In the past, location has been everything for commercial photographers. However, times are changing, and it isn't an option for all of us to up sticks and move to NY. So what do we do if we find ourselves living in a small city?
I live in a small city in the UK called Leicester with a population of 557,000. Although only an hour from London on the train, which may seem like nothing to those living in the USA, it is years away from the capital city when it comes to advertising. Most agents and agencies wouldn't even consider leaving the M25 (A ring road around London). So what do you do if you have big aspirations but find yourself in a location like mine?
In this video I go through how I navigated the situation of being away from where the action is, but still managing to eventually break into the scene. As with all things photography and business related, this was no quick fix and it took me about a decade of being rejected by agents, art buyers and creative directors. I also go on to talk about what I would have done differently in order to speed up the process by a few years.
Although you can make a living outside of cities like Paris, London, and New York as a commercial photographer. If you want to be shooting the big and exciting campaigns, you either need an agent in one of those cities or to have your studio situation there.
How have you, or are you navigating this?
557,000 is not a small city.