Would you do you have to start your career as a fashion photographer today.  
This is one of the questions our guests is about to answer.

You’re listening to The Fashion Photography Podcast, and my name is Virginia and I’m a fashion advertising photographer, and also the host of this podcast, along with George, the producer of the show.
Every Wednesday, we’re arranging a meeting between you and some of the top artists in the industry.
And every other Friday, I’m answering your questions. And of course, I’m giving you some tips and little tricks.

Our guest today has been on the market more than 10 years.
So today we’ll talk about their rapid changes in the industry and How instead of quantity – nowadays, we have to deliver quantity.
We’re also playing my most favorite game. So Daniel will have to imagine making his very first vault cover.
And this way will understand what would be the steps of an experienced photographer creating such an important a story.
And you will get the chance to imagine the same your photo on the cover of a magazine.
And this by the way can easily become a reality if you submit your fashion or beauty editorial to our friends from Lucy’s magazine.

So photography lovers, I think it’s time to start!

Daniel Matallana
Hello, my name is Daniel Matallana. I’m a fashion photographer and videographer based in New York.

Virginia Y
But you haven’t been based there always. Right?

Daniel Matallana
No, I was born and raised in Colombia. I went to school for cinema in Bogota and while I was studying, almost at the end of my school, I ended up having the chance to do the campaign for a Colombian designer. Oh, it was probably top five at the time. And that gave me the idea that I should just go these way. How did you get the chance to shoot for this designer? approached them? Oh, okay. Yeah, there was a lot of luck. A friend and I we went asking for clothes because we wanted to shoot models. We wanted to start doing fashion and for whatever reason, we ended up talking to the first assistant, then we’re not going to do a campaign for that collection. But we went there and he kind of looked at my portfolio. I was just coming out of school. I really didn’t have much fashion. I had travel. So I had photos of like different cities, urban shoots, but nothing fashion. You know, this is why we’re going to all these designer houses to try to find some clothes to start and to try to start doing PR. And it just happened that we were at the right time in the right place.

Virginia Y
And how many years ago you did that?

Daniel Matallana
This was in 2008.

Virginia Y
Oh, okay. So we have like a proper 10 years. And would you recommend to someone to do it today to approach designers to start work with them?

Daniel Matallana
I think that in these 10 years, things have change so dramatically. I think the way to approach people is completely different. And it also depends on where you are. Because if you’re in New York, there’s no way you can do that. It’s just like, there’s no access to it.

Virginia Y
Well, what would you recommend to people to do if they’re in New York or somewhere else? Because in this podcast, what we’re really trying to do is to help people and I firmly believe that we can be positive and if we’re helping each other, the industry is going to go better. So what would you recommend to someone who is absolutely lost, they are in New York right now or somewhere in the world, and there’s just trying to do their best to go and be part of this industry.

Daniel Matallana
What I can tell you for sure is he doesn’t work the same everywhere. So there is not a recipe for getting these to happen. Because the industries are very different. If you go to Paris, that the leaders, they’re still sometimes small, they still sometimes you get to see these buildings where the designer like jump old with, you’re still working there, and he’s had to do with his people. But if you come to New York, don’t a car and he’s in a building with 1000 people. So the level of reaching Corporation and the way you manage the business is different. Like to get an appointment with don’t a car is not the same as to get an appointment to a big insider in a different country.

Virginia Y
I’m going to spice up the question a little bit in this case? What would you do today if you were starting your business in New York?

