All that glistens

Just as many weekend chefs fantasise about opening a restaurant, so many amateur photographers dream of the day they can pay the bills on the back of their talents behind the camera. What an idyllic life we’d all have, doing what we love most and keeping the mortgage serviced at the same time. If we could earn a living making only the pictures we love it certainly would be a dream come true, but there is often a dramatic abyss between the experience of shooting to suit ourselves and that of shooting on the command of another. When someone else wants a hand in how those pictures turn out, wants you to do things their way, dictates which pictures the world sees and has all the financial influence, earning your living through the lens mightn’t be how we imagined it would.

This is a lesson film photographer Nima Elm has learnt the hard way, following what he thought were his dreams only to discover many of the paths to commercial success are strewn with frustrations and disappointments.

‘I hate some of the commercial work. Certain jobs I despise,’ he confesses. ‘A lot of brands say they’re hiring me because they like my style and that I can shoot things my way, but then they put an art director over my shoulder who says things like, “Maybe we could smile for this one. Maybe a bigger