is constantly transforming, and the agents that are on its top settle down over time, under the
influence of others who are climbing up. Moreover, some of the studies which were using a
methodological framework on exploration of status positions in the creation of fashion trends
were conducted.94
Following the perspective of investigating symbolic statuses and its connection to
career positions, in 2002, De Nooy published an article in which he presented a model of
dynamic assessment of prestige. He used network prestige of the artist, analyzing the
longitudinal connections between literary magazines and art critics. Creating a model of
professional production, the author came to the conclusion that the recognition of critics is a
valuable means of legitimation in the field of art, which helps artists and other actors to increase
their status positions in the professional field. Prestige depends on the previous success of the
actors and their recognition by institutions or gatekeepers.95

92
Joel M. Podolny, Status Signals: A Sociological Study of Market Competition (Princeton, N.J Woodstock:
Princeton University Press, 2008).
93
Katherine Giuffre, ‘Sandpiles of Opportunity: Success in the Art World’, Social Forces 77, no. 3 (1 March
1999): 815–32, https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/77.3.815.
94
Frédéric C. Godart and Ashley Mears, ‘How Do Cultural Producers Make Creative Decisions? Lessons from
the Catwalk’, Social Forces 88, no. 2 (1 December 2009): 671–92, https://doi.org/10.1353/sof.0.0266.
95
Wouter de Nooy, ‘The Dynamics of Artistic Prestige’, Poetics 30, no. 3 (1 June 2002): 147–67,
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-422X(01)00044-4.

26
Methodology and Data

In this chapter we will examine the methodology and its main components. We will
start with how the study was conducted, discuss the main variables and data collection.

Research Sample

The stated research questions require the use of mixed methods. The first part of the
research will be conducted using a quantitative approach with a database analysis based on
online data from the website models.com. This resource already acts as a gatekeeper which is
working on the professional recognition of participants in visual (photo and video materials)
fashion production. Following their website: “The Models.com database is a collaborative
portfolio site dedicated to promoting the discovery of new talent in the fashion industry. Work
is uploaded by creative agencies and individuals around the world who then tag the respective
artists and models in the credits. Database pages that represent artists and clients are made by
the models.com staff based on their career accomplishments, longevity and influence in the
fashion community.” At the same time, it contains a fashion magazines archival database (from
1975 to the present), including credits of crew participants who were participating in a making
process and a statement if the photoshoot was commercial or not – and the name of a brand
which was promoted in it. All credits from photo sessions are linked to profiles of production
team members, where their role is specified for each project (such as photographer, editor,
makeup artist, producer etc.).
The platform does not provide opportunities to create profiles by the website's passerby
audience and has the role of an agent that can select approved participants in the field. That is
stated in the rules of the website: “You might have noticed that registering for a membership
does not create you a page in the MDC database. Artist, model and client pages are made on
an invite-only basis by the models.com staff based on their career accomplishments, longevity
and influence in the fashion community.”96
Mentioned blurring of professional roles in a creative labour and precarity debate leads
us to defining the group of people which will be considered as fashion photographers. The
platform models.com provides information on participants’ roles in their projects history. In
the sample, I will consider and include everyone who had experience working as a

96
‘Help > Database – Of The Minute’, MODELS.Com (blog), accessed 27 February 2020,
https://models.com/oftheminute/?page_id=80619.

27
photographer. Information will be taken from 1985 to 2019 in order to see how the field was
transformed and what remained similar in features which can influence career strategies and
positions in the professional field after the shift to digitalization. The starting date was taken
because of emergence of underground fashion media (such as Dazed and Confused) and the
start of the “Supermodel” era. At that time a small group of models was dominating in the
professional field and being recognized in various ways, being desirable for fashion brands to
have them for fashion shows, magazines having them on covers and editorials as well as having
the highest price for their work.97 Their success was closely connected with the group of certain
photographers who became famous partly because of collaborations with these models for
magazines, that was a strike in their careers.98

Methodology

In this research I will focus on factors that have an influence on the career trajectories
of fashion photographers. It is important to define several concepts which will be used for the
future analysis. I will consider fashion magazines (where their works were published) and
brands (clothes, accessories and cosmetics) as the agents with which photographers are
working. Characteristics of magazines which were taken for the regression analysis are:
● Whether it belongs to a publishing house. It will help us to see the features of
independent production and the level of economic capital of the magazine.
● Geographic coverage: number of countries. This feature can point into
legitimacy of the magazine as well as economic background and production for
broad audiences.
● Type of work. Usually they make differences between incomes and recognition,
where advertorial ones provide more money and less symbolic status while
editorial works vice versa.99
○ cover
○ editorial, devoted to express and illustrate the story which was made
with the curatorship of the magazine editor

97
Dazed, ‘Candid Snapshots of the Supermodel Era’, Dazed, 12 October 2016,
https://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/33327/1/candid-snapshots-of-the-supermodel-era.
98
‘Peter Lindbergh And The Birth Of The Supermodel’, British Vogue, accessed 27 February 2020,
https://www.vogue.co.uk/arts-and-lifestyle/article/peter-lindbergh-and-the-birth-of-the-supermodel.,
Peter Lindbergh: The Era of the Supermodel Will Never Return - Telegraph’, accessed 27 February 2020,
http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-features/TMG10300086/Peter-Lindbergh-The-era-of-the-Supermodel-will-
never-return.html.
99
Mears, Pricing Beauty.

28
 ○ advertorial, has commercial intentions, used to promote the brand
○ gatekeeper, when the portal models.com was commissioning photos
● Year, when the magazine was launched. This variable can illustrate legitimacy
of the magazine in the professional field.
● Magazine has online platform. This feature will allow us to look into influence
of digital transformation into the status positions.

Variables for brands will be:

● Division on a type of manufacture in the fashion industry, based on the work of Patrick
Aspers and Frederic Godart, who did a study on the structure of the modern fashion
industry.100
○ luxury fashion houses
○ ready-to-wear companies
○ mass-market brands
○ not established designers
● Popularity of a brand for mass audiences as a presence in an aggregated brand ranking
lists of Syncforce101 This is a platform which represents a brand performance across
various categories and industries. It contains consolidated all globally published
rankings in one.
● Geographic coverage. Represents economic capital of the brand, legitimacy and
production for broaden audiences.
○ worldwide
○ local
● Year, when company was launched. This variable can illustrate legitimacy of the brand
in the area of magazine advertising as well as economic capital.
● Sphere of production.
○ clothing
○ beauty
○ accessories
○ other

100
Patrik Aspers and Frédéric Godart, ‘Sociology of Fashion: Order and Change’, Annual Review of Sociology
39, no. 1 (2013): 171–92, https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-071811-145526.
101
‘Ranking The Brands | The Ultimate Guide to Brand Rankings | Consolidated Brand Ranking Top 100’,
accessed 2 June 2020, https://www.rankingthebrands.com/.

29
 ● If brand is under retail group. It will help us to see the features of independent
production and the level of economic capital of the brand.

As a parameter of a photographers’ digital performance, we will look at the number of

followers on Instagram. Informal networks will be defined as connections with family
members, friends, acquaintances which must influence a career development path.
Following the methodological framework of Wouter de Nooy on investigating status
hierarchies of the printed editions of artists and the circulation of authors between them, this
approach gives an opportunity to see how different types of connections and agents’ attributes
could predict their future career trajectories.102 To empirically track the features that have an
effect on status position in the professional network the method of regression analysis will be
used, where the dependent variable will be the calculated parameter from the social network
and independent variables will be taken from the database as features of economic and
symbolic capitals stated earlier. As a measurement of symbolic status in the professional
network we will be following Joel Podolny’s framework and use Bonacich centrality metric
for network analysis. It will be able to show what external characteristics of organizations can
affect the social position of photographer. At the same time, following the theoretical
framework we were discussing how the professional field of fashion is divided into a
community who has power, higher symbolic status and recognition while other participants are
not in this community. To see how characteristics of brands and magazines are affecting
chances of photographers to be in a high-status group, we used a method of structural
equivalence in the network using the CONCOR algorithm.103 It calculates the similarity
between the agents based on the similarity of their social positions in the network, based on
interactions with other participants similar to them. It is calculated on the Euclidean distances
in the matrix of relationships between the agents. Thus, using the theoretical division of the
field into two groups, we were able to look into the patterns of high-status agents and used this
parameter in logistic regression.
To track career movements and development of professional networks we were using
QAP regression for social networks and decision trees CART algorithm to see the career
development. Data processing and analysis was performed using R and Python software.