Daniel Matallana
These 10 years, I’ve seen the changes of the industry. They’ve been radical. Now more than ever with social media. That’s what I think I would do. Actually. I would focus on social media. Oh, that’s interesting. Would you just do promotions of your work? Would you post more regularly, or maybe you would approach people IDs or something else? I think I would shoot certain type of volume, certain type of work, approach people through social media, try to gain as many followers. That’s why what happened to me 10 years ago is not going to happen again, because the world is so different. In 2008, there was no Instagram. So the world was moving stealing paper when I arrived in New York in 2010. You’ll still go and buy a beautiful portfolio, leather and then you would buy these beautiful sheets and print your photos and send it to magazines that doesn’t exist anymore. So that’s why I’m telling you that it changes so fast and so hard in these not even 10 years in these eight years since I arrived to New York, what happened to me and the way I built myself in the city, it’s just not relevant anymore. You don’t want to come here and start printing a printer portfolio because you’re already out of what’s happening and what’s happening in social media and what’s happening is follow Where’s INSTA grammars and YouTubers and it’s still hard for me to kind of wrap my head around the industry, New York. I went for example to Paris two years ago and met with the photos or vote Paris at the time and we were talking about web and social media and it felt like they were not still there while I’m coming back to New York, and that’s my rush, social media. That’s what’s the most important Virginia for me to tell you is that that’s how different from Paris to New York from Vogue us to vote Paris, it’s super, super different the way they approach it. America has been into pushing for digital. And these are advertising and social media, instant influencers already for a couple years, things that are still not happening as hard in other countries. And that’s shaping and reshaping the industry where we are, I used to shoot for print. So it was important for us to shoot on a beautiful quality. It was important for us to shoot with the best possible camera the best possible lens because it’s going to go printed. You’re going to see all those details. If we go to what’s happening right now most of the stuff is just going to be leaving digital. So your priority has to change from shooting such beautiful quality to shoot more quantity.

Virginia Y
It’s true that the change is quite big. And I was wondering what is the biggest quantity of photos you’ve ever had to shoot? If it’s for an editorial, like maybe 1616 pictures we had to do in one day, and we did it, we made it. But if you do eCommerce or a catalog, sometimes it goes to 7075. Depends on how fast and if you have many models so they can be changing and swapping. I think if we talk about e commerce and we have multiple models, I think it’s a big relief. Actually, yes, because this way, every one of them is bringing something to the table, and you don’t have to direct them that much. I love directing don’t get me wrong, but it’s very energy consuming when you have to also shoot.

Daniel Matallana
If you have only one girl or a guy, you have to wait for her to go change. Yeah, all that time everybody starts. If you have two people or three people, when one is out, getting changed, the other one is already shooting 7075 is a lot of the images, you’re shooting, usually on a tripod, and make every second of the camera account.

Virginia Y
What was the photo shoot and maybe we can see it on your website and the photo shoot that made you feel like you’re not working at all. It was so much fun. It was so amazing that you truly love the process and also the results of it. Is there such work on your website and you can also share with us what’s your website.

Daniel Matallana
My website is matallanastudios.com. And you can guys always find it also in the show notes. work there was no work. In my website, there’s a lot. Man of Metropolis -The cover was fun. It was pure editorial. So we built it as we wanted. We had freedom, the guy that’s using that swimming hat. So what happens with these types of projects is like independent magazine sometimes give you a lot of freedom, you are creating content for them. So you go and you do what you want. And you have control on what you want. And that makes it fun because you are enjoying what you’re doing. You don’t have to do it. You because you want to, on the other side from the commission. commission means they call you because they want to produce this. For example, there’s another story on my website that is for GQ. It has two guys like you know, in a skate park. That was really fun.

Virginia Y
Oh, awesome! Tell us more about the relationship that you have with GQ Mexico because you’re not based in Mexico. So it’s an interesting relationship. And I would love to know more about it.

