About Me

Editorial Portrait Photographer London-Based

I’m a versatile visual communication specialist with a passion for storytelling through various mediums. My expertise spans photography, motion graphics, and creative direction, allowing me to craft compelling narratives across different platforms.

At the heart of my work lies an exceptional ability to capture the essence of human stories. My portraits, characterized by meticulous attention to lighting and composition, reveal authentic moments that resonate deeply with viewers. This unique approach has earned me acclaim in both editorial and advertising spheres, garnering numerous awards and recognition.

My portfolio showcases a diverse range of skills, from striking commercial and editorial portraits to dynamic motion graphics and engaging music video edits. My creative direction brings a fresh perspective to each project, making me a sought-after freelancer in the industry.

Whether working on personal projects or commissioned pieces, my dedication to the craft shines through. My versatility and innovative approach make me an ideal choice for brands and publications seeking to elevate their visual content. I stand out as a creative professional adept at bringing ideas to life through various visual mediums.

I’m always excited to take on new challenges and collaborate on projects that push the boundaries of visual storytelling. If you’re looking to add a spark of creativity to your next project, I’d be thrilled to help bring your vision to life.

“Yiğit Günel is an award-winning editorial portrait photographer and London-based creative director, who concentrated on people-based stories with his images. His meticulous approach to lighting and focus on capturing genuine moments can be seen through his personal projects editorial portrait photography and advertisement photography. As a creative director and editorial photographer, Yiğit’s lifestyle photography evokes emotion and tells compelling stories.”

I am one of the photographers taking part in the London Creative Network Artist Development Programme in 2021 with Four Corners.

Can you explain your creative process?

There are a couple of steps for me before creating anything. First, you need to fuel your engine and as we all know it’s quite dull to wake up early in the morning cold and drive to the gas station waiting for the pump to fill your tank. But if you like to make a journey you need to pass this process. Usually having a research phase before starting helps a lot. I would like to listen to some music that will put me in the mode for the brief and read some books or text.

Looking at images online is not my preferred research method. That keeps my mind clear of making prejudiced visual decisions. I prefer my images based on ideas rather than visual stimulations of past works. Also usually giving it some time right after reading the request and letting the brief sit on the back of my head clears my mind.

I never sit and start my mood board. In these fast-paced businesses that sounds like a luxury. But what I learned from giving fast responses and starting without thinking, always ends up with correcting more mistakes or getting more amendments from the client and therefore wasting more time. Because of this reason, creatives are forced to create mediocre work to catch the deadline and that’s worst.

So, the next step for me is to moodboard each shot or video frame that I’m working on. That’s meticulous work for me I put more than %70 of my energy into planning and thinking about all the details I need. Such as framing, lenses, lighting, colour, props, models etc. Rest is the shooting; it goes so fast already having a strict plan in my head relaxes me on set.

I prefer to shoot fast but sure and less. So, I don’t end up wasting time on selecting images. As Herzog said “We’re not garbage collectors.

” When finish shooting all frames outlined in my initial mood board I start experimenting, trying new ideas and trying to stretch the creativity muscles to other way. The third process is selecting. If I’m shooting for an agency or a magazine there is usually a creative director or an art director for certain campaigns or editorial image selections. We usually choose roughly half of the images on set. That also gives us a great perspective on seeing images side by side before editing.

So, if anything needs to be updated, I prefer to do it on set rather than afterwards on editing software. That extends from major light changes to picking up a hair strain on my model’s shoulder. The next step is editing the images roughly to give a brief idea to a retouching artist or sometimes to myself, making general adjustments during the shooting on Capture One.

I usually share these images with a client before starting and going deep into editing. Upon approval of images, I start editing and finalising the project.

 

Creativepool Editorial

The classy artistry of a talented photographer | #MemberSpotlight

Editorial portrait photographer London

Editorial portrait photographer London

Editorial portrait photographer London

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