Do you commission photography? Your opinion please

[S. Gonzales Esq.]

After a too-long period of avoiding marketing my photography, I've finally bitten the bullet, dumped my Flash-based website and moved to a hosted service that hopefully ensures a consistent presentation across all devices.

My natural inclination is to let the pictures do the talking and avoid too much text or anything like an 'about me' page. However, I imagine I have two sorts of potential clients - designers and agencies that expect a slick gallery of images, and direct clients that might need a bit more explanation about how I could work with them.

Could I ask anyone that buys photography to take a couple of minutes to have a look at it and let me know your thoughts? To avoid breaking the PH rules I won't post a link here, but it's in my profile or Google will provide if you search Tony Gilbert Bristol.

Would you get in touch based on what you see, or if not, what else does the site need?

Thanks

[jonamv8]

we buy photography - nothing would put me off

[s2sol]

I used to commission a bit of commercial photography in Bristol. I'd want to see your portfolio with more information about your clients, rather than images with no provenance. I'd like to see locations you'd recommend and possibly links to studios you had connections with.

We used to use a studio near Marshfield, the name of which escapes me.

[singlecoil]

The pictures are excellent, but there's not much else. There's little to build a connection on, virtually nothing about you and minimal contact details. Perhaps you should have a look at that side of things?

[S. Gonzales Esq.]

Thanks for looking chaps.

I was concerned that marketing has moved on since I last did any. Previously, I'd treated the website as simply a digital portfolio that I could direct people towards, rather than something that would be the first point of contact.

Each image has a single line description that you can access by clicking the 'i' top left, but for a potential client that's never met me or has not arrived through word-of-mouth, I can see that more info could be useful. I've been at it for twenty five years, but there's no way anyone would know that.

Would a simple 'about me' page be enough, or do I need something like a blog to give the thing a bit more credibility?

[akirk]

you fall in to the trap of many small businesses - building the structure from your perspective as a brochure rather than from the perspective of the client - think more as the client - who may not know you...

start at the top and think how they would want to find out about you / what they would want to know / the things you can say or show that tick the questions in their mind...

[S. Gonzales Esq.]

akirk said:

start at the top and think how they would want to find out about you / what they would want to know / the things you can say or show that tick the questions in their mind...

I guess those are the questions I'm asking - twenty-something years of acquiring work by word of mouth has left me unsure about exactly what clients are looking for.

I could think about it and come up with something, but asking PH feels like a better way to start.

[akirk]

S. Gonzales Esq. said:

I guess those are the questions I'm asking - twenty-something years of acquiring work by word of mouth has left me unsure about exactly what clients are looking for.

I could think about it and come up with something, but asking PH feels like a better way to start.

Fair point

try and put yourselves in their shoes - what is the benefit to their business from your photos - look more professional / success in pitching for work to their clients / ability to sell products / etc. then structure the website on that - basically, the questions you are asking / need to answer:
- what is a business trying to do in how it grows
- how can my skills help them do that

so if you want to be in the retail sector, then they need to sell products, so structure it around how your photography would help them do that - give examples of before and after and showing your photography playing a role - if you had stats for clients whose sales had increased then it would be great to show those - then the potential new customer can look at before / after and see a 25% increase in sales and would totally get why using you will pay back financially...

if you want to be in the commercial sector - again, before and after images of a brochure / branding / etc. - or showing how your photos were used to help a customer...

work out the sectors you want to be in (ones which are expanding / have money to spend), then work out how your photography could help them achieve that goal, then pitch the website along that story...

ultimately you have to remember that no-one buys you for your photography, they buy you because the photos help build their company...