Daniel Matallana
With GQ Mexico I have a relationship for already a couple years.
What happens is when you’re in New York, you have showrooms for all these major brands that advertising magazines like Vogue, glamour, Harper’s, GQ, all these different brands, they are advertisers for these magazines internationally. So when you’re in New York, you kind of have access to the showrooms, with the collections that are coming. So it’s easy for you to grab clothes that you’re going to feature in a couple months, right. That is the way that the American magazines work. You’re shooting like six months in advance five months in advance the collection that are just coming out of the wrong way. So the story when the story is out. The clothes that they’re showcasing is already in the stores. But there’s time for you to build a story and that’s how it works. So from New York is easy to shoot for magazines that are international, with international brands like a Harper’s Bazaar, because four different countries usually their advertisers are international brands like Prada, Dior, all these brands are usually advertising for magazines like Harper’s or Vogue. And in New York, you have those showrooms. So it’s easy. The relationship with GQ Mexico started through a friend. I did a photoshoot for another Mexican magazine. And the editor of that magazine introduced me to the editor of GQ. That was like three, three or four years ago. And when the editor of GQ man, he came to New York. He called me and he asked me if I wanted to do a story. And we ended up doing to work really nice. We got a really good model called Ali Edwards for the second story. He’s like top model, and it came out really nice. It was very easy to work with them, they like the result. And that just ended up building up into what it is right now where I’ve shot several covers for them. And I should like often, this is so cool.

Virginia Y
And what about the magazines that you have in your portfolio because you have so many of them, and you actually have also a lot of covers. So this is one of the things that I definitely wanted to bring up in this conversation. And I was wondering, do you have like the perfect recipe for a cover shoot?

Daniel Matallana
I don’t think there is a recipe for your covers. I think that if you see the mold, they don’t even look alike. I think that they all should depend on what the stories what the by these what the model. Who’s the model or who’s the artist and what’s the clothes, and you build it through it and also where is going to be printed. Because every magazine has a different static, its own world. So you need to understand what you’re doing. So what you do actually fits the magazine. Cosmo should not be sharp like bow, because the readers are trying to look for something different. So when you’re shooting for Cosmo, you’re actually looking for something that is more friendly, for something that is more approachable, while when you shoot for Harper’s or for Vogue. In the high end of fashion. Fashion high end is usually more aggressive is more edgy. The models harbor usually not smiling, is not to be approachable is more to be intense and edgy and cool looking more than nice and easy. Every cover has a different approach. You have to move around into the world, which is your personal estetics, you read what you need to do, and then you approach it.

Virginia Y
I was wondering if you shooting the next cover for Vogue, what are the things that you would be super careful about? What are the things that you would do in advance? What would you do on the post? What would be your process if you were shooting the next cover of Vogue?

Daniel Matallana
Which Vogue I’m shooting for? Because every book is different. I’ve never shot for Vogue…

Virginia Y
Which one would you choose?

Daniel Matallana
It depends. If I’m feeling sexy, like shooting something sexy. I would love to shoot for both Paris. The French see the woman like is very sexy. If I want to do something creative and cool and edgy then Vogue Italia. Vogue Italy is very artsy and very interesting.

Virginia Y
So how do you feel at the moment? Do you feel sexy or more creative?
I’ve never thought that I’m going to ask this question in this podcast!

Daniel Matallana
I think right now. I think vo Italia is interesting. I think we’re going through a moment where sexiness is… It’s it’s a complicated thing right now.

Virginia Y
Okay, so let’s stick to Vogue you’re shooting the next cover of Vogur Italy. What would you do from start to finish to make sure that you are going to have the best result possible?

Daniel Matallana
If I really had the chance to shoot a quarter for both, my main thing would be to get the best team. That’s it. I would just focus on getting the best team everything else rolls. If the magazine has their own stylist is easy. If they’re giving you freedom, then I would find somebody who fits. Usually the magazines have themes. So I would like try to see if they give me a theme who would be the fashion editor. That would be my first approach is to see who’s the fashion editor, Executive Director, he is getting an input there and what’s like the mood board and depending on the mood board, then I would look for the best hair makeup and model to achieve the best that possibility I would have to I would put everything in make the best out of it.

