How can I become represented? It’s always been a dream to stand out and have reps on my side.
Get your book as strong as you can, find your specialty and build a cohesive portfolio. Find the reps that work in your industry and approach them with a personal and quick email. The quality of your work will speak for itself and doors will open. Just get your work out there once it’s ready!
What makes a photographer’s site hard to navigate?
Sites can be hard to navigate for a few reasons. Sometimes the actual menu options are hard to find because the sit template tries to get too artsy. Or sometimes you can only view images one at a time (no thumbnail view option).
We’re often trying to image search or curate a page of the photographer’s imagery, so being able to move through the site quickly is important.
I do appreciate seeing their creative touch beyond just their imagery – so a cool landing page, or some nice touch to the formatting is good. But generally, it should still be easy to navigate.
Guest Post: Art Producer, Lindsay Mason
How does a photographer transition from working with small, often-client direct companies to working with bigger clients and ad agencies?
The biggest difference between getting Client Direct and Ad Agency work is a photographer’s portfolio. Client direct companies will be more understanding of a wide variety of images. Ad agencies have so many photographers to choose from that they will choose the one who specializes in that one specific topic that they are looking for. The smaller, in-house companies will often use one photographer for all of their photo needs. If Ad Agencies are your goal, identify your specialty and commit to excellence in that category.
How do you work with a client with little to no budget? Do you work with them at all?
Budget is always the issue. Every level of photographer deals with this and it always comes back to the overall marketing plan. Where are you in your career? Will this image be helpful to you? Will it solidify a future relationship or be a good image for your portfolio? The bottom line question is: will this “lack of budget” still allow for a quality image? If the answer to that question is no, I’d suggest turning down the job.
My client list isn’t huge and consists of mostly small startup companies. I’ve been on the shortlist for bigger jobs lately, but haven’t been getting awarded. The response I’ve been getting a lot is, “you have great work and we would love to work with you, but we’re going with someone who has more experience.” How do I get more experience and reputable clients under my belt when no one will give me a chance?
This type of response is most often what every bidder gets that isn’t getting the job. It could mean they liked someone else’s work more, or the other photographer had the specific look they were going for. It could be that the other photographer had the specific look they were going for, was better on the creative call, or had a better treatment. It could also be their past experience with the winner, or that the winner has a rep. Mostly, I’d recommend working harder and get your book even better with more stylists involved.
Do people still send postcards out? Are they a good way of marketing?
Yes, we still send out promo mailers, as it’s important to use every possible opportunity you can think of to stay in front of clients. Not every type of marketing will work for everyone, so I like to try every method that is within our budget.
In this day and age of social media, is a blog even relevant anymore? Should you use social media to drive traffic to your blog?
Other reps may disagree with me, but I don’t see the purpose of a blog anymore.
With the current shifts and changes in the photography industry, are you also seeing a change in the budgets? Are they staying the same, increasing, or decreasing?
People want more for their money these days. They expect more content for the same price. So, when it comes down to it, the budgets are smaller.
When you talk about the rising importance of “content,” are you referring to the necessity of photographers to post more and better content, the necessity of clients to produce more content and hence hire photographers more often, or both?
When I refer to the importance of content, I am talking about both: photographers need to create more content, as do clients. And hey, reps too. We all need to constantly be creating and posting content in today’s business world.
I often hear portfolio viewings are so crucial, yet I’ve never seen any locally or within driving distance. Should I consider traveling to a larger area such as NYC to have this done?
Yes, a one on one or group showing with your portfolio is extremely valuable. I’d highly recommend these for a photographer at any level of their career. Bring them some chocolate!