102
Wouter de Nooy, ‘The Dynamics of Artistic Prestige’, Poetics 30, no. 3 (1 June 2002): 147–67,
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-422X(01)00044-4.
103
Ronald L Breiger, Scott A Boorman, and Phipps Arabie, ‘An Algorithm for Clustering Relational Data with
Applications to Social Network Analysis and Comparison with Multidimensional Scaling’, Journal of
Mathematical Psychology 12, no. 3 (1 August 1975): 328–83, https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-2496(75)90028-0.

30
 Since the main dataset is limited in the number of variables which can be used as
predictors, it would make sense to cover other features which have influence on professional
trajectories in the field of fashion such as the importance of higher education institutions and
its’ positions as a resource of informal connections or effects from the growth of digital
platforms into career strategies and so on. Thus, it would be valuable to also conduct interviews
with fashion photographers, fashion magazines and brand marketing representatives. The
sample of interviewees was collected following the next strategy: all photographers (N=3302)
will be ranged by the network status position numeric parameter (Bonacich Centrality metric),
divided into 3 groups (with high, medium and low status in the network) and after that the
invitation to participate in the research was sent to each 10th agent in each sub-group. In total
it was possible to collect 15 interviews. The interviews were semi-structured, covering topics
as: educational background and how it influenced the career on a network level; role of
informal networks on career trajectories and features of the precarity in the career. Focus on
precarity was discovered in differences in career actions in the beginning and now, differences
in financial situation, symbolic recognition and a work-life balance.

31
Results

In the results chapter we will follow the strategy of Pierre Bourdieu and discuss how
each form of capital (economic, social and cultural) affect the symbolic positions in the
network.

The Field and It’s Symbolic Status Structure

The fashion industry is in a state of continuous expansion, not only the number of agents
is increasing, but also the volume of production, collaboration between agents and their
frequency. On the following graph you can see how the number of captured covers, photo
shoots in magazines and the production of fashion advertising increased from 1985 to the end
of 2019. (Figure 3) The number of objects produced by the fashion world grew, whether it was
covers or clothing collections, the volumes of labor involved in the production process also
increased, including the arrival of new photographers in this market and the interactions
between agents.

Figure 3Distribution of collaborations per year on models.com data

Source: models.com. Own calculations.

This dynamics and exponential growth of the field is connected to the specificity of
work. In comparison with other types of creative production such as cinematography,

32
photoshoots take significantly less time. It could be the reason why professionals are changing
field where they work:

“I just decided that photography is something that you can work in very independently and the
crews aren't as big as in cinematography what I studied, and I feel like there's a lot less
pressure to deliver the assignments more quickly”104

The task was to look at the formation of communities in the space of the professional
market of fashion photographers and magazines. For a start, attention should be paid to the
general structure of agent relations through networks of various types of collaboration between
photographers, brands and magazines.
The figures (See: Appendix, Network visuals) show bi-modal networks of labor
collaborations between agents, where the photographers are shown in blue and their affiliations
in red. Also, it should be noted that the weight of agents is measured in accordance with the
centrality of Bonacich, one of the most common metrics for assessing the status of an agent in
a network.
All networks were categorized into 4 types of connections: commercial work for
brands, magazine advertorials, magazine editorials and magazine covers. Following the results
of interviews with photographers, they distinguish their work into 2 categories: editorial and
commercial. The former one is considered as a signature type of work, where a photographer
can show his/her artistic expression, do experiments but needs to use own money to do
everything. This type of shoots makes photographers’ work recognizable in the fashion
community.

“Editorials really are the key. For me, the creative outlet really is why I love editorial stuff, I
get to express my kind of creative vision. In turn, that will lead to the better magazines, you
kind of work your way up and up and up. The higher your prestige level becomes then more
prestigious brands will take notice of you and use you for them because you've been shooting
for good magazines. And that's where the big money is. For me there's no money at that point,
because I’m doing mostly editorial stuff, but it's really fun.”105

104
Photographer 7, Personal Interview, 3 April 2020.
105
Photographer 2, Personal Interview, 5 March 2020.

33
 The next quotation is taken from the interview with already established photographer,
who started his career in 1980s and now reached the step with the balance between “artsy”
editorial production (including collaborations with museums, such as V&A) and commercial
contracts. However, he is showing that through the years of obtaining recognition now he has
opportunity to express his artistic view in gatekeeping magazines such as American Vogue.

“The “editorial” community including its pathways into art is very cliquey, class-driven. I’ve
come back to do more commercial work, lately. I need to make a living. At the moment I am
working a lot with American Vogue, which I'm using as my showpiece. First of all, weirdly,
they are letting me do whatever I want. So, I guess I don't know if I'm more of a risk or not. But
I don't do that much big well-paid commercials, well paid, only a little bit occasionally. Maybe
Maybe I'm an old, safer bet now and just more of the establishment. I'm the anti-establishment
establishment.”106

Although, the next informant is emphasizing the nature of editorial work as a pathway
for creativity expression, using various equipment and techniques of work.

“I feel in the past, it was very derivative of something like an Irving Penn and even now it has
references from decades ago. These kind of studio shoots that were sort of led in a certain way
and very stilted and staged. Whereas now, it can be anything, you can see stories that are really
exciting and shot on cell phones or toy cameras, or they're very spontaneous.”107

On the opposite dimension of work types is commercial work, which was described as
less creative but the one where photographers can earn money. So, it would help them not only
sustain their life, but also organize creative photoshoots. However, these collaborations do not
appear in the beginning, because clients-brands have to notice photographers to commission
them.

“When I moved on to my own, I wanted to do cool things, but I would make sure I could pay
my bills. I went to interview for Amazon but the next day they asked for the dates, and I said
I’m not going to shoot, I didn’t want to get stuck in e-commerce. Some people do commercials
and editorials fairly balanced. Retail has the money and I kind of knew if I just chased the

106
Photographer 4, Personal Interview, 19 March 2020.
107
Photographer 7, Personal Interview.

34
editorial it would have taken a lot longer to be successful and then my passion wasn't strong
enough for editorial. In the catalogue world you’re not shooting Chanel or Louboutin. But it
is really fun and satisfying to have to make simple t-shirts look good. If I become successful in
the commercial world, I could always go back in and do editorials on my day offs.”108

Photographers are saying that the key is to find a balance between editorial and
commercial work, so it will be a circle of source of income and ability to put this money into
art.

“It's always a balance of both fields because without the commercial work, you cannot push
the literal work in the same way because then your economy is a bit weak so you need money
to invest in the literal work, you need to be able to travel by your own to make things happen.
All these kinds of things demand investment from your side. So all the commercial work helps
you keep going in the material field, because the money is not in the literal field, it's more than
the resource by which you can be accepted into the creative field, publish in some magazines
that you love or you like to be in.”109

“It’s the editorials or exhibitions or books which gets you and your name exposure in this
game. The advertising work is what pays for that.”110

Commercial work gives money for the photographer; however, it is difficult to be

noticed by some clients. Often, they do not need to see artistic tricks, but it is important for
them to associate photographers’ name with another important figures in the field.

“I would really love to have many commercial commissions because it is really hard to get
some, especially when you're focusing on editorials. Commercial clients like to be really
specific, and they want from photographers very simple things. But if we are doing editorials,
we don't have those simple things in our portfolios. This is why we don't get those jobs. It is
very hard for an editorial photographer to be in the commercial world. But every one of us is
trying because there is very big money there. And it's a very easy job to do.”111

108
Photographer 6, Personal Interview, 18 March 2020.
109
Photographer 10, Personal Interview, 9 March 2020.
110
Photographer 3, Personal Interview, 20 March 2020.
111
Photographer 1, Personal Interview, 5 March 2020.

35
 On networks (See: Appendix, Network visuals) it can be observed that the main
components of the network are becoming denser by 2014. Besides the fact that this indicates
the growth of the professional market, it also represents a claim shown by Uzzi and Spiro on
the example of cinema production.112 Their main point was that creative producers who become
the founders of creative innovations are located between the core and the periphery. This shows
the selectivity of professional relations. This helps workers to take fresh ideas and resources
from people from the periphery and combine with the popularity of "star" contacts that are in
the core of the network.
In the case of fashion photographers, the process of selectivity based on symbolic
positions is also important. Firstly, we decided to look at how the coreness (the degree of
belonging to the core of the network) and the status in the network (Bonacich centrality) are
correlated. In the table below, you can see that in the often-appearing core-peripheral structure,
agents with the highest status are located outside the core of the network, with the exception of
the networks of photographers and magazine covers until 2011 and in 2018 (Table 1). In rows
there are types of a bi-modal network: photographers and magazines (covers), photographers
and magazines (editorials), photographers and magazines (advertorials), and photographers and
brands (advertisements). In columns are correlations by year. Such an observation can tell us
that the excessive number of collaborations with various agents does not affect the position of
photographers and magazines or brands with which they collaborate.

