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This is the blog for professional photographers, and those who aspire to be. Our aim is to help professional photographers build long-term, sustainable careers.

"...There are those who serve the high end and those who serve the budget end of the market. And like most industries, if you don’t choose the high end, the low end will probably choose you."

What I mean by "professional"

When I talk about professional photographers I mean people who aim to make a living from their photography — pay the bills, buy a home, raise kids, enjoy a good life and save for retirement. We all do it differently, but you get the picture.

I think people for whom it’s a side hustle — part time, "weekend warrior", a second family income — they can think a bit differently.  They’re looking to make extra cash from their photography, and good on them. I hope they’ll get value from reading this but I’m writing mainly about professionals.

Are you sure you want to turn your hobby, or your art, into a business?

I think the fundamental question to ask before you set out is, do you really want to do this?

I remember visiting a friend in Australia who loved brewing his own beer. He was pretty good at it. We were sitting around one morning eating toast, drinking tea and reading the Melbourne Age  — it was about nine o'clock —  and he said, "Ian, I'm thinking of opening a Home Brew shop!" I helped talk him out of it, and he kept to his day job as a script writer.

If you do decide to go ahead, whether full time or part time, good on you. I hope this book helps you think the issues through.

Bob Jones had a point

Bob Jones was one of New Zealand’s most successful businessmen. He also had more opinions than most. One of them was that for some people nothing was more important than being your own boss. Which was fine if you had a trade — electrician or plumber maybe — but what if you didn’t?

Too many people would think — "I know, I’ll go into hospitality!" Food and drink. But just because you didn’t need a qualification didn’t mean you didn’t need skills. Not everybody had them, and there was plenty of competition, so inevitably some people went broke.

I couldn’t help thinking there’d be other people thinking — "I know, I’ll go into photography! I love photography." But just because you don’t need a qualification doesn’t mean you don’t need skills — and I don’t mean photographic.

I'm not trying to tell you how to succeed in the photography business, but I will give you things to think about to increase your odds.

High end or budget?

If you’re just starting out, one of your first decisions should be whether you’re aiming for the high or budget end of town. You could aim for the middle, but the middle is a bit like the middle of the road, not a place to relax and make yourself at home.

Yes, there are ways to make money at the low end as a professional. You could be like a supermarket and sell a lot of stuff at low markups, which is harder than it looks.

Or maybe you could keep your day job and shoot weddings at the weekend. You won’t earn enough to make a living, but that won’t matter. The extra money will be nice. And it can be a good strategy to get started.

Room at the top

Early on we learnt that if our clients don’t succeed neither do we. This has been a great motivator to study the challenges that our industry faces, and the marketing and selling strategies that help our customers succeed.

Questions like these come up a lot:

• Can professionals genuinely compete at the lower end any more?

• Is there room at the top for me?

They’re good questions.

Professional photography is like most industries. There are those who serve the high end and those who serve the budget end of the market. And like most industries, if you don’t choose the high end the low end will probably choose you.

What we’re certain is that, to make it, photographic skills, good service, experience and hard work are necessary but not enough. This book is largely about what’s missing off that list — sales skills and business sense.

There isn’t room at the top for everyone, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for you.

We have a lot in common

We’ve learned that the fundamentals differ little whether your studio is in New Zealand, Australia, Paris, London, Dubai, Manhattan or the American Mid West. How do we know? Because our business has depended on relationships with photographers from all those places, and more.

We’re also pretty sure that, despite the dramatic changes in technology, the conversations we were having forty years ago would sound eerily familiar to today’s professionals.

Everything changes but the challenges remain the same.

“Is it good enough for Rod?”

When we went to Rod’s seventieth birthday he was clearly happy to be retired but he was still in love with photography.

He was a wonderful client for years, and I want to tell you why.

First, he was a terrific photographer.

Our staff would often talk about who they’d like to take their own photos, and Rod’s name would come up regularly. For two reasons.

He was a genuinely thoughtful, generous man, and it showed in his work, in his respect for his clients, and in his desire to make people look their best while still looking themselves.

And he was absolutely obsessed with quality.

Only the best photographers can consistently create entire albums full of images of a consistently high standard, but Rod did.

He was perhaps the first on a select list of clients who help set the benchmark for us. We’d say, “Is it good enough for Rod?” And if not, what could we do about it?

Finally, he treated us like a partner.

He was loyal, and even if there was a problem he knew we were there to fix it.

And if we needed him to do something different to make the problem go away, he was up for the conversation.

In a cynical world it’s hard to believe sometimes that commercial relationships can be based on friendship and mutual respect. But they should be.

This entry was posted in Marketing by Ian Baugh | Leave a Comment