Virginia Y
I love that he actually started the with the research because this is something that we repeat very often in this podcast that you need to do your research in advance. So I really appreciate that. You said that you would take a look at the editor, you will know who’s going to be exactly the stylist. I also like the fact that you started giving us some hints. So you will definitely have a mood board. You’re going to have the best team ever. And what about the cover? What are you going to do is going to be the very first photo that you take or maybe you’re going to wait for the model to warm up with a few sets for the editorial that we are giving you in the magazine or you’re just going to start with the cover right away. What would you do?

Daniel Matallana
That is also something that I am pretty loose with. I usually try to start with the easiest of the Luke, whichever is the least important because that’s a good warm up. But there’s a couple models that are very aware or self aware. And they think that the first shot is where the makeup and hair looks the most fresh. So they want to go for cover like that. So I just roll with it. If you’re shooting a quarter for voting Italia, you have a big more than for sure you have a big loyal, we have a big celebrity and you have to roll with them. They have to feel comfortable. You cannot tell them like the core is going to be the last image. If they know that they’re going to feel bad, they’re gonna feel tired and that the cover is not going to be good. Then that’s going to shape the way they act for this whole shoot. If they’re going to be nice, they’re going to be like cranky, it is important to have your team including the model working with you to get the best. And at the end, she’s the one whose face is going to be printed. So you have to be able to be loose. Also, depending on the clothes, many things can happen, maybe the core is going to be with herring, the bathtub inside water, so then you have to live it by the end. It’s case by case and you have to be open to what’s happening around you how the people are feeling it.

Virginia Y
I like the little role play here so I can actually feel that you’re starting to envision this cover. So let’s stick to the bathtub situation because I really love it. And let me ask you here, which is try with different crops?

Daniel Matallana
Usually I try different stuff like get closer… I wouldn’t call it crops I would say different shots were the same loop. So I can come closer I can go go farther I can change the angle, especially if is the cover, I will try as much as I can to have as many possibilities last time us usually Stein what like you have to be careful with. But if I have all the time, I will do as many possibilities because at the end, the more you have to play with the best. Usually what you don’t have is a lot of time.

Virginia Y
How much time would you give to this particular photo and this particular set? What’s the timeframe that it’s acceptable for you to leave for a photo like this? Like for example, you cannot stretch it for two hours because for two hours, oh my God! Your model is going to be so tired. So maybe there is a timeframe for you that you think is acceptable to get the shot.

Daniel Matallana
Usually shouldn’t go more than 20 minutes shooting. Even 20 minutes, just taking photos is a lot of time, you would use that light just to change looks or to do different stuff around the dwell which can be taken, especially if you’re doing a quarter Vogue Italy it can be even farther, because sometimes just things don’t look the way you think there will, when you shoot, it just doesn’t look like that. Then you start changing stuff like the hair is not looking good, the makeup not looking good. Maybe that’s not the look. Maybe we need to change stuff here and there. So it’s not that you’re doing two hours of like, shoot, shoot and shoot is just like you’re preparing the shot. If you’re doing a shot for a magazine like that you take the time it takes with celebrities is different because celebrities have like very limited time and sometimes they give you four hours to do everything and they get late, two hours, so then at the end, you have two hours to do it. Everything. That happens. So that’s why I’m saying, for me, the biggest strength to do this type of work is to be able to adapt quick to whatever happens. There are no rules. There are celebrities that come in, they’re very nice, and they give you extra time. They’re celebrities that arrived late, and they don’t behave very well. They don’t make it very easy. So you have to be able to make it work. And you have to talk to the editor and say, Hey, listen, this person is not making it easy. And you know, I’m doing my work, but I’m going to do as much as I can, and they need to know what’s going on. And we all know what’s happening. We all know that certain people are more difficult than others. But you have to be able to manage it. You have to be able to change. You have to be able to understand that sometimes the person the celebrity of the major model might come and see the clothes and say I don’t like that. If you’re shooting Naomi Campbell. She is managing the set.

Virginia Y
Is the person you want to shoot for your Vogue cover? Who would be your dream person?

Daniel Matallana
Well love to shoot Kate Moss.