Table 1Correlation between symbolic status and coreness

Source: Own calculations

Such an observation can tell us that the excessive number of collaborations with various
agents does not affect the position of photographers and magazines or brands with which they
collaborate.

112
Brian Uzzi and Jarrett Spiro, ‘Collaboration and Creativity: The Small World Problem’, American Journal
of Sociology 111, no. 2 (1 September 2005): 447–504, https://doi.org/10.1086/432782.

36
 The importance of the “cluster” of those with whom the photographer is working affects
tactics of how they are building their portfolio. In some cases, it does not matter if the magazine
or brand was popular, had a lot of money or on the other hand was independent and full of fresh
innovative ideas:

“I get emails all the time if I want to shoot for some magazines. When it's a team that I don't
particularly resonate with or I don't like their work or specific magazine, then I think it will
negatively impact me if I shoot with them. There's no point unless it's a commercial job where
I'm getting paid, and I'm not gonna have to show anyone the work in my portfolio. As long as
it monetarily benefits me or benefits me in an editorial way where I get to creatively do what I
want for a good magazine.”113

The next photographer is paying attention into difference between work recognition between
creative side of professional work and commercial clients. Specifically, how they considered a
good product.

“I assume that every photographer would like his name to be connected to Vogue. But going
further there are differences in their status depending on countries. Those things only know
people who are deeply interested in that, a very, very smart small percentage. So, it is good to
reach through your work different groups of people, because you don't know if your client is
interested in artsy stuff like in Vogue Czechoslovakia or Ukraine or in a more mainstream
one.”114

It is important to explain the quote above. Vogue Czechoslovakia and Vogue Ukraine
are not under the Conde Nast publishing house, so they have more freedom in a way they are
not under patronage and can publish more editorials and “artsy” things. However, if a
commercial client will be looking for the photographer, it is more probable that they will be
looking at the name “Vogue” in their portfolio, not paying attention to the quality of the
photoshoot.

113
Photographer 2, Personal Interview.
114
Photographer 1, Personal Interview.

37
 Since one of the research questions is the measurement of the influence of the agent’s
status depending on their joint collaborations, let's look at homophily in the network based on
the choice of status agents by status, calculated according to the assortativity metric (Table 2).
This metric is analogue correlation coefficient, but for the social network analysis.

Table 2Correlation between statuses of photographers with magazines and brands

Source: Own calculations

In the table above it can be seen that stronger connection between agents’ statuses hand
in glove collaborations of photographers and magazines (for covers photoshoots) up to 2011
and was around 0.93. Then, till 2016 it was fluctuating around 0.5 and in 2017-2019 correlation
was low and on average was closer to 0 (-0.05 to 0.17). It means that it was important for
photographers and magazines to work with agents with similar network status the decade later,
while some time later this tendency cannot be observed. On the other hand, looking into the
relation between network status of photographers and magazines in which they were publishing
their editorial photoshoots, we cannot see any spikes and assortativity index there is about 0.5
during all observed years. Another interesting observation which can be taken from this table
is a controversial collaboration of photographers and magazines where they were shooting
advertorial campaigns. Since this category became traceable from 2014, the table shows that
the assortativity index is negative which means that photographers with higher network status
positions were shooting for magazines with lower status positions and vice versa. The strongest
peak was in 2016 with a parameter of -0.58.
Patterns of selectivity based on symbolic positions and potential career outcomes can
be seen in interviews with photographers. For example, a significant proportion of participants
were mentioning how publishing in independent magazines helps with their artistic recognition
in the field.

38
“I stopped doing kind of very independent magazines after the spirit of the moment was over.
It was an evolution to more mainstream works. Before that in 2002-2003 they called me from
Dazed and Confused in the UK and they commissioned me some portraits. After that they came
from Dazed and Confused Japan and I did covers. I suddenly was exposed to an internationally
recognizable market. This brought me a lot of happiness because I wanted to do these
magazines. I used to be more open to independent magazines because I think it's more my field,
where I can shine the best and do my things. Then the trick is to say no to other things that you
don't like or to be selective because the time is important too.”115

“Vogue Ukraine or these kinds of magazines allow a lot of freedom now, you feel that you're
working in an independent magazine. So, there is a room for creativity. It feels that there is no
freedom in the main Conde Nast titles.”116

The next photographer is saying, that it can be a good strategy in the beginning of the
career to have a work focus on independent publishing, obtaining status one step at a time.

“I was always dreaming of doing a shoot for Vogue, but I just knew that I have to reach it step
by step. First, those online independent magazines, then maybe some print independent
magazines, and then maybe not so dependent magazines and online and commercial.”117

Although, besides credits of magazines where photos are publishing, it is important to

think about teammates with whom person is creating the photoshoot. This connections in
credits can work on recognition and provide quality evaluation for other participants in the
field.

“Even if it's quite a new magazine, you can tell how it is by who's working there. If it's quite a
good photographer or a good stylist or hair and makeup, you can tell it's a good thing to do.
And then brand wise obviously you can tell which brands are nicer and have the thought that
goes into it and all that stuff. It’s the team that makes it, you kind of know which magazines
just have a good reputation or not, the quality of the team.”118

115
Photographer 11, Personal Interview, 17 March 2020.
116
Photographer 13, Personal Interview, 23 March 2020.
117
Photographer 1, Personal Interview.
118
Photographer 2, Personal Interview.

39
 On the other hand, some photographers have an understanding of the importance of
connections with the artistic field. Another way of how a person can be recognized in the field
is through art exhibitions in collaboration with museum-gatekeepers, luxury brands or via the
creation of books for specialized publishing houses.

“It was a few years of hard work, testing with modeling agencies, shooting editorials and
stories for magazines like i-D, working with the better girls and putting my work out there. I
recently finished my first monograph, which will be published by Damiani in the Fall (2020).
This is opening many doors for me now.”119

“I had an exhibition last year in Milan, at Giorgio Armani's in Milan. It was a group exhibition
organized by Vogue Italy. They just sent me an email and said “we selected 20 photographers,
and you're one of them”. When I opened the email, I thought it was spam and it's just an
invitation to go to an exhibition. It was unexpected, and I thought that it was a big thing. After
that I've been contacted by a couple of magazines and artists platforms which are making
contests and they invited me to participate in the grants.”120

The work of the photographer from the next caption has been exhibited at Tate and the
Victoria and Albert Museum. Before that in 1980’s he started working with British
“underground” magazines and slowly started publishing fin magazines like The Face and i-D:

“I first started publishing books myself. I published two books early, one was called “Ruth
book” and one was called “Dad’s office” which is kind of a long way from the commercial
work. I self published that, because that was the most important thing for me. And luckily some
museum curators and people saw it and showed an interest.”121

The next step of the analysis was predicting of professional network connections
through the timeline because one of the main research challenges in this work is to see how the
structure of the professional community can predetermine next career trajectories of fashion
photographers. It was made by the social network analysis algorithm for QAP regression.

119
Photographer 8, Personal Interview, 17 March 2020.
120
Photographer 9, Personal Interview, 17 March 2020.
121
Photographer 5, Personal Interview, 22 March 2020.

40
 Usually it used to model a social relation using values of other relations. The algorithm
proceeds in two steps. In the first step, it performs a standard multiple regression across
corresponding cells of the dependent and independent matrices. In the second step, it randomly
permutes rows and columns (together) of the dependent matrix and recomputes the regression.
This step in the current methodology was repeated 50 times for each model in order to estimate
standard errors for the statistics of interest.

In the model below (Figure 4) we can observe a multilevel regression for the networks
of photographers and magazines where they shoot advertorials. The F-statistic parameter shows
that models for predicting connections in 2019 and 2018 are useful and significant. Looking
into the 1st model (prediction of connections for 2019 year), the predictor of connections in
2018 is significant and the model estimates that the presence of ties in 2018 increases the
probability of ties in 2019 by 0.05. However, professional networks in 2016 and 2017 decrease
the probability of keeping connections with the same agents in 2019 by 0.04 and 0.03 relatively.
On the other hand, connections in 2016 and 2017 increase the probability of similar ties in 2018
by 0.48 and 0.32 relatively.

