Susanne Hakuba is a German photographer who focuses on corporate, portrait and editorial photography. She particularly enjoys photographing in the shipping industry as well as meeting & capturing people who have usual or unusual personal stories to tell. Exhibitions include group and solo-exhibitions in both the UK and Germany. Besides photography her interest also lies in oral history, and she currently assists on the Twilight People project, which explores transgender people and faith.
What impact has New Creative Markets had on you?
The support network of tutors has enabled me to pitch for and take on bigger corporate commissions. It has also made me take a step back and re-evaluate what I have been doing and where I want to go – it is so easy to just get caught up in doing mode when working by oneself trying to make a living in a very competitive field. Meeting other photographers has been great with regard to exchanging experiences and with helping each other with advice, lessons learnt, and even the occasional lending of equipment. The varied workshops have not only given me a better understanding of how to run a small business but also a better understanding of the industry as a whole.
Which aspects of the programme do you see yourself implementing?
There are quite a lot of aspects from the NCM programme, which I am hoping to implement but it will take some time. Being a self-taught photographer and coming from a scientific and financial background, however, especially workshops related to finding my visual language, being confident when describing my photographic vision and working on personal projects have been very useful. I am now allowing some time for mood boards, finding inspiration and for doing personal projects on a regular basis, which I didn’t do before.
What is the most useful thing you have learnt on the programme?
Meeting and hearing from other photographers who are dealing with similar challenges as myself has helped me to get a better perspective. In general, though, it is the overall picture of being a photographer, both creatively and businesswise, which the workshops and talks have helped to make clearer and which building blocks have come together bit by bit rather than one major thing.
Many thanks to Susanne for taking part in this interview.