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"Me me me! My favourite word."

— Seth Godin

The people paying

Here’s the key thing about social photography.

Those people in your viewfinder are paying your bills. All of your bills.

And the images you take are more or less worthless to anyone else.

What are your customers after? Why do they want their photographs taken? Actually, do they want their photographs taken?

In social photography the trick is to understand that it’s not about the print, or the album, or the photography, or Photoshop, or what your peers think of you – it’s about the people in the viewfinder, the people paying.

Get to know them, find out what they want, give it to them.

You might think I’m stating the obvious, and I’ve certainly said it more than once, but it is strangely rare. How else do you explain the fact that so much professional photography is formulaic?

Cameras in every pocket

Now there’s a camera in every pocket, everyone is your competitor. That guy shooting footage in Damascus or Benghazi or Khan Yunis or Kherson isn’t Robert Capa but some terrified, or enraged, individual with a smart phone.

The main advantage they have is that they’re there and you aren’t.

The same thing is true in the social context in which you make your living. Of course you can take better photographs than your clients, but they don’t necessarily understand that, and you generally aren’t there to take them anyway.

People value those inadequate little snaps they take of each other, sometimes very deeply – and you need to figure out why they mean so much. 

Of course you can take better photographs, but that’s not the challenge.

A roomful of opportunities

The world is full of people who don’t know what you can do.

I went to a business seminar in the States a few years ago, a roomful of high net worth business people, plus me.

We got to talking about Queensberry.

Not one of them had ever seen one of our albums or anything like it.

One guy had recently married at an exclusive Caribbean resort … spent a gazillion bucks on the event … and “ticked the box” (his words) for a shoot-and-burn DVD from the resort’s tame photographer.

You would have been horrified, and yet this man would have bought his new wife anything. If he’d known.

I had to grab an album from my hotel room to show them what I was talking about. They were all married, and they all loved it. They were a roomful of missed opportunities.

You don’t believe me, right?

Years ago, way before Lord Of The Rings, a hit American TV series was made in New Zealand.

The star had just got married, and somehow his wife discovered Heather’s little business. This was pre-digital, and she’d received her wedding photographs as prints in a brown paper bag. The photographer was someone you know, I guarantee it.

Not only did she get a Queensberry, but so did several others among the American cast and crew.

Don’t assume people know what you can do for them, and don’t short change them either.

Things haven’t changed. But nowadays they wouldn’t get a stack of prints in a paper bag, they’d get the digital files on a web gallery or a flash drive.

Listen

It can be a harsh world. Your customers probably don’t care how hard you work, whether you can pay the mortgage, or how much you like taking pictures.

Sometimes the toughest thing about being in business is that you can’t make people care … and it’s certainly unwise to assume they do.

But one way to break down the walls is to treat them like individuals.

Start off by asking them something, not selling them something.

Richard Fidler asked Ira Glass whether it’s hard to get people to open up when he interviews them for his radio show, This American Life.

Are you kidding, said Ira. All you have to do is ask and listen!

If my wife asks me how’s my day been, Ira said, I’ll barely get a sentence in. When was the last time anyone listened to you for twenty minutes?

Be friendly, ask them what they want and give it to them.

Twenty minutes, I heard someone say. I have to listen to them for twenty minutes?

Help us be us

Real people turn up in front of your lens, not super models.

People want their profiles thinned and their complexion polished (Yes, Victoria, there is a Photoshop).

They show up uncomfortable about being photographed at all — going through the motions because people expect it.

Undemonstrative people hope you can project their passion and commitment.

Proud people want an uber brag book about the party they just held: the frocks, the food, the venue.

Speaking as a consumer, here are a few things you could do to help us.

First, get alongside us, relax us and gain our confidence. If we can look at you as a friend who knows what we want, and knows what you’re doing, we’ll be less likely to treat you as either a menial or someone we wish would simply go away.

Second, convince us that we don’t need to look like possums in the headlights!

It’s not our job to be photographed, it’s your job to photograph us. Us being ourselves for the day. Looking like the people our friends and families love, just better dressed than usual.

Finally, if you’re shooting our wedding, for example, yes, give us what we asked for — the brag book, the trophy shots or whatever, but give us something extra we probably never knew we could have — an authentic record of a special occasion where a lot of real people got together and had a really good time with people they love.

Most of the time we’ll probably be looking at each other, or our friends in the photos, not at you and your camera. And you’ll have grabbed the moment, not set it up.

The grandkids will love your work. Even strangers will love it (the people at Queensberry, for example) because you caught the authentic us at our best.

The magician

That’s you on the big day.

The happy couple don’t notice you’re taking their photo.

When they do notice, they’re OK with it because they know you’ll make them look good. And because they know that, they do look good. Much of what you do on the day is inspire trust.

Don’t forget to sell that.

This is how Nigel’s wedding photographer did it:

“First, he called and asked if we could meet. That made us feel important.

“He told us funny stories about weddings he’s shot. That made us relax.

“He asked us what we wanted. Which meant we knew what we’d be getting.

“He told us where he’d like to shoot us. Now we knew what to expect.

“He told us how to look natural. So we knew what to do.

“He showed us slideshows and albums. Now we wanted our own.”

They already knew their photographer could take great photos. Now they trusted him to do the same of them.

What do they want?

A lot of wedding photographers just want to book their 30-odd weddings per year, show up on the day and go through their routine.