Figure 4OLS Network Model -- Magazine advertisements

Source: Own calculations

41
 Another multilevel QAP network regression model represents ties connected on
editorials in the same magazines (Figure 5). In this case sub models for all years are significant.
For example, the model for 2019 estimates that ties in 2018 increase the probability of their
presence in 2019 by 0.13 while 2017 increases it by 0.18 and ties in 2016 by 0.17. The similar
pattern can be seen in sub models for earlier years that networks of editorial collaborations will
be increasing probability of similar ties by around 0.15. However, for each model connections
in 1985-2011 increasing probability of same ties by around 0.7m which means that the field
has some significant changes in its social structure.

Figure 5OLS Network Model -- Magazine editorials

Source: Own calculations

The same trend of how professional connections in earlier years predict ties in later
times is kept in the multilevel model for photographers from the same magazines where they
were doing cover photoshoots (Figure 6). On average ties in 2012-2015 and 2017 are increasing
probability of same ties in 2019 by 0.12, while the network of 2018 increases it by 0.25 and in
2016 only by 0.02. From other interesting findings besides significance of patterns from
previous networks on dependent ones, it is interesting to take a look at the model of 2018. For
the network of that year, the predictability of connections between photographers and
magazines where they were shooting covers decreased by 0.09. It can be connected with the
international economic crisis, which led to the decrease of consumption of fashion magazines
and periodicals in general. So, the consumption level could be stimulated by broadening

42
audiences of those who can be interested to buy these magazines. The first thing on which
consumers pay attention is the cover. So, to attract more people who are willing to buy
magazines is to put something or someone familiar for them on the cover. That is why
potentially it can be connected with the growth of popular stars on covers and as actors or
musicians, who have requirements for specific photographers who are less connected to the
fashion photography but more into the popular star photoshooting. For example, in 2012 were
covers with popular people such as: Prince Harry, Cameron Diaz, Daniel Craig, Rihanna to
name but a few.122

Figure 6OLS Network Model -- Magazine covers

Source: Own calculations

The last QAP network model (Figure 7) is devoted to the network of photographers and
brands for which they were hired to do commercial shooting. This multilevel model also repeats
the pattern of professional ties predictability and in most cases they increase it on average by
0.20. However, we can see that for models of networks in 2016 and 2017 probability of ties
based on 2012-2013 increases only by 0.04 and 0.05 relatively.

122
‘Image - Fashion Galleries - Telegraph’, accessed 2 June 2020,
http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/galleries/TMG9581902/16/Best-fashion-magazine-covers-November-2012.html.

43
 Figure 7OLS Network Model -- Commercial work for brands

Source: Own calculations

Economic Capital and Status

“There's a vast majority of editorials where the photographer and the stylist are funding the shoot,
because there's no budget but a lot of expectations for the shoot to look like something. And the
budget is like $500. So, I think it's important either to be really resourceful with the money, or you
have to be willing to put your own money into it.”123

In this section of the chapter we will look into the importance of economic capital on
career development of fashion photographers. First of all, analysis will be made on
characteristics of magazines and brands and how they affect photographers’ status in the
professional network. After that we will explore the role of the economic background of
photographers and how it is convertible into the symbolic status.
In addition to the network characteristics of the models and agents with which they
collaborate, there are several external parameters, a linear regression model was made in which
the dependent variable was the photographers status in the network, according to the Bonacich
centrality metric and predictors based on characteristics of brands and magazines. This strategy
allows us to look into economic capital of brands and to see the connection between this
features and symbolic positions of photographers.

123
Photographer 7, Personal Interview.

44
 Figure 8Linear model on photographers’ symbolic status and brands

Source: Own calculations

According to the results of the model above (Figure 8), overall it explains 10% of all
observations and it can be seen that those independent variables are factors of fashion brands
which are negatively affecting the network status of fashion photographers. For example,
photographer's status will decrease by 0.25 units if the photoshoot is done for the mass market
clothing brand (b = -0.253, CI = -0.451, 0.657, p <.01). Similar significant negative effects on
photographer’s network status position have brands from the beauty industry. For example,
photoshoot for the mass market beauty brand will negatively affect network status of the
photographer on 0.42 units (b = -0.426, CI = -0.772, -0.080, p <.05). At the same time, if the
photoshoot will be done for the beauty brand from the lux sector, it will have a negative effect
on the status position of the photographer on 0.2 (b = -0.21, CI = -0.526, -0.107, p <.1). This
observation can be connected with the consumption audiences who are buying luxury beauty
products. In comparison with the cost of a piece of clothes or accessories from the same lux

45
brand one bottle of perfume will be cheaper and affordable for mass audiences. It is connecting
advertisement photoshoots for luxury beauty products and its distribution among broader
audiences (for example posters of models or actors with perfume on bus stops). It leads to
simpler ways of artistic expression in photography and relation to popular culture.
Looking at the picture below we can see an advertisement on a bus stop. It is a photo
of the actress Keira Knightley for the promotional campaign for Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle
fragrance in Chicago in November 2012 (Figure 9). It was the same month when the movie
Anna Karenina was released in cinema in the United States, where she played the main
character.124 This way of using characters makes it easier for luxury brands as Chanel provides
an affordable element related to the company name/popular person/movie character for mass
audiences who are not able to afford clothes (and using public transportation) but aware of the
latest pieces of cultural production (movies).125

Figure 9Example of Chanel fragrance advertisement at a bus stop

Source: ‘Keira Knightley in a New Promotional Poster Campaign for Chanel’s...’,

Getty Images, accessed 2 June 2020, https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/keira-
knightley-in-a-new-promotional-poster-campaign-for-news-photo/595259220. 126

124
Joe Wright, Anna Karenina, Drama, Romance (Universal Pictures, Focus Features, Working Title Films,
2012).
125
Jackie Wattles, ‘Chanel Reveals Earnings for the First Time in 108-Year History’, CNNMoney, 22 June
2018, https://money.cnn.com/2018/06/22/news/companies/chanel-revenue-earnings-financials/index.html.
126
‘Keira Knightley in a New Promotional Poster Campaign for Chanel’s...’, Getty Images, accessed 2 June
2020, https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/keira-knightley-in-a-new-promotional-poster-
campaign-for-news-photo/595259220.

46
 Another similar example is more properly connecting us to the point of status difference
between luxury clothing and luxury beauty production even if it is the subsidiary of the same
brand. On the picture below (Figure 10) is another bus stop with the perfume advertisement of
the luxury brand Dolce & Gabbana. In this advertisement the main shooting star is Emilia
Clarke and she became “the face” of the brand (September 2018) right after she finished
shooting for the final season of Game of Thrones tv series.127 In June 2014, HBO announced
Game of Thrones the most successful series in its history: an average of 18.4 million viewers
watched each episode of the fourth season. Besides the fact that this advertisement was
distributed internationally, the attached photo of the bus stop was made in Malta.128 Malta was
one of those destinations where this TV show was filmed. In these 2 examples of shooting
movie stars for fashion brands can be observed how brands are trying to engage mass
consumers for buying fragrances which they can afford. Connecting this to photographers we
can say that this type of collaboration can relate their work for mass production even though it
was made for a luxury brand.

Figure 10 Example of Dolce & Gabbana fragrance advertisement at a bus stop

Source: ‘Media & PR – C+M Marketing’, accessed 2 June 2020,

http://www.cmmarketing.com.mt/media-pr/.129

127
Bridget March, ‘Exclusive: Emilia Clarke on Finding Self-Confidence (and the Perfect Red Lipstick)’,
Harper’s BAZAAR, 4 September 2018, https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/beauty/fragrance/a22908975/emilia-
clarke-beauty-interview/.
128
FashionNetwork com UK, ‘Kit Harington and Emilia Clarke Star in D&G’s The One Perfume Ad’,
FashionNetwork.com, accessed 2 June 2020, https://uk.fashionnetwork.com/news/Kit-harington-and-emilia-
clarke-star-in-d-g-s-the-one-perfume-ad,868312.html.
129
‘Media & PR – C+M Marketing’, accessed 2 June 2020, http://www.cmmarketing.com.mt/media-pr/.

