Opening Discussion On Industry Equality Through Her Photography

Elizabeth Weinberg is an award-winning editorial and commercial photographer with a significant online presence. She's shot Matt Damon, Tina Fey and Ruby Rose. Yet the American has forged her career learning on the fly. She'll share her experiences as one of the keynote speakers at Vivid Ideas' inaugural Make Nice: An Un-Conference For Creative Women.

"I would have loved to have had a kind of mentorship as I was coming up — which I didn't have at all," Weinberg says from her Los Angeles base. "And, since I didn't really have much of that when I was coming up, I was just wildly flailing about as I went about trying to be a professional [laughs], I want to give back and talk to people." 

"I've lost multi-city ad jobs to men because they're generally assumed to work on the road better. I feel as though my appearance is judged on a completely different level on set."

Raised in suburban Boston, Weinberg enjoyed taking snaps even as a tween. On an apparent whim, she later committed to a Photojournalism major at Boston University. Transplanting to New York in 2005, Weinberg was employed as a photo lab receptionist, studio manager and Time online photo editor — always networking. She blogged her images, assembled a portfolio, and did (strategic) unpaid editorial work — invaluable exposure, she assures. In 2010 the freelancer made the influential PDN's 30 list of emerging photographers. Her first celebrity shoot was Joaquin Phoenix for The New York Times.

Today Weinberg appreciates "a nice balance" of advertising and editorial assignments, plus conceptual personal projects. "I love editorial work for the creative freedom and the challenges that it presents," she says. "I generally show up to a location I've never seen before and am alone and have to think on my feet quickly. Advertising is great in that it's a whole group of people working together as a well functioning machine and you feel like a team." Weinberg's evocative imagery is characterised by its easy naturalism — she's "very conscious" of maintaining a "uniform style".

Weinberg, a music buff, photographed the iconic Iggy Pop and Josh Homme for the March cover of Germany's Rolling Stone. Still, she's reluctant to identify a favourite famous subject. "I judge shoots based on how difficult it was to pare down selects [the editing process]. The harder it is, the better!" Keen to do more motion pieces, this storyteller recently produced and directed a video for NY all-female band Huh's Dark. "It features a tomboy on a paper route encountering various difficulties with people along the way."

Unfortunately, sexism in the creative industries is bound to be a latent theme at Make Nice. "I once lost an ad job because I was pregnant," Weinberg reveals. "I've lost multi-city ad jobs to men because they're generally assumed to work on the road better. I feel as though my appearance is judged on a completely different level on set. The list goes on!" Nonetheless, she's heartened by growing mainstream concerns over gender inequality. "There's been a lot of press here in the States lately about the lack of females in directorial roles in Hollywood — and I think that's a great way to increase awareness in a way that's relatable to people. The discussion is also spreading to photography. There have been many in-depth debates on the subject online in the last couple of years and a lot of women's photography groups have sprouted up since then. I think we have a long way to go, but the conversation has definitely started."