Virginia Y
Oh, that’s amazing. I can already envision her in the bathtub!

Daniel Matallana
Well, yeah, that’d be amazing. It’s boring the concept of what things happen. Because as I was telling you is hard to think that there is like a recipe for these is actually I don’t think there’s the recipe here not cooking, where if you put the same amount of salt in the same amount of thing and the same amount of things and you put it in the oven for the same amount of time, you know exactly what’s going to happen because you depend on people and you depend on circumstances. If you’re shooting outside and it rains, or if you’re shooting outside and he’s cloudy and he shoots if you shoot outside and he Sunny, all those who the stances change, you have to be able to adapt.

Virginia Y
I don’t know if there is a recipe but he definitely gives us a taste of your perfect cover and I really, really wish you are going to have it very soon!

Daniel Matallana
Yeah, that’d be beautiful. I don’t know what I would do after that!
It feels like such a dream to get to that place because it’s a very…
It’s the elite of the elite, to get to that point. It’s almost this very little group of 10-15 people in the whole world to get to do that.

Virginia Y
I don’t think it’s impossible because we’ve had like, 80% of those people in our podcast.
The world is small. I need to know what’s gonna happen tomorrow, right?

Daniel Matallana
That’s 100%! Never say never. And you still have to have that as a target and push for it. And if it happens… Amazing.

Virginia Y
I definitely recommend to you I don’t know if you’ve heard the podcast with Domen https://photographypodcast.net/tag/giel-domen/ that we had. But it’s a great podcast and Domen is also amazing. He’s shooting a lot for Vogue Arabia, so you can check out his photos because he’s actually part of the duo DomenVandevelde. But Dolman was our guest here in the podcast and we talked about the Vogue editorials and covers that he’s doing along with his partner, and I really think they’re producing amazing stuff. So maybe you’ll be really inspired by them too.

Daniel Matallana
For sure. I would love to! You’re actually making me think about a lot of stuff. It seems that you get caught by the industry you get caught by your day to day yo u stop forgetting of all your dreams. So you’re making me dream about Vogue Italia, which in my day -t oday, I’m not thinking about that because I’m already enrolled into what I’m doing. But before I came to New York… you’re more aware of like, Oh, that’s where I want to be. That’s where I’m going. Once you get here, you get to the city and you start like working. And then your focus is like, let’s get work. Let’s get editorials. And you start seeing what the processes is. The process is long, it’s a very long process. And I wish for example, with the question that you asked me I wish I had answers for the people that are starting specially not in New York but in different places. But it is confusing for me. Right now the industry is confusing. I’m doing fine. I love my job. I have a nice studio in Manhattan. I have a nice office. My girlfriend works in the industry. She’s a producer for DK and Y. In my day – today I’m being part of what’s happening and everything else. But it’s easy to stop dreaming. It’s easy to get caught on this.

Virginia Y
And as far as I can see, you’re quite busy. And for me, it’s kind of weird because I saw that you have representation by Kate Ryan. Right? And then you have syndication with Art partner. And at the same time they’re representing other people and it was like, Why are you not with our partners representation?

Daniel Matallana
Because Art partner represents a colleague photographers that is…. There like pools of photographers, right like there are different groups, which is what I was trying to say about Vogue Italy. I can shoot chorus for Harper’s Bazaar may equal I can shoot the chorus, maybe for Harper’s Bazaar, Russia, when you get to America or when you go to France – because they are the ones that are the biggest in the industry. Those are the ones that are actually using the biggest of the talent. What it means is not only the most talented people, but it comes with business. These guys doing Gucci campaign, these guys doing this. So there’s like a lot of things that move around for you to be able to get to that place. Not only who you know, but what you have done. And if you see our partner us an agency that represents photographers, they don’t represent many. And the ones they represent are million dollar photographers.
They’re like Mert & Marcus and Glen Luchford and Lachlan Bailey. And the young ones that they represent are photographers that since they were young, that been like hard in the industry. Like Harley Weir. Harley is very young girl, but if you see what she does, she’s very…

Virginia Y
Art partner.

