PHOTOPLUS 2019 Talks: Adrien Mueller on His Still-Life Photography Career and Advice for Young Photographers

Tacos with ingredients and beer glasses standing on a table. Photo © Adrian Mueller.

Photographer Adrian Mueller spoke at the PDN 30’s Creator’s Lounge at PHOTOPLUS 2019 about how he’s won bids for advertising clients, and how to manage client expectations once he’s been hired. Mueller is a commercial still life food and beverage photographer, and he’s recently worked for Adidas, Ciroc, Hershey’s and Prada.

Mueller began his career in photojournalism, then got into food photography by taking portraits of chefs, and finally embarking on a career as a food and still life photographer. In Mueller’s experience, your life and your professional career are likely not going to be linear. “Whatever niche you choose, do it because you feel like you have no other choice since it’s so interesting for you,” he says.

For Mueller, the most important thing is to have a good team of assistants, digital techs, stylists, retouchers and the support of friends because when you’re busy, it can be really overwhelming and stressful. “You need determination and most of all, you need the ability to feel joy, no matter what you’re doing,” says Mueller.

Iced coffee glass standing in front of wall with distinct shadows. Photo © Adrian Mueller.

When PDNedu spoke to Mueller, he offered this advice for new and emerging photographers:

1. Pick a genre you want to work in (for example, food photography or portraits), unless you have a distinct overarching style that can be used in several genres.
2. Try to assist a photographer who’s work you like and would want to emulate. Make a real effort to get their attention in sincere and creative ways. (Emails don’t count.) Ask yourself how you would want to be approached by a prospective assistant. When hiring photo assistants, photographers are looking for someone who has experience with Profoto, Broncolor, PhaseOne, Nikon, Hasselblad and most importantly, CaptureOne. They are usually looking for someone with retouching experience. It helps to have a professional-looking website, even if the work is not top-notch yet.
3. Through the experience of assisting someone else, work on developing your portfolio and motion reel on a regular basis.
4. Instead of contacting commercial clients when you’re just starting out, get in touch with agents who can give you their honest feedback. They might even be able to get you on their roster on a trial basis. You could also offer to be an intern for an agent. This experience would also give you insight into the business. Agents may refer you to other agents if they don’t have time to meet.  
5. You need to be able to handle rejection. If you get in touch with 100 useful contacts a year, only two to three might become your key contacts. So don’t get discouraged after 50 rejections. It just means you are now closer to getting to the two the three people that can really advance your career.

Mueller says that even he doubts himself at time, and that all photographers compare their work to others, no matter what stage of their career they are at. Photographers are all the same in this way. Comparing yourself to others kills all joy and creativity unless you use it as a motivation to improve your work.  At the end of the day, the photographers who will be the most successful will spend very little time thinking about other people’s work and will produce the most original work as a result.

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