Commercial Photographer: Your Guide to Marketing, Creativity and Growth

This week, Marcus and Sam discuss the hotly debated topic of “Do you need a photography degree/qualification to be a commercial photographer” and what’s the alternative?This is the first ever episode of Shoot to the Top and we are sharing it with you as Marcus and Sam are taking a little summer break.Marcus, no surprise, being an ex senior Lecturer in photography comes down in favour! But for reasons that may not be obvious. Sam asks probing questions and has an alarming stat of the Day.This show is just perfect if you are trying to decide whether to spend your hard earned cash on going to university.

Kirsten Luts is a commercial portrait photographer on theoutskirts of London. He is also the host of the Camera Shake podcast. Kirsten uses podcasting and video (on YouTube) as a large part of his marketing. The first thing to think about before starting a podcast or YouTube channel, you’ve go to think about why you are doing it. It could be getting more clients, or it could be a passion project. For Kirsten, it was to give him something creative to do during the COVID lockdowns when all his photography work had stopped. He says he learned a lot from some of the best photographers of our time. Kirsten says that initially, he spent a lot of time and money on the podcast. It didn’t bring in money. But it has brought him a lot of opportunities, for example, speaking at photography shows. So the podcast has brought opportunities rather than directly making money. And those opportunities often lead to making money and to doing interesting things.  Consistency is important when making a podcast of videos. There is a whole show about consistency here .Working with someone else is also very helpful. This canmotivate you and help you to be consistent. Kirsten started their podcast on YouTube as well as on Spotify and Apple. He says that his podcast was terrible at the start, but they learnt and got better, and it’s important, in any project, to make that start, and not wait for perfection. Kirtsen is amazed by the guests that he managed to get on the show. Before he started, he made a list of guests he would love to have, and he’s managed to have all of those guests on the show. Marcus asks Kirtsen for tips if you are going to start a podcast or YouTube channel.  Kirsten says the first thing is to think about your audience and the topic. The topic has to be interesting and engaging for your target audience. We move on to video, and Kirtsen says that if you are not offering clients video as part of your work a using it as part of your marketing, you will end up behind other photographers that are offering this. He thinks video is much more of a threat to a still photographer than AI is. It’s not a big jump to go from stills to video. Much of the technique is similar, such as lighting and exposure. Speaking of video, Shoot to the Top is now on YouTube, and you can watch it here.

 Marcus says that Flash used to be challenging many years ago. But now life is much simpler. Sam asks about Chinese copy brands, but Marcus says that with modern lighting, the Chinese equipment isn’t a copy; they are the originators. Marcus is going to be talking about Godox lighting, which is sometimes known by a couple of other brand names. He is going to give anideal kit to have with you. Marcus says you want your lighting all to be the same brand; otherwise, your lights will not communicate with each other, so this is essential. A handheld or on-camera mounted flash is what we are goingto talk about first. Sam digs out one of these from his cupboard. Marcus says these simple flashes are great and often five times cheaper than the camera brand flashes. Godox’s camera flash is called the V1. This is the basic start, and it goes onto the hot shoe of your camera. The next level up is to get aremote that goes onto your hot shoe. That allows you to put your flash where you want; it is no longer tied to the camera. Once you have a remote, all other flashes need to be the same brand to communicate with the remote. The next thing needed is a main light. Marcus recommends that if you get one, then a Godox pro light, which is near the top of the range, is worth getting. The flash head is very large on the Godox pro range, which Marcus likes. The flash head is also diffuse, and the glass is diffuse, not clear. Marcus also says he recommends going for a high-power flash. The main reason is that the batteries are so good and have almost no time to recharge between shots. Marcus also says that some of these lights can also separate the light and battery, so the lighter light can be on a stand without the battery being on the stand too. Finally, Marcus talks about a modifier. A modifier goes onto the light to modify it. Marcus says the best modifier to get is an umbrella.  Marcus doesn’t recommend the Godox umbrella.He recommends going for a more expensive umbrella. He says they last longer, and reflective material is better. He recommends getting an umbrella that is at least 1 metre across. There is also an alternative to an umbrella, which Marcus describes.To get the Shoot to the Top Podcast in your inbox every week, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠And to join the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Shoot to the Top Facebook group here.⁠⁠⁠