Daniel Matallana
Exactly. So but when you go to Art partner licensing, there’s a lot of photographers that are not part of the roster of Art partners. Our work is being sold through Art partner to magazines and companies because our work is, I would say good enough to be there is just… Art partner.

Virginia Y
Did you approach them by yourself?

Daniel Matallana
I got represented by Art partnerr because the person who was representing me in a different licensing company, she moved to Art partner and she’s not only a good friend of mine, but she likes my work. She enjoys selling my work. I think she’s the first person that believed in me, to be honest. I remember when she was at this other company, which I find to be a great company as well. But I remember when she was moving to these and we had a conversation before because I knew I was going to stay without her like she was going to move to Art partner by yourself. Like there was no way I was coming toArt partner. Again, I was younger. My Portfolio wasn’t there, but I like working with her. She believes in Me and I like working with people that believe in me better than like just people that are great in the industry.

Virginia Y
It’s awesome to have amazing people around you like good humans overall, not just good professionals. But above all good humans.

Daniel Matallana
That’s important for like most of the people that are doing these, they have to meet people. If you’re really good, and your images are beautiful, but you don’t know anyone… You’re not gonna go anywhere. You can be really good, but there’s like too many good people. So after you’re too good, like too many good people, then you have to meet many people and very well connected. This is what’s important. Preparation meets opportunity. What I would do is take that huge opportunity and make the best out of it. Which means even if I don’t have to take $1 I would spend the whole budget in getting the best people because I need to take that chance that I’m getting, and I need to make the best out of it. Once you have that team, getting the best model or getting the best celebrity possible is easy, because they want to be part of it. They know it’s going to be so beautiful and he’s going to add to their image. So if you put your energy in getting your right team, everything else rights, everything else is easy. But you need to be prepared, especially in a city like this, because we’re competing with a lot of people competing for very little spots. In New York, there’s a lot of production, e-commerce, catalogues, editorials, campaigns, but there’s everybody who wants to make it big, big, big, big in the industry come to New York. Amazing photographers from London, Paris, Milan, come to New York to make it big. Not because you cannot make it in Paris, because in New York, there’s like the big campaigns and everything that happened a year.
The brands, the headquarters are happening here, the business side is here. That’s why what I do here, New York might not work in other places. Because you have to manage the business in such a different way. Like here, there’s agencies in other places of the world like in a smaller markets, there’s no agencies because you don’t need to. If you go to Columbia you kind of can call a company and get an appointment with the person who’s managing marketing and it’s easy, it’s more person to person, but here there’re so many people and there’s so much happening, that everything becomes way more organized, and there’s more levels to get to certain point. Your portfolio has to get to the art buyer who’s going to send it to the art director, and they’re getting hundreds of portfolios. Every time I make an editorial, my agency sends the editorial to all the clients because if somebody has an idea to do something similar to what I did, they’re going to call me. They’re going to say, oh, we’re looking to do something like this. That’s, the other thing that happens in New York. They’re very specific. The clients call you because you have something in their portfolio that they want for themselves. In other parts of the world, if you’re a photographer, you can shoot a car, you can shoot a baby, or you can shoot a model or a glass. You’re supposed to be more technical, but here in America, you’re very, very specialized. So if I should women, and there’s a campaign that is for men, and I don’t have men, even if my life and everything works amazing, they would ask – Do you shoot men? Like if he was very different… For me that I come from a different country at the beginning was like – yeah, it’s funny because it’s actually the same. But then when it’s my time, and I’m looking for hair and makeup, to do something very specific, I check on the portfolios, and I look for hair and makeup that have done stuff that is in that style. Because I know that hair makeup sometimes it’s not easy. And because I know that if the hair stylist takes four hours doing the hair, which you don’t know what they’re doing, you’re working with your stylist, they’re usually putting heat in their hair, if they’re doing something, so you don’t know it until it’s ready. You cannot tell them like I don’t like that in the middle. There’s no way to test it until it’s ready. Then they take everything they take the heat, they take the rolls, and then they bring the brush and they brush it five minutes…
BOOM! It is what it is. You just spent four hours. If they didn’t do it, right, just wasted half your day. So that’s why we become very specific. And the agencies is like, Hey, Ryan sells might work as production.

