Nylon talks to freelance fashion photographer Holly McGlynn, about her career so far, advice for budding photographers and on-set disasters she’s experienced along the way…

 

“Fun, colourful and photos that tell a story... that’s what I aspire to.” With an impressive checklist of commissions from Company to Cosmo and Levi’s to Kate Spade, freelance photographer Holly McGlynn is steadily cementing herself as a force to be reckoned with in the field of fashion photography. 2014 saw her nominated for Irish Fashion Photographer of the Year, and this year is no different as she is up for the award once again; not bad for someone who hadn’t considered photography as a profession until she was at university, “it didn’t even occur to me to do that as a career”, said McGlynn. However, in an oversaturated industry often renowned for being difficult to break into, Nylon chats to Holly to find out what it is exactly that has made her stand out from the crowd.

 

Alongside many others working in the creative industry, Holly hasn’t necessarily taken the expected route to get to where she is today, “I studied History of Art at university, but I was always quite into taking photos when we went on trips abroad every year.” However, it was only on those trips that Holly would explore photography; until, that is, she moved to Berlin after graduating where she says, “I got really into photography and decided that was what I wanted to do with my life… Berlin’s a really inspiring place, there’s a great art scene there and everyone’s a creative.” After a year in Berlin, she made her way back home – Dublin – and, thanks to her flatmate at the time who was a producer for a film company, did some work as a stills photographer for a film they were shooting. “She asked me if I’d be up for doing it, so it just kind of grew from that. I got a portfolio together, did a Masters in photography at Goldsmiths, and have been working as a freelance photographer since”.

 

The areas of photography a newly-graduated talent can go into are seemingly endless – sports, wildlife, portrait, architecture – but Holly started off within fine art, as this was the focus of her degree. She achieved success when she was represented by a contemporary art gallery in Dublin and had some of her work published but, beginning to find fine art photography lonely, she dabbled with events photography and photo journalism before making the move to fashion. “I’ve always loved fashion and I feel like there’s a cross-over between fine art photography and fashion – a lot of fashion shoots are very conceptual and some of them look like high art. I thought it would be a good side-step.”

 

To delve more into what influences her work, Holly gives her answer to the cliché “who is your favourite photographer” question, naming three: Juergen Teller, Miles Aldridge and She is Frank. Previous shoots Holly has done clearly reference their work in the intense pops of colour and playful facial expressions of the models set against the somewhat mundane locations – doing housework, watering flowers and even cleaning a toilet – demonstrating how she has been inspired by their approach but taken it further, creating her own quirky style.

 

A common feature of Holly’s work is the idea of ‘telling a story’ through photography, which she ensures is always the sole focus of any shoot that she does, “the best thing about being a photographer is to be able to tell a story through photos, to conceive an idea and make it happen.” She says she finds this extremely rewarding – going through the process of having an idea in your head, getting a creative team together to work with and, finally, seeing it in print, “that’s really exciting”, she adds. As well as weaving a narrative into her work, retaining creative direction is very important to McGlynn – although she is commissioned by many big names, she maintains that doesn’t mean she has less control over the end result, “Levis are a fantastic brand, they’re one of my clients and I love shooting with them. The Interview with photographer Holly McGlynn Written in mind for Nylon magazine 1035 words team is really nice, the brand is amazing and they give me a lot of creative freedom with the commissions so they’re a great brand to work with.” It’s not always plain-sailing though; Holly shares the worst moment she’s had on a shoot, “it was my first time assisting for this photographer and I broke an expensive piece of his equipment. He was like, ‘well it’s done now’ and looked at how we could shoot practically, but yeah wasn’t happy about it. That was really awful”.

 

McGlynn has experience shooting for a wide range of different brands, from the youth-orientated Motel Rocks and Beyond Retro, to the perhaps more conservative but well-known Karen Millen and Tiffany, to online-only fashion outlet The Outnet – but the hard work doesn’t stop here. 2015 is shaping up to be another jam-packed year; never one to stop looking ahead, Holly shares her plans and ambitions for the year ahead. They include shooting a front cover for an Irish womenswear magazine, going to both Paris and New York Fashion Week and a possible trip to Dubai for a shoot, but she insists she would ideally like to be travelling more, “I want to do a spring summer shoot for H&M in the Caribbean or something, that’s the dream!” Shooting billboard campaigns is Holly’s long-term career goal; “shooting autumn winter campaigns for brands that I really like… brands that do something edgier and aren’t afraid to take risks with photography”.

 

As our time together draws to a close, Holly gives some invaluable advice for aspiring photographers, “just shoot as much as you possibly can, because it’s easy to get scared and to fall at hurdles. Build your body of work and find your niche; find your style of what makes you different from everyone else. Say yes to every opportunity that comes your way, I feel like yes is a very powerful word and a lot of good comes from saying yes to opportunities.” These aren’t just empty words, though – Holly demonstrates her strong work ethic and passion for the job, with her plans for the rest of the day being to set up camp in the cosy bookshop-meets-café, Nomad Books, in which we met.