47
 At the same time, in the examples above we were able to see, how collaborations which
are providing big money for photographers can increase their economic capital but decrease
the symbolic one.
Let us move to the economic capital characteristics of fashion magazines and how they
affect the network status of photographers who are publishing there. On Figure 11 we can see
that the most significant feature which has a positive effect of 0.3 points on a photographers’
status in the network is an interaction of editorial type of photoshoot for independent magazines
(b = 0.3, CI = 0.006, 0.72, p <.01). On the other hand, there is another type of work which can
increase a network status of the photographer. For example, advertorial photoshoots
(advertisement which was made specifically for magazines) for non-independent magazines
having a positive effect on a status in a professional network increasing it to 0.315 points (b =
0.315, CI = 0.046, 0.585, p <.1). Another significant variable in this model is the number of
magazine issues per year. Here it has a negative effect and each extra issue per year will
decrease the status of the photographer on 0.94 (b = -0.94, CI = -2.03, 0.2, p <.05). This variable
can be related to the authenticity of the magazines where photographers are publishing their
works. For example, independent zines where the main focus is on a fashion representation in
a way of art can publish 1-2 issues per year. On the opposite side monthly or weekly magazines
can be focused on a commercial side of the work, have more financial resources and
responsibilities to fulfill their issues with advertisements.

48
 Figure 11 Linear model on photographers’ symbolic status and magazines

Source: Own calculations

Further in the work, we checked what kind of cooperation photographers lead to further
prospects in the labor market, namely, participation in the brand’s advertising campaign. First,
brands and magazines were divided into 2 theoretical groups, one of which has a legitimate
status in the fashion market, and the second with a low status in this field. This was
accomplished using the structural equivalence method, which defines groups with similar
patterns of network formation. It refers to the extent to which two nodes are connected to the
same others -- i.e., have the same social environments. It is often hypothesized that structurally
equivalent nodes will be similar in other ways as well, such as in attitudes, behaviors or
performance.
Then we looked at how brands differ in their external characteristics in two groups. For
this, a logistic regression model was constructed, the dependent variable in which was a binary
indicator of what criteria of the employer (brand or magazine) affect the photographer’s entry
into a high-status group (Figure 12).

49
 Figure 12 Logistic model on photographers’ high-status group and brands

Source: Own calculations

The model above demonstrates the same control variables as economic characteristics
of brands as well as how recent photographers started working for the brand. As a result, we
can see that one of the significant factors which have an influence on the presence of the
photographer in the professional sub community with the high status is the year of
collaboration. It means that the photographer has almost 28% less chances to be in the statused
group if her/his collaboration was in recent times rather than some years ago (Odds ratio = .729
b = -0.316, CI = -0.346, 0.196, p<.01). Similar pattern can be observed with the variable “the
brand is present in top 100 brand ranking”, which also decreases chances of photographer to
be in a high-status group nearly on 23% (Odds ratio = .779 b = -0.249, CI = -0.444, -0.054,
p<.05). Another significant variable is the brand category “mass market brand”. Following the
dataset, if a photographer will have a collaboration with the mass market brand regardless the
industry (clothing, beauty, accessories or other) it can decrease her/his chances to be in a high
statused community on 30% (Odds ratio = .704 b = -0.35, CI = -0.612, -0.089, p<.05). On the
other hand, there is a significant variable which is increasing chances of photographers to be

50
in a group of a high-status community. If collaboration will be with the brand of the retail
group, then probability to be classified as a high-status professional increase nearly by 5%
(Odds ratio = 1.046 b = 0.045, CI = -0.089, 0.180, p<.05).
The connection of magazines and photographers demonstrates control variables as
economic characteristics of magazines as well as how recent photographers started shooting
for them (Figure 12). One important observation here is that the same significant variable which
was in the previous model of brands factors (year of collaboration). It shows that the
photographer has almost 29% less chances to be in the statused group if her/his collaboration
was in recent times rather than some years ago (Odds ratio = .715 b = -0.334, CI = -0.348,
0.321, p<.01). The confirmation of this we received during interviews:

“I was more in contact with the independent magazines. I was starting in the 1980s and these
magazines were open to my work, and we both grew up in a way, so it was a good place to
be.”130

Another significant variable which decreases photographers’ chances to be in a group

with a high status is a not independent magazine. So, if the photographer will publish her/his
work in the magazine which is under a publishing house, it will reduce the chances of getting
into a status group by 44% (Odds ratio = .567 b = -0.567, CI = -0.927, 0.206, p<.01). At the
same time, if the magazine is independent, it increases chances of publishing there
photographer to be in a high-statused cluster on almost 38% (Odds ratio = 1.379 b = 0.322, CI
= -0.971, 0.448, p<.01).

130
Photographer 11, Personal Interview.

51
 Figure 13 Logistic model on photographers’ high-status group and brands

Source: Own calculations

Despite the fact that commercial work with brands and the submission of photos are
different from economic outcomes and can seem disconnected, magazines which have higher
symbolic positions require photographers to use clothes from more expensive brands, avoiding
mass-market:

“After being fired from the position of a studio assistant I found a “9-17” job as an e-commerce
photographer in a very big luxury department store, it's kinda Selfridges but for Poland. It
provided me opportunities to use Gucci, Balenciaga and everything for my editorial
photoshoots. I used to buy clothes in Zara, H&M or even Net-a-Porte for the photo shoot, and
then returned them. Everybody did that. Actually, it happens all the time, 60% of editorials are
like that. If you use only H&M and other mass market clothing, you won't be published in very
good magazines, even if your photos are the best.”131

131
Photographer 1, Personal Interview.

52
 This leads us to the issue of goods accessibility based on the personal economic capital
background of photographers. In the introductory section about fashion photography field
organization we provided differences between commercial and editorial photography. There
some photographers mentioned that the former one aggregates most of the money in it, while
the latter one is a platform for artistic expression. However, fashion photography for this aim
also requires a lot of funding, but internal. At this step we are facing two generalized cases,
how people entering fashion photography can afford working on creative photo sessions. The
first examples will be focused on how family background can help settle in the professional
field and find yourself.

“Photography in the beginning was for very wealthy people. People who invented photography
were lords and gentlemen who took it as a kind of hobby, and it's still connected to wealthy
white people, who had family back up. Luckily my family were quite middle-class, and
supported me for a while, so I didn't need to earn a lot of money. I was just privileged in a way.
I guess is still the case, if you don't have the support, or you have to do a job not connected,
then you’re not going to be lucky enough to fulfil your promise or continue to working on
something you'd hope to work on. But I do have to make a living. I need to keep my son in
bagels and chocolate spread and mobile phones.”132

“I had the studio work, which was full time and then I was shooting tests for models. That
helped but my parents did help me as well. I was very lucky in that sense, but I was working all
the time. My parents helped me out because I didn't go to university, so they were happy to
spend what they would have on university instead.”133

On the other side we have people who had to find external resources for earning money
as working on several jobs, both to sustain their lives and to have money on making editorials.
Sometimes it can be a work without requirements of a specific skill set in a service sector, such
as waitressing.

“In New York, I worked as a waitress at a restaurant, for probably over a year, to pay my bills.
I was so broke, and city was expensive, even back then. I worked part-time at the studio. That

132
Photographer 5, Personal Interview.
133
Photographer 2, Personal Interview.

53
was the best way to learn the name of the equipment in English because I learned everything
in Japanese. And networking too.”134

“I was a waiter at some point and a receptionist for a few months in an art gallery. I was really
lucky to find a job in e-commerce because since the beginning I always wanted to be a
photographer. Not a lot of people have that luck.”135

“Most students working part time to finance the film costs. To unnecessarily waste an image
meant we were wasting our time, so I focused on making sure each image I took was one that
was well calculated, composed and captured.”136

On the other hand, some of photographers found external job in another professional
field which is not connected to photography at all:

“I decided to get a job outside of photography to supplement my income. I've worked as an

editor for press releases on a Newswire service, proofreading and editing documents overnight
and then doing photography during the day. Now I'm doing business development at a law
firm. At this point, I'm dedicating my efforts to only doing photography towards an art way, so
I can make a book or, or have a show of work at a gallery or museum years from now.”137

“I did some DJing many years ago and I often paint at home just for myself. I like cinema very
much so I'm writing scripts for short films as well.”138

At the same time, some photographers combine fashion photography with external
work in interrelated field, such as photo editing and filmmaking:

“Throughout the beginning of my photo career I was editing commercials, I worked for ad
agencies. I do my photo projects on the weekend. And even now I think it's important for your
brain to keep a portfolio of different types of jobs that you're always working on. It's important
to mix it up and keep it diverse and to understand that it is a real privilege to be making money

134
Photographer 6, Personal Interview.
135
Photographer 1, Personal Interview.
136
Photographer 3, Personal Interview.
137
Photographer 12, Personal Interview, 10 March 2020.
138
Photographer 11, Personal Interview.