Virginia Y
Weren’t they mad a little bit when you went with Art partner for the syndication?

Daniel Matallana
No because they don’t have syndication. If somebody call them to say it like in a job that I do for them, and they want to extend usage of an image, surely the client would call them because the job was to them. But that’s about it. They don’t have somebody sending photos to clients and sending photos to magazines trying to sell them because what we’re selling in syndications are images that have been produced for something already…

Virginia Y
But can be used for something else too

Daniel Matallana
Let’s say, the swim story was shot for a magazine here in America, but it can also be seen in China. It can also be seen in the Middle East and completely different places where they’re not going to be competing with each other. And that either magazine or that client, they’re getting the content that they need. This is a whole other side of the industry where, for example, if you see Mert & Marcus they are in Art partner, but their syndication is through trunk archive.

Virginia Y
Yeah. Which is even more weird.

Daniel Matallana
It is like a different side of the business. So it’s normal. I would say. You are also a fashion photographer, right?

Virginia Y
Yeah. I do shoot fashion and advertising.

Daniel Matallana
Where are you located?

Virginia Y
Europe. I was born and raised in Sofia, here is my home. I’m in Sofia at the moment, but I’m traveling a lot.

Daniel Matallana
You are based wherever….

Virginia Y
… wherever I have work. But my home is in Sofia. And you sound like you kind of want to be partly in Paris because it sounds like a really like Paris.

Daniel Matallana
I like Paris, I’d like to go more often. I like the way French look at fashion and the way the French look at sexuality. And women. And I think that there’s stuff that is happening in this country (The US) right now that makes it hard. A couple years ago, it was easy. And now it feels like anything you do. You can get in trouble. If the major photographers like Bruce Weber and Mario Testino are having the issues that they’re having. And now it’s complicated. I’m not saying that what they did is right or wrong. There’s a lot of things happening right now not only in fashion, and not only sexually, but people are just throwing names in social media, which is burning people’s careers as well. Sometimes they deserve it and sometimes it’s a little bit irresponsible. And sometimes there’s lack of context on the way things happen. Because when you tweet about someone that says something, and people reach about it, and there’s no context to it, and that person – if they lose their job or their family, and there’s no context on that, that is as well shaping industry. I used to shoot a lot of sexy images. And we did with GQ, the first nude photoshoot for a cover by full nude for the cover of GQ Mexico. It was going to be the cover of January/February 2018. I flew to Mexico we shot 4 Mexican models. When I came back to New York, the whole Mario Testino thing started and they just killed the shoot. Publishers are afraid of taking a misstep to having people in social media backlash. And that’s hardcore in America. So that’s I feel that’s making certain things and certain people more cautious and more cautious sometimes it means like not even doing anything that is a dumb risk. Because it is a risk. It’s always a risk when you have somebody that can come out and say that…. If a model comes and we don’t have a good vibe, or she feels that I’m too rough, like the way I talk or I said something if she’s not moving the way I want… And then I go like “Ughhhh” – like if I have that attitude, which I’m a human, you know, sometimes it happens sometimes you’re annoued at people, and she comes and she calls the agent and she said that I did something inappropriate is gonna go her words against mine. It doesn’t even need to be true, it can hurt you. So you end up being much more cautious. And that also means that you start or stop doing certain stuff. There’s some other stuff that I think that the industry does need to protect women in certain environments more. And I think there’s some changes that have to happen in the industry in terms of not only to protect the women, but also to protect the people in power. Because when you’re in power, it’s going to sound weird, but when you’re in power, you’re also an easy target. Some of the stories are true, but I’m sure that some of the stories are not true. And if you are the person in power, you’re the one who’s going to lose because it’s not legal anymore. It is about people and regular the internet.
That’s giving you a career or not. Remember what I told you when you said like what I will tell somebody who just arrived in New York, to make an Instagram or a YouTube as big as possible. That’s what’s happening. That’s what’s making your career – what people are talking about… How many people are following you? So if people are saying that you should not be working, then a company wouldn’t even wait for you to go to court and defend yourself. But they’re going to stop working with you. And that is a new thing.

