Every Wednesday at 11 a.m., Adorama airs its live podcast Coffee with Creators. It’s a chill hangout for photographers, videographers, and other creative folks. Talented guests unwind with host Seth Miranda over a cup of coffee as they share stories and tips. Refreshingly, they also candidly discuss their struggles and successes. In this episode, Miranda banters with fashion and beauty portrait photographer Lindsay Adler.
They discuss The Power of Collaboration in Production, each sharing laughs and useful information. Information on how to approach big productions. Topics like the importance of building relationships in the photo industry and interning versus assisting. Additionally, why being professional on set matters, exploring your strengths and weaknesses, tax tips, and so much more. All this and a cup of Chai tea since Adler doesn’t drink coffee. Enjoy some of our favorite highlights from their conversation below. They are guaranteed to help you with both the business and creative sides of your photo brand.
Who is Lindsay Adler?
Based in New York City, Lindsay Adler is one of those photographers who truly inspires. She inspires both as a creative and as an educator. Her photography is bold, graphic, and completely unforgettable. It is filled with vibrancy, dramatic lighting, and just the right amount of magic. She’s enjoyed many successes. These include publishing five books and being named a Canon Explorer of Light and Profoto Legend of Light. Not to mention becoming, in 2020, the first woman to win the Rangefinder Magazine Icon of the Year award. Her editorial clients include Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Vanity Fair, and Marie Claire.
Moreover, her advertising clients are far and wide. She also hosts her own show on Adorama TV, doing live photo demos on a range of topics. These include fashion, lighting, gels, color theory, and more. All are planned out with mood boards, wardrobe, styling, and the whole nine yards. “The way I do workshops and commercial shoots is how I do YouTube Videos and portrait shoots,” says Adler. “It’s all production.”
As a teacher, Adler shares so much through her in-person workshops, online tutorials, and books and never disappoints. She genuinely cares about helping others improve their craft, and it shows. She’s had a successful photo business for 24 years and has been in New York City for 15 years. Moreover, she has worked with the same amazing core team for the last 9 years. “We all have each other’s backs; it’s great.” So, how did her journey begin?
Lindsay Adler: In the Beginning
Adler traces her love for speaking and photographing back to when she was a “young theater nerd” who needed an itch scratched. “Oh gee,” Miranda laughs as he turns towards the camera. He tells the online audience, “I never could have spotted this at all since Lindsay does this thing with her mannerisms where she always looks like a ballerina at rest!” Adler responds, “It’s a posture thing, you know…long neck, look good! It’s knowing you’re on camera and performing; that’s where it comes from.” Anyone who knows Adler or has seen her speak knows she is always poised and well-dressed!
Adler goes on to explain that she did some theater in middle school. Then, in high school, she was excited to try out for musicals but never got cast! “Turns out that if you act, you have to sing, and I don’t, so that’s when then I found photo teaching, and now, I can perform, and everybody looks at me, and it’s great,” she exclaims.
Lindsay Adler on Having a Routine
Miranda agrees, then brings the conversation back to how Adler’s success is partly rooted in having a routine. He notes how the last big talk he saw her do was at Imaging USA, to a fully packed room. “It was like boom, boom, boom; you were just going through it. I can’t do that the way you do,” he admits. I must have chaos.” Lindsay responds quickly, saying, “But your chaos is great—you’re shouting, and you’ve got people involved, and you bounce your energy off of them—it’s really good.” In other words, there is no wrong way, just the way that works for you.
The Production Approach
Speaking of energy, when Adler goes into a production, she is highly organized and prepared as she embarks on each assignment for her typically high-end clients. Everything she does is planned out. Miranda continues to contrast Adler’s style with a look at his own chaos and “janitor-like” persona on set. Each agrees that whatever you do that works for you helps to establish that persona and routine early on.
“Your assistants have a certain demeanor, and they’ve learned how to do things while you’re placating a client; they know what to do, and that’s what I’ve really learned from your demos,” Miranda tells Adler. “You are showing where you’re trying to get to if you’re trying to get to a level. For example, you have a tact level, a taste level, a respect level, and for me, everyone is just screaming…40 percent of my demos are based on pro wrestling,” Miranda says in all sincerity. “That’s where I get half my schtick.”
Lindsay Adler: “Everyone has a Job”
For Adler, she says it’s hardwired into her to teach stuff. “I don’t have a choice,” she admits. “So, in production, when I do things, everyone has a very specific job—there is someone greeting people at the door if it’s a workshop or event and someone to check people in; there is someone doing hair and makeup, someone setting up lighting who is the lead; there is a secondary person who is assisting them and a third person who is running and getting things.
I just put together a call sheet for a client I have for an upcoming hair and makeup campaign, and 18 people were on my call sheet!” It’s important, she adds, for everyone on set to just try and help and look for issues and solve them because, “if it’s all on the photographer, your brain will just melt and then you can’t focus on making photos.”
Being An Assistant vs. An Intern for Lindsay Adler
One of the best ways to learn about photography, Adler points out, is by interning. Yes, all her interns get paid or assisting other photographers. But how does one go about that? According to Miranda, Lindsay has more assistants than he’ll ever have—he likes to work alone as much as possible. Adler gets a lot of younger assistants. What Seth wants to know is if she’s seen a difference in demeanor across the generations of the assistants she’s had come through her studio.
“I’ve had assistants who are absolutely perfect as assistants and who are brilliant people, but their photo knowledge or lack thereof was not relevant because they had the right personality—you can always learn about studio gear,” Adler responds. “But you can’t teach a personality. If they haven’t shot before, it doesn’t matter because I can probably teach them the basics in half a day. And if they are smart enough, they can watch the other assistants, and if they have the right personality and make themselves useful, I will keep bringing them back.”