54
in photography. If something comes along, maybe it's good to make some money, to learn a
new skill.”139

“I am working on making my first film soon. My reason for it is just to make a good film,
something inspiring and fun. But my main focus is photography.”140

Social Capital and Importance of Previous Connections

In this section of the chapter we will examine the role of social connections in the
professional field and career trajectories. Both Bourdieu and Coleman emphasized the
“elusiveness” of social capital compared to other forms of capital.141 While economic capital
lies in bank accounts, and human capital is concentrated in the heads of people, social capital
is inherent in the social structure of interactions. Social capital is a resource that an actor must
constantly relate to his environment. The individual has social capital in relation to others, and
these others should really be sources of satisfying their needs. While James Coleman focuses
on the network density of social capital, Roland Burt highlights the opposite. In his
understanding, social capital is a relative freedom from connections, designated as “structural
holes”, which makes individual mobility possible.142 This is because dense networks will
redirect redundant information, while weaker networks can serve as sources of new knowledge
and resources. Mark Granovetter agrees with him, the main thesis of whom is that connections
of 2nd and 3rd circles are a great resource for obtaining benefits.143
This sub-chapter will be divided into two parts. The first one is devoted to formal connections
while in the second one we will talk about the role of informal networks into career growth.

Formal Networks

Professional environment plays a role in a constantly developing network of

connections between institutions, people and resources. Our interviews with photographers
show that one of the ways to dive into the professional community is to find work as an assistant
in a photo studio or for the specific photographer. Those who worked in photo studios note that

139
Photographer 7, Personal Interview.
140
Photographer 8, Personal Interview.
141
James S. Coleman, ‘Social Capital, Human Capital, and Investment in Youth’, in Youth Unemployment and
Society (New York, NY, US: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 34–50,
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511664021.004.
142
Ronald S. Burt, Structural Holes (Harvard University Press, 1995).
143
Mark S. Granovetter, ‘The Strength of Weak Ties’, American Journal of Sociology 78, no. 6 (1973): 1360–
80.

55
this provided technical knowledge and acquaintances with various participants in the
professional field (makeup artists, stylists, etc.). At the same time, those who worked for the
"star" - already established photographers -- could use this name. However, both ways of
entering the professional field of photography provide connections with other people in the
field.

“Hi, my name is X, I just graduated, I’ll do anything”, and got assistant work. I met people, I
did all jobs, publish assistant, freelance assistant for different people, interior designer, still
life, high fashion, catalogue. A whole mix of people, and then I met my mentor Damyon Mardel.
Creative director of one shoot told as a joke to him: “I wish I could steal X from you for this
model project”. Damien was like, “you should steal X, she is better than any other
photographer anyway” and that’s how I got my first job.”144

“I moved to London and I started working at a studio called “Spring” which is one of the big
studios here and I saw all the different photographers, all kinds of top people and how they
organize their work and had good technical training.”145

On the other hand, the experience of photographers who were assisting already
established photographers in the beginning of their career is different. On the one hand it helped
them to connect with the professional field, while for others it was just a technical experience:

“I did not participate in mentorships or internships. However, I assisted David LaChapelle for
a very short time as a 4th assistant. I learned how to handle a larger shoot by working with
him. Though it did not help with networking. No one on those big shoots cares about the
ambitions of some assistant. You are there to assist and learn what you can. I got what I wanted
out of it and then I left and started pursuing my own dreams.”146

“The first person I worked for was Deborah Turbeville. She was quite an important figure
probably in the 70s and 80s. She is quite famous doing the set of pictures called “The bathhouse
scene”. She took me under her wing when I was 20 years old in 1984 in New York. Also, I
worked as an assistant in studios, with lots of different people and on the streets of New York

144
Photographer 6, Personal Interview.
145
Photographer 2, Personal Interview.
146
Photographer 8, Personal Interview.

56
for mainly commercial fashion photographers which was an exciting time to be. You know, 20
y.o. or 22 y.o.. When I got deported from NY back to London for working illegally, magazines
there liked my mix of working experience and what I could do.”147

The same photographer is mentioning the importance of clusters and gatekeepers in this
field, especially in the process of evaluating someone’s work. These communities secretly track
who and what work is being done to know who can be selected into their circles and who is
lower in the status hierarchy:

“I guess there are hidden groups of people. If you work with someone, they whisper, “I worked
with this person, they were easy, their work was good”. So it’s kind of hidden, I won’t say
mafia, but clique, but it’s like a gossip world, where people say these guys are very good.
There’s lots of little cliques and connections between people at the top of the world of
commercial work, or fashion, especially. It’s difficult to enter, probably, and it's quite secretive,
probably, as well.”148

For some of the photographers helpful were institutions where they were working. For
example, for the editorial scene professional connections could grow because of recognition of
magazines where person has published, and then the professional community who saw the
work in magazines started to invite these photographers for work:

“In the mid 2000s I met the people at Bat magazine that led me to the shoots for the
gentlewoman. It opened the field for me, I was very exposed to the fashion world because
everyone was seeing these magazines and they loved it. I was recognized and people asked me
more to work with them because of that.”149

“I worked with Justin Ridler for a while, Derek Henderson for a bit and then landed with Chris
Colls. I got in with Chris at the right time as 10 months later he would get his first US based
job, lending him a US agent who wanted him to move to New York. With this new hype behind

147
Photographer 4, Personal Interview.
148
Photographer 4.
149
Photographer 11, Personal Interview.

57
his name he agreed to sponsor his team of assistants so I got a US working visa and moved to
New York!”150

Nevertheless, for commercial photography “word of mouth” between brands was also
important in finding connections to find clients:

“I started working as a freelancer reaching out to different brands, doing a lot of research on
new emerging brands based in New York on Instagram. I got some jobs through
recommendations, so I started doing a bit of e-commerce photography for some brands and
then these brands recommended me to other brands that needed lookbooks and campaigns, so
I got the jobs mostly through contacts and connections that are made.”151

Moving forward from the beginning of the career it is worth mentioning the importance
of professional connections and formal networking within the professional community during
the whole time. For example, working on the same project with the person (another
photographer, stylist, makeup artist etc.) who has more power and status can add points into
the portfolio and make photographers more recognizable:

“I shot something recently with a stylist called Charles Jeffrey, who's a big player, at least in
the London editorial scene. So, this would be the first time where I have a big name attached
to me. I've done nice work in the past, but this is where the kind of names get bigger.”152

“I did some work for Japanese magazines as Dazed and Confused etc. and sometimes they
have paid editorials where a company or brand will pay them to highlight the brand in a way
that doesn't look like an advertisement. Then Netflix in Japan noticed me there and we did an
advertorial, but it looked like an editorial. Like if you open the magazine flip through it. You
wouldn't think this is an ad for Netflix.”153

The next stage of the analysis was to look not at the status on the labor market in the
fashion sector, but at career paths themselves. To track such transitions, we took a subsample

150
Photographer 3, Personal Interview.
151
Photographer 9, Personal Interview.
152
Photographer 2, Personal Interview.
153
Photographer 12, Personal Interview.

