In all my efforts of analyzing my business, and where I want to be, I came to a new realization. I’ve always preached that you need to show what you WANT to be shooting in your portfolio and I still believe that to be true. What I’ve been thinking about recently is even beyond that we need to be shooting vertically rather than laterally, and by that, I mean that we need to be shooting imagery that our dream clients actually aspire to. That’s what the advertising/lifestyle/fashion world is all about. We build aspirational imagery for our client’s demographics, why don’t we shoot aspirational work to reach our demographic? (in most cases in the photo world this would be art directors and photo editors). All the people hiring us want to aspire to a high level of creative. If our clients are seeing our work as a vertical reach to what they’re trying to achieve, it gives them more of a desire to hire us than if we shoot what they already do.
I wrote a previous post on “Creating your own branding imagery” which this very much ties into. (along with “Making better images & Showing more people“) Why not create images that are at a higher level than the clients we are wanting to work for?
Aspiration breeds inspiration. Inspiration breeds motivation. So, translated into photography speak, shoot imagery that is aspirational for the demographic you are targeting, and inspire them to want you. To want your creative eye applied to their vision.
Right on Nick. This is something that I’ve been working hard to do since I started pursuing a career in photography (3 yrs ago). As I show work that will hopefully draw in my dream clients, I am still getting more work based on my style of work. It works both ways.
I love that you know how to put all this into words. Thanks for sharing! Inspired for sure.
Great post Nick. When we shoot to reach a certain demographic or client though, how do we know what that client aspires to? How do we know what imagery is strongly desired by that client, especially if it’s one we’ve had no experience with? When producing a higher level image, does it come down to better location, subject matter, production value etc?
That’s a great point! I know you come from a graphic design background, as do I, which helps me understand what your talking about. I was working for an ad agency for about 3 years as a designer. During the creative process of coming up with ideas, one of the things that I and the copywriter would do is search for photos that related to our concept. And every so often we would find THAT photo that not only related to our concept but had that visual aesthetic. I remember the energy around the creative department if someone found a great new photographer. iStock is good some things, but not high-end conceptual images.
To Nick K. – If you had the creative freedom to shoot any thing you wanted for a lifestyle shoot, what would YOU shot? Bring your style into and make it the best image that fits you as a photographer. I think it’s all that (model, location ,production…). Everything has to be dialed in. The sum of one part cannot be greater than the whole.
@nickK_I don’t think we can really know that, but we can shoot what we may think is a higher level creative than what you see that they already produce. Higher level means higher production value and concepting. Better models, Locations, wardrobe, etc.
A lot of times, art directors will actually look at photographer’s work and create ideas from their work.
Thanks for the advice @ Nick and Thatcher. It seems like the best thing to do as a photographer is shooting the style that makes you happy but incorporating it in ways you think might grab and inspire the client.
OOooo i really like what you wrote in the last paragraph. Thanks Nick!
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