Jay Garrido is a Mozambican photographer. He studied film inCape Town. However, the film industry in Mozambique is not very developed, so he turned to photography. He started with weddings but transitioned to magazine work and now wants to return to his creative roots. While in Cape Town, there was a diverse mix of people from various cultures. Marcus asks about photography in Africa. Jay talks about photographer Mario Macilau.  He grew up in a poor neighbourhood. By chance, he got his hands on a camera that was donated to him because his photos were so good. He is now a top photographer. Jay says there is a lot of culture to present through photography. He says the market is growing exponentially. There is a school of photography in Cape Town where lots of experimental photography and he got to see lots of their work while in Cape Town.Jay says the commercial market in Mozambique is also growing. He had an opportunity to work with a high-level Portuguese magazine. He felt working with them forced him to level up his work. After that, he worked with Indico for 5years, which is the magazine of the Mozambican airline. This meant he didn’t just work for the magazine but also with the businesses advertising in the magazine. This helped him move into commercial photography. He says the commercial market is growing rapidly, as it is in many other African countrieslike Angola and Nigeria. Jay is sure that good photographers coming to Mozambique with their style would make a lot of money. Jay says that the photographers who do their own look are well ahead of everyone else and can pick who they work with. Jay has also worked for agencies here in Mozambique, both in photography and video work. He wants to eventually become a director of photography once the film industry starts to develop. He has managed to spend time shadowing a Portuguese director of photography. Jay has got a lot of work from word of mouth. His work with the magazine meant he met a lot of people in business. He has also found that wedding work has led to commercial work due to the people he has met at the weddings, who liked his work. Jay and Marcus also discuss weddings in Mozambique. Mozambique has some stunning beaches and five-star resorts, which are amazing for weddings. Marcus likes the sound of Mozambique and wonders if he should move out to join Jay and Sam. The podcast is now on YouTube, and you can see our YouTube channel here. You can reach out to Jay on Instagram hereTo get the Shoot to the Top Podcast in your inbox every week, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠And to join the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Shoot to the Top Facebook group here.⁠⁠⁠   

Are you a commercial photographer who undervalues the headshot? 30 year veteran Nick Gregan explains why a single portrait holds the power to make or break a career. Learn why specialisation, confidence, andconnection are the keys to premium headshot photography and effective marketing for photographers.• The Career Catalyst: Discover why a powerful photograph carries the potential to launch a career, and the heavy consequences for your clients if you approach their headshot photography without expertise.• The Two Techniques: Learn Nick's unique system for building instant client rapport and capturing authentic personality, a crucial skill for successful marketing for photographers.• The Artisan Model: Find out why Nick moved away from high volume, low cost work, and how adopting an "artisan" model allowed him to increase his rates and transform his business significantly.⁠Get the Commercial Photographer Guide to marketing and Creativity here. ⁠