58
of four time periods from 2016 to 2019. This data was used in the decision trees algorithm
CART. In this model the final outcome was a participation in the advertising campaigns of
brands with the division into high and low statused organizations (which was done by the same
method of structural equivalence division). In addition to that photographers who did not obtain
an advertisement partnership goal were also kept in a dataset, to see the difference in career
pathway patterns. This paradigm of the commercial partnership outcome was taken based on
the results of interviews with fashion photographers. Most of them were mentioning this as the
factor of stability and opportunity not only to sustain their life but also to have money for their
artistic expression.
Let us look at the decision tree model below (Figure 14). Here we can see predictors as
editorial and cover photoshoots in 2016-2019, contracts for brand advertisements in 2018 and
number of followers on Instagram as a feature of popularity in non-professional communities.
The signs “+” and “-” were used as a symbol for the symbolic group, meaning high-status and
low-status agents, respectively. In the figure it can be observed that advertisements for the
companies with low symbolic positions in the professional network is more likely to be if the
photographer has more than 20870 followers on Instagram. It is also accompanied by the fact
that she/he does not have a lot of published editorials in the same year (less than 5), does not
have any editorial photoshoots in 2016 and 2017, but has less than 4 covers in 2019. However,
another reason why photographers have advertisement collaborations with low-statused brands
is because they already had this work in the year before and did not have any artistic
photographic work (editorials) in 2016.
On the other hand, we have collaborations with brands which have a high symbolic
position in the professional field. The first important threshold for this work can be popularity
of Instagram profile, for a broadened audience (more than 241.400 followers) and a background
in creative photoshoots (editorials) in high-statused magazines the year before. In case the
photographer is not popular on social media, it is still important to have a smaller number of
followers (around 10000) and between 2-5 editorial photoshoots the year before. To sum up,
trajectories for obtaining positions in the high-statused commercial fashion world is based on
“super” popularity either on a local popularity where in both cases it is important to have
independent experience in more artsy photoshoots.

59
 Figure 14 Decision tree on commercial collaborations in 2019 outcome

Source: Own calculations

Table 3 List of feature importance for the decision tree model on commercial collaborations
in 2019

Source: Own calculations

Following stories of photographers' career trajectories, shooting covers for fashion

magazines rather than doing editorial photoshoots can be considered as a status recognition
factor. To see how previous career experience and collaborations can lead to be commissioned
for shooting covers, we made another CART decision tree model. Figure 14 there shows a tree
with the similar structure as in the previous one, but instead of outcomes of advertisements it
60
is predicting collaborations for shooting covers for high and low statused magazines as well as
shows results if photographers did not have any covers.
The main feature in this model is any editorial photoshoots in low-statused magazines
in the same year as an outcome variable. When photographers had no editorials in 2017 and
2018 but had 1-8 of them in 2019 it is more likely that photographers had a cover in a low-
statused magazine. On the other hand, for having cover collaborations in magazines with a low
symbolic position in the field it is important that photographers have some audience on social
media (more than 10240 followers on Instagram) or already have some covers shooted for low-
statused magazines the year before. If a photographer was shooting covers in 2019 for high-
statused magazines, it is more likely that she/he has more than 3 editorial photoshoots for high-
statused magazines the year before but did not have any of them in 2017, so it means that
photographer was in the A-list and world of periodic could hear about this person the year
before invitation. Besides that, if a photographer did not have any editorials or took 2 of them
but had cover photoshoots in 2018, it led this person to the work on cover photoshoots for
magazines which are symbolically recognized. This model shows similar generalizations as the
previous one. It can be seen that the network position of affiliations where the photographer is
working, has influence on her/his future career pathway. However, both cover photoshoots for
high-status magazines and advertisements for high-status brands require experience of creative
editorial production in magazines from the same cluster.

Figure 15 Decision tree on cover photoshoots in 2019 outcome

Source: Own calculations

61
 Table 4 List of feature importance for the decision tree model on cover photoshoots in 2019

Source: Own calculations

Informal Networks

Previously we saw that professional connections can predetermine the next career
pathway, however, following Pierre Bourdieu’s framework of how people can convert their
social capital, informal connections with family and friends can be helpful in obtaining work.
Next examples of narratives illustrate the role of informal connections in the field of fashion
photography.
One of the most interesting findings is focused on the beginning of a career in fashion
photography. Some people entered the field because they were asked to do test shots for model
agencies where some of the models were their friends.

“My career started by accident. I photographed a friend who was a signed agency model. Her
agency really liked the pictures, so they asked if I would shoot more of their models. Before
that I was doing primarily landscapes and street photography.”154

“In my last years in the university in Barcelona, I started doing portraits of my friends and of
senior students. I started working with some of them, so as a result my work was placed on
covers of music albums they were recording. After that other musicians started calling me and

154
Photographer 8, Personal Interview.

62
so I did a lot of portraits for musicians at that time. This caught the attention of some
brands.”155

“I've been very lucky because, for example, Vogue contacted me or you knows of French
President Mr. Jacques Chirac (he was a minister at that time). He contacted me because I had
a beautiful car. I was on the on the beach with this car and Mr. Chirac also was there and he
asked me to try it. Then he asked me what am I doing? And I told him that I am a photographer.
After a moment, he called me and they asked me, if I can make his picture for the presidential
campaign?”156

“I discovered two German models and I did everything for Claudia Schiffer and Carla Bruni.
Carla was my friend and before I was living with Cecilia, she was my girlfriend. She was
married later with Mr. Sarkozy. Also, since I discovered Claudia, I've been married with her
another friend -- German model. I think in this time for 30-40 years I have been happy with
all chances, as being photographer of a French president and working with many top models.
Then people nonstop started picking me to do shoots for Dior, Chanel.”157

At the same time friendship ties with people in the same professional community can
lead to invitations either for making collaboration together or to be a bridge between two
friends in the field and connect them if one person is looking for a project to work on and some
team is looking for someone with skills which this person has. This process can be described
as building a trust platform inside the community which is also connected to reputation.

“It really does become sort of a lifestyle. A lot of my friends are photographers or work in film.
And it's not like we all get together and we are nerding out all the time. I can ask some people
for advice and have a meeting and be out with people. It really is about pooling your resources.
I'm fortunate that I'm on a group chat with a bunch of other photographers. It's nice just to be
able to reach out to the crowd to say: “Oh, I need like an amazing first assistant for the job
because I definitely don't know how to do some things or I need a lighting wizard to come in
and help me or I need a producer who's really friendly with this type of client”. Or if I have a
job for someone else and I can connect these guys.”158

155
Photographer 11, Personal Interview.
156
Photographer 15, Personal Interview, 20 March 2020.
157
Photographer 15.
158
Photographer 7, Personal Interview.

63
“I would say the fashion industry is a bit informal. People with whom I work on set, hairstylists,
makeup artists, stylists they became friends. We also just go out for drinks and that's a good
occasion to throw out ideas and maybe make them happen. It's like friendship and work but at
the same time, it feels very, very organic.”159

“Usually people are freelance, and they book photographers who are either their friends or
they've worked with before or who they just kind of like. It's a very insular industry with the
word of mouth. If people know who you are, they know your stuff. It's such a saturated industry,
there're so many photographers it's hard for people to know everyone so that's half of it, getting
in front of these people and then seeing you, your work. It can happen by introducing you to
other friends who might know someone who would work well with you. It can work through
going to a party and meeting people, it can just simply be through Instagram.”160

“I met a lot of photographers and makeup artists at the college. When they did makeup, they
came to the studio with their models and we did the shots. Nowadays I work mostly with the
one stylist and the art director, he's the one that has the most contact with international
magazines. I met him a long time ago, he was a classmate of my boyfriend. In the company
where I work, they were looking for a stylist, and I approached him for this role. We also
started to do editorials together and the hairstylist in these photoshoots is my boyfriend of 10
years. A lot of people in this industry in Poland know each other. You can say hi and ask if we
can do something together and it usually works. But it's kind of separate from the commercial
photography world because those people try to do art.”161

“I was friendly with a lot of people who had worked at models.com so I shot for them a long
time ago, like 2013 and I did some work in 2018.”162

On the example below we will be able to see how friendship connections from the place
where a person was studying led her to a whole other level – an invitation to teach at the
university:

159
Photographer 9, Personal Interview.
160
Photographer 2, Personal Interview.
161
Photographer 1, Personal Interview.
162
Photographer 12, Personal Interview.

64
“A friend of mine from one of the schools started working as a social media for the New York
Film Academy. They were looking for the workshop teacher there and my friend suggested my
candidate to them. They asked me to do a trial lesson in front of the faculty and then they said,
Okay, let's let's go.”163

Moreover, through the friendship connections reachability to some established people

in the field can be much easier:

“From my circle of friends in the same year were the current 1st assistants of David Sims,
Steven Meisel and Craig McDean.”164

Cultural Capital

The next variable which is under our interest is cultural capital. We will investigate how
educational background and knowledge influence the career of fashion photographers. A
significant part of my sample for the interview was telling that they started their degree in arts
or film before they entered their current professional field, and after that shifted their education
to the photography. So, we will be able to observe in the examples below that the main concern
for photographers during their education is technical skills:

“I studied Fine Arts, but during last years I chose the speciality in image, more related to
photography and cinema. I attended the University in the mornings, and then in the evenings I
went to film school, to complement my knowledge. It was very much oriented towards image at
the end, more than drawing and painting all that”165

“I guess at school I was mostly into art, but I was very impatient, and I never finished any of
my paintings and drawings. And my teacher gave me a camera and from that onwards I was
really into it.”166

“At high school I accidentally ended up with a photography major instead of arts. Then I went
to BA in Commercial Photography program at RMIT University in Melbourne Australia. I’d

163
Photographer 9, Personal Interview.
164
Photographer 3, Personal Interview.
165
Photographer 11, Personal Interview.
166
Photographer 4, Personal Interview.

