For early career creatives, it can be difficult to get your name and work out there without a list of exhibitions, commissions and press coverage already under your belt. While that’s always been the way, to an extent, there’s an added challenge now in that the people you might be trying to reach – whether that’s an audience, commissioner, curator or employer – are likely to be more time-poor and overwhelmed with noise than they ever have been.

It can feel like a slog, and a lonely one at that, especially if you’re self-taught. “I definitely had a lot of anxiety when I was first starting out as I didn’t have a network from college to lean on and I felt like I had to do a lot of catching up,” says Jordi Ng, a designer and art director at Bloomberg Businessweek magazine, “but in retrospect I think a lot of that worry was moot. I’ve found that people in this industry don’t really care who you know, they mostly care about your work and the POV behind that work.”

This rings true for Ashleigh Kane, who is, among other things, Dazed’s art and photography editor-at-large and an art buyer for Thursday’s Child, a production company and licensing platform dealing with rising and unrepresented talent. “I’m looking for a point of view, a perspective, and that could be aesthetic or content-wise – the kind of stories [creatives are] making images about. It could also be a specific style of photography they’re exploring that seems interesting to me, or just the way they put things together. Mise-en-scène is super important.”

For many commissioners and editors, social media channels such as Instagram are where they’ll first encounter emerging talent. Despite all of their flaws, these platforms remain a critical tool for sharing and finding work, particularly if you’re not yet in people’s contact books. Ng knows first-hand how useful it can be as a designer: “I’m a very shy person and I get horribly self-conscious about posting my work on social media a lot of the time, but I try to power through it as I know it’s how a lot of people find me. I try to remind myself no one’s looking at this stuff as closely and critically as I am.”

It’s how she finds a lot of new talent herself, as does Kane, who keeps track of creatives she finds for future reference. “I’ve got this epic database that I use, full of photographers, directors and digital creators, and I keep adding to it all the time,” she explains. While social media can be a good way to start building connections, Kane suggests that creatives keep work communications to email. “DMs get lost among memes, small talk and responses to stories; there’s no easy way to search through them.” And when you do email, be clear about why, whether it’s for feedback or specific opportunities.

I’m a very shy person and I get horribly self-conscious about posting my work on social media, but I try to power through it as I know it’s how a lot of people find me

That first email might feel awkward, but when Ng was entering the industry, sending out cold emails was how she got her foot in the door. Now in her role at Bloomberg Businessweek, the cold emails she receives from others have been genuinely helpful for finding new talent. “I might not have the bandwidth to reply to every single person’s email, but I look through every single one of them. I’ve discovered a few people that way that I never would otherwise – and they’ve always turned out to be really pleasant to work with.”

The main thing is that it’s “sincere and targeted”, she says. “I can always tell the difference between someone who’s using a mass email template and someone who’s thought critically about how their work might fit within the larger context that I work in, as well as my art direction style in general.”

When it comes to sharing work, there’s no one right way. For some people, an unconventional, conceptual portfolio may feel representative of their style, but for others, stripped back is going to work best. It’s going to be different for every person on the receiving end too, but for Ng, a simple-to-navigate website is preferable so she can parse through someone’s work without much friction. “The thing that annoys me most is when someone’s contact information is hidden on their site and I have to go hunting on multiple platforms for their email address.”

How you show work is one consideration, but what you show is more important. “I think a consistent style helps but isn’t always necessary,” says Ng. “I’ve commissioned people with varied styles before and I just had to be really clear from the start which style of theirs was right for the brief in particular. I think for early career talent, it’s important to have consistent work in any specific style you’re looking to get hired for. If your website features work in five different styles but only one example of work in each style, it’s difficult for an art director to predict if that is something you are able to execute for their project.”

Kane echoes the importance of displaying the work you want to do, and not necessarily the work you’ve done the most of. “Curation is important. If you’ve done food photography but don’t want to keep doing it, don’t make it front and centre. But if you want to do more sports photography, even if you’ve only got a little bit of it, make that known. You need to help people believe you can do it,” she says.

Don’t put bad work in there because it could give someone the wrong impression. You might scare them off

“Sometimes photographers say, ‘I shoot fashion, but I’d love to shoot sports,’ and I ask them, ‘Well, have you shot any sports?’ And they’ll say no. So I suggest they go out and make a personal series – photograph a friend who’s a runner or a swimmer – just find a way to make it happen so you can put that in your portfolio.”

While volume can help to show commissioners or art buyers that you have enough experience of working in a particular style or environment, if it’s not to a standard you’re satisfied with, it’s probably best to leave it out. “Don’t put bad work in there because it could give someone the wrong impression,” Kane advises. “One bad image can make people think, ‘Is there a chance this is what the project could turn out like if we commission them?’ You might scare them off.”

In the age of personal brands, artists can feel pressure to curate themselves, too. While Kane doesn’t really think of artists in those terms, Ng acknowledges that when someone has a “distinct” personality that comes through, it can be helpful to pair them with a commission. This doesn’t mean you have to display a particular impression of yourself and rigorously self-edit; it can just be about articulating a clear personality in your work.

“For example, if I know someone is really funny and likes to lean into humour in their work, I’d be more inclined to hire them for a brief that needs a witty take. A big part of my job is making sure every artist I choose for each brief feels like a good match – not just for me, but for them as well – and personalities help me determine if a project is something they’d actually enjoy and be excited about.”

It’s important to remember that while this advice should be helpful, it’s ultimately subjective. Kane brings up a recent Instagram post shared by writer and curator David Campany, who recalled hearing prescriptive advice from people in the photo industry about how exactly artists should present their work. “It made me think, because he was saying that it’s restrictive to ask artists or photographers to make easily readable work, to have it immediately understood by people who are looking at it. That there is no direct relationship between the quality of someone’s work and how professionally they present themselves, which I agree with. And then I realised I might also demand this framework from artists too,” admits Kane.

You risk losing the essence if you conform to norms. Sometimes the most special artists are born out of their own way of doing things

On the one hand, she doesn’t want photographers and directors to have to conform to norms: “You risk losing the essence if you do that. Sometimes the most special artists are born out of their own way of doing things.” On the other, her job would take a lot longer to do if everybody flouted conventions. “I look at a lot of artists for briefs that come in, and it is easier to see everything laid out nicely and categorised, but that’s not always how great work is made. So I’m in two minds about it.”

This is where articulating yourself can make a difference. Kane says, “It’s important to define your perspective, even if it’s not always a clear style. What you are making work about, even if it changes from one day to the next, or month to month. Jack Davison is a great example – he treads that balance between commercial work, personal work and then very experimental personal, or sometimes commercial work. And yet you can always tell it’s his image when you see it. It’s almost impossible to describe how to do that, but you know it when you see it.”

awpoop.com; ashleighkane.com