Stefanie has been a professional photographers for twenty years in the St.Albans area. Her focus is now 100% on commercial photography. Stefanie says it’s important to think about what motivates people to get photos. What are the triggers that make people want a photograph? This could be an event for a family, it could be being asked for a headshot as a business leader. Stefanie says it’s very important to make it very easy for people to work with you. For example if someone wants a corporate headshot she already has a blog ready that answers many of the questions they might ask about headshots. A few weeks ago Stefanie was working with a school on their marketing. She said the women at the school was convinced that she only did school photography as she had such a great landing page for school photography. Having specialised landing pages for areas you work in makes life simple for the lead which helps to convert them. Stefanie also ensures she responds to lead very quickly.Stefanie also wants to engage the local community as she wants to work locally. For example last year she went on a local Mum’s Facebook group and said she wanted to help those with a LinkedIn profile photo that they were embarrassed about. She offered a free headshot for three people who were happy with their before and after shots being shared publicly. She got a lot of queries and then worked out who she wanted to work with using various criteria, including making sure they were very different. So the posts on the Facebook group created abuzz. She then started sharing what she did on LinkedIn. She did some posts asking people to help people choose their new headshot and gave a few options. This got lots of engagement as so many people saw the post and so many people were willing to chip and and comment on which headshot should be used.  This process has also been working on the triggers helping people realise they do need a headshot. Corporate photography UK is a Facebook group that Stephanie helps to run along with Martin Hobby (see our show with Martin here). Elise Marks setup the group. The group is about supporting each other and is Uk based. The group is also used for referrals, so for example if Stefanie does a photoshoot in London and the same company needs a photoshoot in Manchester, she would use the group to find someone to refer that work to. Stefanie says it’s vital that your website is excellent as it needs to appeal to photographers looking to refer work. Also she says she won’t refer work to photographers who don’t have a good website, even if she knows they are excellent, as she wants to ensure the person she is referring gets the right impression.Marcus asks about Stefanie’s use of artificial light. She says she uses artificial light nearly all the time. As she is a portrait photographer then light on the face needs to be right and an artificial light is essential for this. Stefanie’s advice for anyone moving to corporate photography is first of all to learn off camera flash. Understanding and creating light is a big differentiator between professional photographers and those shooting on phones.  This skills means that during the day you may need to change your setup as the sun moves and comes in and out of clouds.  Marcus asks about dealing with people and getting them comfortable. Stefanie says you need to work with your own personality or it won’t work. Stefanie says she is quiet, calm person. So she doesn’t work in a high energy way, which others might if this is their personality. It is important to also understand where the person is coming from who is having their photograph taking and having empathy with them. This is related to our past show on listening.  You can reach out to Stephanie on LinkedIn hereOr ⁠find her website here⁠.To get the Shoot to the Top Podcast in your inbox every week, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠And to join the ⁠⁠⁠Shoot to the Top Facebook group head here.⁠

Why blog?It's amazing for SEOIt gives you things to talk about on socialIt gives you content for your newsletterIt’s good for authority marketingIt increases engagement on your websiteSam explains that if you only write your blog and don’t promote it, no one will ever find it. He says your blog needs to be about a theme. It needs to be about a topic and help to show that you are an expert in your field. For example, Samsuggests that a wedding photographer could review wedding venues. A blog without a theme or purpose is not much use. Also, consider what is valuable to your target audience and how the topic can demonstrate your expertise. Once you have a theme, we are then down to writing individual blogs. Marcus asks if your blog should be on your website or elsewhere. Sam says one of the points of a blog is helping with SEO. This does not happen if you use a blogging platform instead of your website.Blogs are words. Photographs only are not acceptable and don’t work on their own. A blog must be at least 500 words. 1000 words average. Once it gets much over 1500 words, it’s time to think about splitting into two smaller blogs. A mix of sizes is good, some longer, some shorter. For SEO, Google needs to understand who you are and what you do, and only words can do that. For social media, there is no point promoting your blog on social if it is only images, as they would expect to see the images on social anyway. Do use images in the blogs. But there should be plenty of text to go with the images. Do not fill space with photographs.  Organise the writing in your blog. Make it easier for people to skim read. Use sub-headings, bullet-pointed lists, etc, to help people skim read it. This structure helps people and Google to understand your blog. Give value in your blog. The blog has to be useful to them, or it won’t be engaging.External and internal links are essential. Both to other websites (external links) and within your website to other pages and blogs (internal links).Marcus asks if Sam blogs and how he blogs. Sam says that inthe past, he has had copywriters blogging for him. This ensures that you get regular blogs created. But he also blogs himself, both written and video blogs. Sam says one key is ensuring you put time aside to create content. In terms of ideas, Sam often uses topics that have come up in conversations in the last fewweeks. Marcus asks about AI. Sam says it's good for some stuff. It is bad at writing blogs. Do not simply ask AI to write you a blog; it will be very generic and easy to spot. But it is useful. It is great for ideas. If you cannot think of anything to write, it can give you ideas. You can also ask for a blog structure. Don’t 100% stick to the structure, as it will be quite bland. Then write the blog yourself. But once you have written it yourself, put it backthrough AI and ask for improvements.How do you get people to your blog? First of all, no one will come if you don’t tell them about it. What can you do?Send out social media posts sending people to the blogMake an email newsletter and send people to the blog.Those are really good ways of getting people to your blog. As part of SEO, Google assess how popular your website is and how long people stay on the website. So by sending engaged people to the blog, you are helping with your website's SEO. Ensure that you have your website connected to Google Analytics so you can see who is visiting your blogs and where they are coming from.You can reach out to Sam on ⁠LinkedIn here⁠Or⁠ ⁠find his website here⁠.⁠To get the Shoot to the Top Podcast in your inbox every week, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠And to join the ⁠⁠⁠⁠Shoot to the Top Facebook group head here.⁠⁠