The Price of Turning Down an Opportunity
As the photographer and podcast host continue to chatter back and forth about a past potential intern Adler encountered who turned her job invite down over money, Miranda asks Adler what the difference between an intern and an assistant is to her. “An intern’s job is to learn, and by the end of the internship, I should be hiring them as an assistant so that if my first assistant stepped away, I would know they could have my back,” Adler explains. The first assistant, she adds, is the person she relies on first and foremost to communicate to everyone else. “Bathroom breaks, phone calls, someone got sick…I need my assistant to step in, but an intern doesn’t have that pressure. That’s why I want them to be constantly making themselves helpful and learning and being proactive. That’s how they learn and grow.”
Every Day is an Audition
“Everything you do is an audition in this industry,” Miranda says as they move on to the next topic. “And everyone knows everyone. You need to get to the level of being trusted, but how do you do that? Bottom line: Don’t be a schmuck” (at this point, Lindsay can be heard letting out a raucous laugh).
“That reminds me,” Adler jumps in, “I once had a bridal client I worked with repeatedly, and the hair stylist she had booked for a job bailed that morning, so she sent over an assistant who turns out, couldn’t do the job. You can be sure that the hairstylist never got hired by that client again.” The lesson here? Adler says It’s about building a good team that is reliable and who you can trust, someone who can help everyone out. Miranda agrees, adding that when he assists, let’s say, photo legend Joe McNally, he is representing Joe and doesn’t want to let him down.
What if you’re bad at confrontation? A lot of people are, says Adler, including herself, she admits. “I either avoid it completely or hit it so head-on that it’s too much. I’m not good at gentle,” she laughs. “I am zero or 100. I am aware of it and try to improve but it’s like an assistant who doesn’t know any better. Having a good team to set the example and then gently guide someone to not do something they shouldn’t be doing helps. Chemistry counts.” Miranda agrees but resigns himself to the realization that a great assistant who knows what to do without asking is great, but then they are never available because they are so great. “I just want my assistants to excel and move on,” Adler concludes.
Photo Workshops and What’s Next
Luckily for photo students, Adler does a lot of private workshops that are comprised of small groups, generally 6-12 people, and have “super high production value.” But, she adds, “because they are in small groups, they are super expensive, so what I’ve been doing lately is convincing Adorama or Canon or Profoto to make it less expensive for you all.”
Her Icons of Fashion event that took place in August 2024 included a first day of shooting with five different sets, and each set had a different theme. One was Avant-garde beauty, one was more commercial, one was a full-length fashion shot, and one was men’s fashion. “I gave a little intro, and then each attendee had four to five minutes to shoot each theme on set. On the second day, I teamed up with photographers I’m inspired by.” In this instance, it was Donte and Ahmad of AB+DM Studios in Atlanta. “They are incredible,” Adler gushes. “They’ve shot for Vanity Fair, Hollywood Reporter, for celebrities like Zendaya, Lizzo, Lada Gaga, and so on.
On the second day, they came, and I taught half the group, and they taught the other half the group, and then we switched. It was a great way to see different perspectives emerge.” Adler’s plan is to do the same thing for the future and try to find other photographers who are really doing it, people who are “making it happen for their career, and doing something big in the industry, looking at things in a new way and bringing them on as partners in something.”
In The Chat: Questions About Reps
After fielding a series of questions from the online audience, including the usefulness of reps, Adler further defines what reps do and if you really need one. “A rep can help get your work in front of the roster of clients they have,” she explains, “but a rep doesn’t want you unless you already have gigs. You need to already be commercially viable and already making money.” Side note: Adler doesn’t have a rep and hasn’t had one in seven years. “It’s not necessary,” she determines. “The rule of thumb is, if you are busy and not able to do invoicing and following up on jobs and such, which is all the things a rep typically does, then maybe hire them. But also know that you can hire freelance reps or hire a producer for a specific job….”
Tax Tips
Another question in the chat, this time about taxes, prompts Miranda to make a quip about hiding your money in a mayonnaise jar! “But seriously,” Adler pipes up, “here’s a serious lifetime tip: file quarterly taxes instead of waiting until the end of the year. Or hire a good bookkeeper to do it for you. “And keep receipts,” Miranda murmurs in the background.
Also consider, they add, attending trade shows like WPPI or Imaging USA because all these topics and more get addressed at these events. “Trade shows are a great place to build connections, hear straight from the photo brands, demo products, and…it’s a tax write-off,” says Miranda.
Wrapping Up
This episode of Coffee With Creators offers a treasure trove of insights for photographers at any stage of their journey, blending humor with invaluable lessons. Lindsay Adler’s candid conversation with Seth Miranda highlights the power of collaboration, professionalism, and personal growth in the photo industry. Whether it’s tips on navigating big productions, building relationships, or honing your craft, Adler’s expertise shines through. Her vibrant career as a trailblazing fashion portrait photographer and educator is an inspiration to creatives everywhere. By the end of the conversation, what stands out most to this listener is that, more than anything else, even if you are the most talented photographer in the world, you can’t do everything yourself. As Adler concludes, “My opinion in life is if that you’re not good at something, even if your budget’s tight, pay someone who knows what they’re doing.” In other words, collaboration is key.
Want more? Adorama Events is the brand’s newer You Tube channel where you can see all of Lindsay Adler’s workshops, color theory work, live demos and more.
Thanks to Profoto and Gotham Coffee Roasters for sponsoring this episode of Coffee With Creators. Listen to the full broadcast below.
