Sally Bjornsen: My Role as an Agent

Posted by Unknown September 19, 2017

Sally Bjornsen: My Role as an Agent

Image by Adair Rutledge, styled by Joanne Plana-Anderson

As an artist representative, it’s my job to help artists get business. At the same time, I am an artist coach, business manager and editor. My job is to work with photographers and stylists to develop and evolve their own “recognizable” brand aesthetic. At times artists get so busy producing commercial work that they lose sight of their unique vision. At the end of the year, they have money in the bank, but few new images for their portfolio. It’s not that commercial work can’t fit into a portfolio, it’s just that heavy commercial direction is not always consistent with an artist’s original style.

For this reason, I encourage thoughtful testing as often as possible. The goal is to create fresh imagery from each artist’s own unique perspective –so the work stands out amongst the competition and inspires art directors and clients.

What makes a good test project?

Fortunately, I work with artists who are incredibly prolific. This makes my job really fun; clients like to see new work and I do too. In my experience, the most successful tests come from thoroughly developed concepts and are run like real commercial projects. It’s imperative that artists do their homework to grow their concepts. It is an artist’s job to read, observe, research, and understand what’s going on in the market. I help my artists hash out their objectives: Who are the clients you want to work with? Who is shooting or styling their work now? What does that photographer/stylist seem to have that entices the client?

Below are a few images from recent tests that have really worked for my artists. In all cases, the photographer/stylist and hair and makeup artists worked together to formulate a plan. Each person puts “skin in the game,” so all are vested in creating images that move their work forward.