Are you a commercial photographer working in isolation? In this essential episode, we speak with Philip North Coons and Graham Dittpros from Photographers United Pro about why true success comes from community, not just creativity.1. Escape the Screen: Learn the non-negotiable strategy for networking for photographers that forces you to put down the mouse and leads directly to more work.2. The Secret to Longevity: Discover the single, simple principle that veteran photographers rely on to keep commercial photography clients returning for over a decade.3. Protect Your Tail: Find out the crucial business document that you need to master before you step on set to protect your business and reputation in every scenario.

Marcus is going to talk about your personal brand. He wantsto talk about the aesthetics of this. First, what is a personal brand. So, it’s a combination of who you are, what you do, what you are known for a who is your target audience. Marcus is going to focus on how we look. Marcus thinks women are much better at this than men. Marcus thinks that when people book a photographer, they have certain expectations. He thinks people expect photographers to be cool and a little arty. This expectation makes a difference to our brand.We have had a couple of stylists on the show including Nick Hems and Suzanne SuthersMarcus says the first thing is to know your size. Get properly measured so you can work out what is going to fit you. Marcus thinks are then you need a “capsule wardrobe”. This is a few items of clothing that work well together.  Marcus recommends getting clothes second hand. He thinks higher quality second hand clothes are better than cheap new clothes. He says you need some items that match your brand. Marcus says if you can’t decide on a colour go for black. Something small with your brand colour can work well with black.Marcus says there are several points of contacts with people. Usually on Zoom, Networking, on your website and then on the shoot. On Zoom calls it’s important to get the background right. Arrange the background well. Some artefacts in the backgrounds that show you are a photographer are great. Marcus doesn’t like the artificial backgrounds. Marcus does suggest a slide show in the background. He also suggests getting a good webcam or use your SLR as a webcam. Get the camera level and lighting right. Also ensure your label on Zoom clearly says your name and business. Marcus says then on the website you want at least twophotographs of yourself. Sam and Marcus agree a photo of you on the homepage is important. Marcus says a behind the scenes video is useful. Sam says it shows you interacting with customers which is very powerful. Marcus says a photo onthe about page is also important, and you need to be in your branded calls. Sam says also using images for example of you having a nice chat with someone by the call me button may help put people at ease.

He works as a top beauty photographer, particularly for hair brands in the US. He is also the fastest 100-metre runner of his age. Marcus points out we have a show about getting into hair photography.Alec also does some cinematography work and went to film school. He also went to Harvard to study digital media. He says he now uses AI a lot in his work. He uses it to create mock-ups of how shoots might work, in shoot planning. He also uses it for backgrounds. He says this was a key part of his time in film school. But he says he doesn’t like the green screen approach in photography. He says, especially with hair, a greenscreen background doesn’t work well. Marcus and Alec talk about generative AI and how big businesses and photographers are competing with the latest AI campaigns, which are very realistic. Alec says this is their strength, but it has weaknesses. It is well-trained in beauty andfashion, and more trained in women than men. It has not been trained on behind-the-scenes shots, and it is really bad at this. So, Alec says sharing the behind-the-scenes becomes a vital part of the story. People are interested in that, and it showsthe shot is genuine.You can find Christian ⁠here⁠To get the Shoot to the Top Podcast in your inbox every week, gets hints and tips from Sam and Marcus and get the latest photography news ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠And to join the ⁠⁠⁠⁠Shoot to the Top Facebook group head here.