Virginia Y
I don’t know if you know down. But actually Mario Testino had a podcast right before the big scandal. There’re just a few episodes of the podcast out. And I think it’s an Apple, and you can listen to it. But right after the scandal, he shut it down. It’s still on, you can find it on Apple podcast. But there are no new episodes.

Daniel Matallana
There’s so much happening. And before you were innocent until they can prove that you’re not. Now it doesn’t matter. Now you’re guilty until you prove you’re innocent. And once you prove your innocence, it doesn’t matter when you’re already guilty in social media. You’re already burned. So that shapes everything that’s happening. That shapes what people are doing. And one of the things that happens with photography is you you’re doing something that you want to feel passionate about. I love sexy fashion, I love W magazine, I love shoes that are like Mario Sorrenti or Mert & Marcus where they see women as attractive, because I’m a streight photographer. So I see women attractive. And I love those images because they make me feel… they bring the sensations. If I see a beautiful like the Carolina Herrera photo of the perfume, I think it was a perfume where this girl with a beautiful dress in like a mansion in pink dress with a flower – that’s pretty. And I see it as a beautiful image, but he’s not making me feel anything. When I see an editorial for W magazine. It’s so sexy, it’s he’s very inspiring. And that’s becoming complicated. And that’s why if I wanted to do something like that, we’ll have to do it for vote Paris or for a French magazine, but in French still love a man and women or men and man and women and women… it doesn’t matter, but they still embrace sexuality and embrace feeling attractive and feeling attracted. You know, it’s a complicated one. You have to know how to navigate it, you have to make sure that everything is not only even correct, but you have to have witness because you want to be in a situation where is your word against somebody else’s?

Virginia Y
It’s complicated, but I think you have kind of figure it out when you can just travel somewhere. That’s the reason why I’m traveling because I like it in Sofia, it’s comfortable for me, my family’s here, most of my friends are here. But he needs travel because I get what I need from my traveling, but I still like where I am in the end. So you can kind of do the same when you’re traveling to Paris to do the things that you like and you want, but you can still stay in the States. Where is your girlfriend and where you have your agency and stable work.

Daniel Matallana
Yes. Also traveling. It’s like studying, you know, you’re seeing cultures you seen architecture. How do I get the cover of Glamour Russia is I went to Russia. I went for the World Cup. It took me a month and a half to be there and travel around the country. I went to a bunch of places in Russia. And in some of those days I went and I met people, I showed them what I do and they were interested and they brought me back to shoot a cover.

Virginia Y
Amazing!

Daniel Matallana
There was nothing more to that.

Virginia Y
Daniel, than your thank you so much for the interview. I want to see big, big thank you. I really do believe that people are going to enjoy it a lot.

Daniel Matallana
Oh, my God, Virginia. Thank you very much! This is the first time I do this. It’s actually interesting. It’s very nice and you have a beautiful voice.

Virginia Y
Oh, thank you. You’re so sweet!

That was it guys. I hope you like the podcast today. And if so don’t forget to subscribe to our show. Next Wednesday will be here with another guest but before that don’t forget to tune in on Friday when I’ll be giving some tips, tricks, and proven recipes. All of the links that we mentioned today you can find on photographypodcast.net along with all of our previous podcasts and some spicy new materials like articles on our blog section. Don’t forget to check it out! Love you so much and I cannot wait to see you on Friday.