Dear this small sphere of the internet world,
pic1 is Self-portraiture 2019
pic2 is Portraiture 2019
pic3 is Archive 2006-2010
Question 1. What do you think is my physical brand? List 3 words to describe what you see.
Question 2. What are the 2 types of photography that pay well?
Question 3. What 3 advices do you have for making money in the industry?
first time on Fstoppers. Thank you for your time! :)
I think everyone here is also searching for answers to the exact same questions. It's a journey to find that for everyone on their own, there are no shortcuts or magic bullets. It's not really something that can be told to you. That said, weddings and babies seem to pay pretty well if you're good at it and you've built up a good reputation (same as anything else really).
It would be easier to help you out with specific images rather than a big mess of too many things that we can't really see. Hope this helps.
thank you for your reply Sennia.
What do you mean by journey? Wouldn't your brand/style be the summation of what others see? Ie. if 85/100 people say the word "emotional" then that is safe to assume it is true. If 10/100 people describe ur photos as "feminine, dreamy, fairy magical like" then that is most likely false belief... ?
-lost girl
Perhaps? Although I don't think I would consider "emotional" a brand per se.
What I mean by "journey" is that people in general and artists/creators in particular are, hopefully, always evolving and trying to figure out what the next step is going to be on our path. Otherwise if we stay in one place and define ourselves by a certain set of parameters, we become stagnant.
*edited to add - in this particular case I also meant that the journey is figuring out our own place in the world of photography, whether commercial (and if so which genres) or not (and if so, also which genres). It's not really something that can be answered with a single question. I hope this makes sense!
what do you consider as brands?
That's entirely individual and the subject of probably 1,000,000,000 articles on the internet (lol) and all I can offer is my opinion which may or may not be what you're looking for. To me a brand is an instantly recognizable "look". You see the Nike swoosh, the golden arches, the white apple with a chunk taken out of it - and you instantly know exactly which companies these images represent. In photography it's a lot harder to quantify, it's based more on an overall look which is also dictated by the individual artist's perceptions and preferences. Cohesiveness in color, composition, subject matter, and an indefinable something - this is what I would consider a "brand" as it pertains to photography. But again, as artists, we are all growing and things change. 10 years ago my "brand" was colorful travel photography with an emphasis on repetitive patterns in architecture, which morphed into modern architecture, which then morphed into fashion. Now I concentrate more on high contrast beauty photography with a slight bit of a darker edge to it. In a broad sense, my brand from 10 years ago has absolutely nothing to do with where I am now. But it's part of the journey that got me to where I am.
1. You need to define this. Anyone who tries to thrust one on you based on looking at a few images is never going to actually capture your personality.
2. Wedding and product.
3. Invest most of your effort in the business of photography (marketing, sales, administration, customer management, cold calling, networking, etc). Figure out how to make images that set you apart from the competition. (aka do what other photographers can't). And develop a consistent and elegant style that you repeat on every job.
thank you Ryan :)