Stage a picture of the cake cutting. Go home. Upload the files. Knock out an album. Whatever. 

That’s what they want, but what about the clients?

Are they hiring a photographer because that’s what people do, and mother’s paying?

Are they hiring you because you’re the cheapest, the best, or available that day?

Do they want traditional or edgy? Posed or informal?

Do they want a genuine record of the day, or a trophy album of people, vistas, dresses and flowers?

You can’t put those questions in a survey and ask people to check a box, but you do need to find out.

David talks about three types of wedding photography:

Who was there (what my parents had - a few posed groups of people, like trophy heads on a wall).

Where it was (a fashion shoot for the bridal magazines - flowers, venues, table settings, hair, dresses etc).

What happened (a journalistic record of what happened on the day, scripted or serendipitous, the people and their relationships).

No prizes for guessing which I think will give the biggest thrill to your family down the years, but you should still ask.

“Find out what they want and give it to them.” Marketing lesson number one.

Even though you now know what your clients want in their album, they still deserve to be involved in the process.

It’s great to watch photographer and client working together on an album … riffling through the files… changing layouts… swapping images and opinions… adding pages… chatting. An intense, creative collaboration.

Profitable too.

Yes, your clients can review and approve their album designs online, but face to face is ideal.

More about this in the chapter on album sales.

Why we get emotional

We see a LOT of portrait and wedding photography.

Seen one, seen them all, right? Yeah. Nah.

Sure a lot of work is formulaic, but the best is anything but. And I don’t mean because a wedding was shot at the Plaza or in a Stately Home, or because Oprah Winfrey was a guest. I mean because photographers worked their magic and captured people in moment after moment that speak to us all.

Our staff notice those moments. So do I. And we don’t even know the people.

In my mind’s eye I see two photos from ten years ago. In the first the mother of the bride is waiting at the shoulder of her new son-in-law, dressed to the nines — silly hat, love in her eyes. He’s talking to one of the wedding guests. In the second photo they embrace.

Simple images of everyday people, the emotion palpable.

If you can make images resonate like that you’ve worked some magic.

Future proofing

There might be a difference between what you would like to photograph, and what your clients, including their heirs and successors, might prefer.

A friend wrote about photographing his baby daughter. In ten years time she might prefer a few less photographs of herself and a lot more of where she lived, what she did, and the people around her — but her parents want photos of her!

The people who’re paying for you to shoot that big celebration might feel the same way. Maybe they want a brag book about the big party they threw, or a fashion parade, or a police lineup with everyone staring at the camera.

Those heirs and successors might prefer a little less of that, and more about the story, and the love and connection between those faraway faces.

You have a lot of audiences to please, and it’s important sometimes to give your clients something they never asked for.

The showman and the stealth photographer

I would love to be a fly on the wall and watch you shoot a wedding, but we’ve seen a lot more albums than we’ve been to weddings.

Is being photographed at your wedding something your customers should remember?

Maybe not.

You should remember having a great time. You should remember laughing, feeling in love, being nervous, being energised, being with the one you love, being happy, but not being photographed.

I picture successful photographers falling into two camps.

Stealth photographers you really don’t remember because they operate from the undergrowth and the edge of crowds, and the first you’re aware of them is when they produce all these great shots, like a rabbit from a hat.

Then there are the showmen. You are certainly aware of them, but not in the way you dreaded. They just make you feel it’ll be OK on the day, and sure enough, they produce all these great shots of you.

Either way, you remember the photographs, not being photographed.

Last, best, only

When you shoot a job you have an agenda - to give the clients what they want, and get paid for it.

Your clients have their own agenda, but at social occasions like weddings you need to be cautious. Just because a shot didn’t make the cut for framing, or the album or slideshow, don’t be too quick to throw it out.

First, you won’t be aware of all the relationships. Who’s important and who’s not. Who wouldn’t be seen dead in the same frame as someone else.

You might have the last ever photo of Aunty Em with her boys, or the best ever photo of the bride’s school friends, or the only ever photo with her sister who came all the way from South Africa. Or the only group shot without that crazy uncle that everybody hates.

They may not even be very good, but that doesn’t matter if they’re the last or the best or the only, and how would you know?

By the way — that’s why in this day and age you’re doing your wedding clients a service if they end up with the digital files. There, I said something positive about digital files! (Search “digital files” for more.)

Also, what have we all got against uncles?

Feedback

Complaints often sound aggressive simply because people have to wind themselves up before they can say anything. If you bear that in mind it’s easier not to take them personally.

Heather starts by saying, “I do understand why you’re frustrated/upset/angry”.

Thank people for letting you know, and apologise.

Even if in your mind you’re not to blame, the conversation needs somewhere to start, and that’s with a sense of alignment between you. It makes people feel better, helps them to listen instead of shouting, and is actually pretty appropriate.

Maybe your other customers aren’t happy either, but they haven’t told you.

Don’t wait for a complaint. Always ask for feedback when you finish a job. A simple email or phone call to check that everything is OK gives people the chance to tell you what they think, and you the chance to fix anything that isn’t a hundred percent. It goes a long way towards developing your fan base.

A couple of days ago our Border Terrier Molly was mauled on our street (she’s OK). We took her to the vet for treatment — someone we’d never met, as our own lovely vet had recently passed away. Two days later she  called to ask how Molly was. Am I fan? I’m a fan.

Fix the problem and go a little bit further.

Under-promise and over-deliver.

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