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Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Photography Culture

Solmaz Saberi: From Makeup Artist to Fashion Photographer

Chris Gampat
No Comments
10/28/2015
3 Mins read

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All images by Solmaz Saberi. Used with permission.

“I met my mentor through a website called Model Mayhem and he blew me away after our first shoot,” says Solmaz Saberi, a Los Angeles-based photographer and director with over a decade of experience in fashion, beauty and entertainment. Solmaz started out as a make up artist and to build her book, started to shoot models for herself. She has a genuine passion for fashion photography that started out when she was really young. Her portfolio is characterized by bright hues, bold poses and glamorous fashion.

She’s also founded quarterly publication called Unleash’d Magazine and collaborated with a colorful cast of celebrities, including Paris Hilton, Pia Mia, Miguel, Christina Milian, Amber Rose and more. We chatted with her about how she got to where she is.

InFrame – Solmaz Saberi from InFrame on Vimeo.

Editor’s note: if you need a password, try solmaz

This video is part of InFrame, an online documentary series produced by Format and Bas Berkhout. Each video makes up the collection of intimate shorts follows a talented creative individual from the Format community, profiling their unique path to success. Format is a portfolio website builder that prides itself in making it easy to build a professional portfolio website without learning to code.

Phoblographer: Talk to us about how you got into photography.

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Solmaz: Well, it all started when I started building my book as a hairstylist and makeup artist. I met my mentor through a website called Model Mayhem and he blew me away after our first shoot. Slowly and surely, I began to fall in love with photography. It was no time after I asked him if he would teach me how to shoot. He replied, “Sure, Solmaz. Get a camera and I’ll show you.” That moment was the beginning of me discovering my true love and talents.

Phoblographer: What’s the story behind how you got into fashion from being a makeup artist?

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Solmaz: From a very young age growing up in Germany, fashion always put such a big smile on my face. I loved to dress up and go digging in my mother’s closet. I would torture myself in her heels just to walk down the streets and look cool. As I grew older and decided to get my cosmetology license, fashion was second nature to me. I already had a million ideas in my head of the things I could create, and how I would do it.

Phoblographer: When you go into a shoot and concept ideas, where do your ideas for poses, lighting and the unique feel that you’re giving off all come from?

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Solmaz: I never know what I’m gonna do until I get there. It’s the energy on set, the people, the artist, the talent that start to give me life. I do what compliments it all, from the clothes, the makeup and the hair to the light that suits the model the most.

Phoblographer: You use your photography skills and then started the Unleash’d magazine, but do you feel that any of the photo skills transferred over or did you have to go about learning a whole bunch of new things? What was that like for you?

Solmaz: I’ve learned so much since starting the magazine. I’ve learned that my stories need to be cohesive, make sense, not just as a story but the feel and colors. You can’t start a story moody and then the mood of the model changes. I mean, you can, but most people won’t understand because you only have about 6 pages to tell your story, not 50.

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Phoblographer: What are the five biggest things that you feel you’ve learned in the photo business?

Solmaz: Honestly, be humble, learn and shoot as much as you can, make mistakes– a lot of them, it’s okay. Be smart about your work, don’t sell yourself short. Believe in yourself.

Phoblographer: So you’re at this stage as a photographer now. Where do you want to be in one year and how do you plan on getting there?

Solmaz: I just want to keep growing and progressing as a photographer. I feel so blessed to be able to create and do what I love while making a living at it.

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Written by

Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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