I wrote to Henrietta Brackman, a top New York photographer’s agent, and asked her what I should do to become one the top people in my profession.

Five years later she wrote back to me, by that time, I was in London. She apologised that she had mislaid my letter. The advice that she gave me I was already implementing. 

I kept a small notebook, I wrote all the photographer’s names down and their telephone numbers. And I’d add to that list more names as I would get to know more people .I used to buy a phone card, which is a card with credit on it to make phone calls. And I’d go to the phone box, and stay in the phone box until I phoned everybody or until someone was waiting outside to use it. Mostly I would leave messages on their answer phones, or maybe one or two photographers had a mobile and you call them looking for assisting work, looking for a job in photography. And I was doing this day in day out, then going home to my cousin’s apartment, to live on chocolate biscuits and KFC. 

Eventually, I started freelancing, I started to get a couple of gigs. I bought a pager so people just contact me when they needed me. Their number will come up on the little pager. Then I would go to the phone box to call them back and get details of the job. I think at this time, I was very determined and very ambitious to work with the best people.

It was probably a year and a half until I got a full time job. So learning for me became about learning on the job and learning from the best people .

 In memory of Sean Carty, a fellow student at DIT and talented photographer from Dublin who was making his way in London at that time . 

Mike OToole is a Photographer, Film maker and Creative Teacher. Lürzers Archive recognised him twice as being among the 200 Best Advertising Photographers Worldwide, and he has won awards for his work from The Association of Photographers (Uk) and  Communications arts (USA) and The New York Food Film Festival. His work in the field of Commercial Photography has been featured in publications ranging from Conde Nast Traveller , The Wall St Journal, and The Washington Post .