65
heard a ton about this degree and the success of photographers who had gone here over the
years. During my 2nd year of studies I had an experience of assisting photographers in Sydney
which reaffirmed my suspicion that my fashion photography lecturer at university knew nothing
relevant about lighting, capture or conceptual processes when applying it to image making.
So, I rebelled and chose to quit at the end of 2nd year to pursue assisting full time.”167

“I studied film (cinematography and directing in film school), which was more valuable to me
personally. My interests in the visual arts started with film. Cinematography courses are much
more vigorous and technical than photography courses, so it helped me greatly from a
technical standpoint.”168

On the other hand, some photographer either were sure about their career pathway from
the beginning, either decided to change specialization, but went directly to the photography
schools:

“I quit the lawyer job in Milan and moved to New York. I went to the International Center of
photography, which is more of a fine art school. To pursue skills and to be in this
environment.”169

An important part to pay attention in this sub-section is a feature of informal educational

background, which goes from the family backgrounds and incorporated into the persons’ skills,
so they are able to easily operate with it in future career pathway.

“When I finished high school, I knew what I wanted to do in my life. My grandmother was
doing photography and since childhood I was practicing it. I decided to go to Warsaw to study
photography in college.”170

“I went to the School of Visual Art and Photography in Japan. I started photography when I
was in high school. After that I went to the high school in California. I really liked the dark

167
Photographer 3, Personal Interview.
168
Photographer 8, Personal Interview.
169
Photographer 9, Personal Interview.
170
Photographer 1, Personal Interview.

66
room, the processing, the printing and stuff. I just enjoyed it so much in high school to the point
I got obsessed.”171

Professional Lifestyle

Another important part of the photographers’ career are obstacles from which they are
going through to enter this professional field, to find their way of creative expression and to be
recognized. In this part, we will investigate what photographers were facing during their work.
Previously we were mentioning tendencies of smoothed borders between work and
leisure time. It is a quite popular model of lifestyle, when photographers’ time is mixed:

“I work all the time. I love to work. Work is leisure. Leisure is work. I rarely take vacations.
Even when I do, I put in work. This is my life.”172

“I wouldn't necessarily separate those two things in my case because it's always some kind of
networking. Even when I'm on vacation, or during my free time I like to retouch photoshoots
on Sundays. I’m taking a coffee, and my laptop, and I consider it my free time. I'm doing this
with pleasure. Also, when I'm going on short or longer holidays, it's usually with my friends
who are my colleagues.”173

“It is helpful to kind of have your social life as your work life, you know, going to these parties,
socializing these people, all that stuff, it is helpful to do more of it.”174

We cannot see that mix of work life and free time perceived as something damaging
the psychological balance, but still it is a feature of the lifestyle, which can bring ideas, money
and so on. At the same time continuous changing of activity can be perceived as a pleasant
working creative activity during the leisure time.

“Sometimes you work a lot and it can be a very nonstop month, and then you have some weeks
that are freer.”175

171
Photographer 6, Personal Interview.
172
Photographer 8, Personal Interview.
173
Photographer 1, Personal Interview.
174
Photographer 2, Personal Interview.
175
Photographer 11, Personal Interview.

67
“I have plenty of friends that have nothing to do with photography. Also, I used to bring all the
cameras when I’m on holiday, but now I just want to enjoy the moment. I want to enjoy the
moment with friends and conversation, rather than always looking for what I can shoot for my
creative outlet.”176

176
Photographer 6, Personal Interview.

68
Conclusion

The research was focused on the career trajectories of fashion photographers within
professional networks in the 1990s-2020s. Following the framework of Pierre Bourdieu, the
main strategy was to explore the role of different forms of capitals in the process of career
development of fashion photographers. The variable which was under investigation is symbolic
status within the professional community which was considered as a factor of recognition and
legitimacy. As it was said before, control variables for this research included features of
economic capital (parameters of magazines and brands with whom the photographer was
working as well as her/his economic background), social capital (formal and informal
connections with other people) and cultural capital (profession relevant knowledge and
educational background).
To answer the research question, we were following the mixed methods approach and
balanced social network analysis part with semi-structured interviews with fashion
photographers. While computational tools provided an opportunity to investigate the role of
professional ties, interviews helped to look into narratives of career trajectories and informal
networks through university experience, friendship, family relations and so on.
To sum up, we can say that this industry is characterized by its rapid growth over recent
decades, especially with the inclusion into the internet media field. However, through the
literature review and then looking into the analysis it can be observed that some patterns of
legitimization are remaining the same. For example, one of the most important things to be
noticed for photographers is to publish in independent magazines. On the one hand it will help
photographers to find her/his way of artistic style which will be noticeable in future. On the
other hand, it will help to connect to various professionals within the industry such as stylists
or makeup artists etc. For example, they can either connect them with other working
opportunities using their contacts or to be the name by which a person will be recognized and
build a network of trust. Following the analysis, it can be seen that networks predetermine
professional connections for the future. If a person initially focused on work as a way of
earning, rather than on a field for creativity, then he will either cooperate with low status agents,
or will be thrown out of the professional field.
The field of fashion photography performs as a complex structure, where the role of
forms capitals and ability to convert them is highly important. During the analysis we found
out that photographers are not receiving any external financial support to make editorial
(artistic) photoshoots and have to fund by themselves. However, to find commercial work for

69
recognized brands they need to produce a significant number of editorial photoshoots with high
quality production (including lux brands and “famous” people in the crew), so they need a lot
of money to do that either social connections. For example, stylists with whom a photographer
is a friend can find clothes, which will be accepted by magazines.
It is worth mentioning the beginning of the career and how people are entering the field. Some
people started to do fashion photography because their friends are connected to the fashion or
creative field and were asking them to do photos (models with assigned agencies or musicians).
At the same time, trying to dive into the profession and fashion photography field in general
some people are going to the photography studios as assistants and some of them are finding
established photographers and working for this person. In cases where people were gaining
experience in studios, the most popular opinion about it was that it gave a lot of technical
knowledge and connections to different people in the industry. Also, those, who had an
experience of assisting an established photographer or working with a statused person in the
field were saying that the recognizable name helped with the next career growth.
Although, this study is covering both, big archival data on collaborations of fashion
photographers with magazines and brands, and narratives on career trajectories from interviews
with fashion photographers, it has some limitations. First of all, it is important to keep in mind
importance of collaborative work not only with institutions, but also with other professionals
within the field. In future research perspective it is worth paying attention to career
development of fashion photographers with the accent on team formations and statuses of all
participants, such as stylists, makeup artists and others.

70
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Appendix

Interview Guide

1. How you started your career as a fashion photographer?

2. On what type of shoots are you mostly working on? Advertisements, editorials? Was it
different at the beginning of your career?

3. How the system of invitation to participate in a project is working?

4. Do you have any projects which you are considering as a professional breakthrough?
Why? With which magazines/brands/ OR personalities (models, photographers) in a
team were there?

5. Did you have any professional training in photography or arts at some institutions as a
university or college?

77
 a. Was the knowledge from these studies helpful for your career
development?
b. Were peers and teachers helpful as a network resource to find future
work etc? In what way?

6. Did you have any mentorship/internship experience?

. Profit of knowledge from it
a. Profit for network resources

7. How does your work schedule look like? In which parts it’s overlapping with your
leisure activities?

8. How project-based type of work reflects some uncertainties? How it was at the
beginning of the career and how’s it now?

9. Do you have any other professional activities besides fashion photography? Reasons
for it: money, interest, connections with people or something else?

78
Networks Visuals

Figure 1 Collaboration networks by year -- Commercial shooting for brands

Source: Own calculations

79
Figure 2 Collaboration networks by year -- Magazines covers

Source: Own calculations

80
Figure 3 Collaboration networks by year -- Magazines editorials

Source: Own calculations

81
Figure 4 Collaboration networks by year -- Magazine advertisements

Source: Own calculations

82