How do I break into Advertising Photography

So I graduated Ohio Institute Of Photography about 2 years ago. I moved from Ohio to Kansas City Mo in

order to find myself and to "see whats out there". I have now returned back to ohio after living and

working in KC for about 2 yrs. I assisted for some folks and learned alot. Now I find myself starting over

in Ohio. I'm at the point where I feel ready to be the photographer. I have contacted most all of the

Studios and Photographers in my city as an assistant and nothing has been steady. I guess my question is

really a three parter... FIRST is my work good enough to get some advertising cliental .... SECOND how do

I get advertising cliental... THIRD where do you think my strength is?

 

You can view my images just click www.photo.net/photos/JEFF SESLAR

Jeff:

 

I don't think it's my place to answer one or three, but you get these sorts of clients with regular direct mailings followed by offers to show your portfolio. Like so many other small service businesses, a photographer's strength is often in their mailing list.

 

Good luck.

Hello Jeff,

 

Let me be the first to chime in that I think your work is very good. Your strength, in my

opinion, is in the area of product & table top. There's nothing wrong with your

architectural work either, I felt that it was a bit weaker than the product work on the page

you directed us to.

 

Tenacity, perserverence and a constant beating of the pavement with your portfolio are the

keys to building awareness of your services. I might suggest doing some homework, ask

around among other studios will to share, look in local publications to further target types

of markets where your skills will be most in demand and your time spent most profitable.

Once you have an idea of the type of work being commissioned most in your area, you

might develop a body of work to target that market.

 

Quarterly direct mail pieces are also very usefull and a cost effective way to keep your

name in front of art directors, account executives and art buyers. These folks have very

short memories and will, more often than not, resort to those that they have releationships

with already and have produced consistently tried & true results for them in the past.

 

Commercial, advertising & editorial photography is an industry depending primarily on

relationships first, skill & talent second...pricing often a distant third consideration. It

takes time and constant reminders to these people that your are out there. Give yourself

2-3 years to build these relationships in the beginning.

 

Creative source books are also a good way to expose your talent and build recognition.

They can be pricey in the regional and national guides like Workbook & Black Book. Many

major metropolitan areas also produce creative source directories listing stylists,

designers, photographers, illustrators, set-builders, etc. See if there's one in your area and

consider placing an ad at some point.

 

Regarding direct mail...be ruthless in your editing and choice of images. Hire the best

graphic designer you can afford. I have had the experience of giving designers free reign

to "create" pieces for me. They have, in turn, submitted my pieces to local design

competitions sponsored by the American Advertising Federation. These pieces have

recieved much atttention from the local advertising community when they win awards. The

result has been art buyers & art directors calling me out of the blue soliciting job bids and

wondering why they weren't on my mailing list.

 

A strong website has now become an essential tool for marketing and an expedient

method for portfolio reviews.

 

Most of all...present yourself in person as well as in print as a very competent

professional. Listen carefully to your potential clients and work tirelessly to meet their

needs. Eventually you will build name recognition and a reputation for good work. Then,

word of mouth becomes an extremely valuable, not to mention the most cost effective

marketing strategy.

There is some good advice here already. I will just add a couple of things.

 

First, even without looking at your work, I have to say that I have seen some marginal

photographers get lots of work. It is about making relationships with people and getting

in the front door. If there are advertising or marketing organizations in your area, join

them and start schmoozing!

 

Second, looking at your work, yes, it is good enough to go it on your own, but not there

for national stuff yet, so don't waste money on the workbook or black book. You may

have stuff as good as some of the advertisers in those books, but it doesn't mean they are

getting work out of their own area, it just means they have money to spend on the ad.

 

Decide what you want to do. I know people in my market that are making tons of money,

but I don't think their work is up to getting national ad or design work. But catalogs and

local clients can pay the bills quite well and the national shooters don't really want to do

that work. If you want to eventually do national ads and corporate work, just work on

developing your style, but in the meantime, go after local clients. This is what I did and I

now do little local work. 90% of what I do is from national ad and design clients. It just

takes time and energy and a few lean years to get it all together.

 

Persistence is the key to local clients(company direct, art directors at ad agencies and

graphic designers). Go see them with your book, call them monthly to see if they have

work--they will eventually break down and give you work and if they like what you do,

continue to give you work, but continue to call even if they have given you work--go see

them again in six months (or sooner if they don't seem to remember you- just change the

book around so it looks new and add some new images). Be sure you have leave behinds,

a few different ones off a good inkjet printer of images in your book and let them pick

which one they want(they will pick what is relevant to them) and also send thankyou notes

for meeting with you and, in your own market, send a piece every month. Hey you wont

do all of this, but if you want work, you should. It usually take 5 contacts to get someone

to know who you are and to even start to give you work, so assist until you get a steady

flow of your own work. Mailings and such can be done at night and on weekends, as can

testing for portfolio images. You are young and if you feel that this is an overwhelming

amount of work, you should look for a 9-5 job. There is a lot of freedom in our business,

but there is also a lot of work to be done to be successful.

 

Oh yea, and if you do want to do national work, look at as much art photography and

national photography as you can. See what you respond to and try to emulate it. If you

have a style and personal desire, you will end up not emulating it, but making it your own

and your style will emerge. A lot of what you have in your portfolio looks like what you

think people might want to see. This is what the local clients-many of them in any case--

do want to see, but it is not what national clients want, they want a unique style. Many

local clients, who want very straight work, will use it for their national ads, but someone in

LA wont hire you to do it, there are locals that do that work.

Jeff-- Breaking into advertising photography is like trying to smash a specific window on a speeding train using a piece of bubblegum. It can be done (hint: use a big piece of bubblegum, soak it in liquid helium first to make it rock-hard, and shoot it out of an ARWIN), but it is a challenge.

 

I think your stuff is generally good. Clean, nice harmonic tones. But there are two questions you need to ask yourself-- first, are there any clients nearby who need this kind of work, and second, where are their ad agencies located?

 

This is why art directors are seen as gatekeepers for photographers. At a big ad agency, the account executives get the business, the creative team comes up with a campaign. The creative team will almost certainly include an A.D. (art director). In smaller agencies, the whole shop might be just a couple of people and a temp receptionist.

 

In any case, the A.D. wants to hire someone who can carry the ball. In many cases, that means going to New York or Los Angeles or San Francisco or Chicago (if we're talking about the U.S.), because using digital transmission over the Internet, the A.D. doesn't have to be at the shoot-- the photographer can send digital comps to him/her seconds after they're taken.

 

Here's the problem I see for you: as decent as your work is, it doesn't distinguish itself. Why should a local A.D. use you when he can use someone he's worked with for years who can give him the same thing in a more time-efficient manner?

 

Ah, but there are times when the local A.D. might use you. The regular photographer is swamped, on vacation, retired, or slept with the A.D.'s wife (it's happened).

 

The trick is to be there with the right stuff, and be on top of the A.D.'s mind when the need arises. The key to that is to push your photographic technique and promote, promote, promote.

 

Another thing is to develop a unique style. It's like when I was learning to drive NASCAR, the instructors told me that if there was a wreck happening in front of me, aim for the wreck, because by the time I get there the wreck will be somewhere else. The same holds true for photography-- if you chase the popular styles of today, you'll always be behind, because by the time you've perfected them, style has moved on.

 

I'm experimenting with lighting flowers using industrial scanning lasers. It might have commercial potential, but besides that it pushes my technique, exposes me to new markets, and distinguishes my photography. Plus it's fun.

 

Go to ASMP meetings and live presentations by major photographers. Promote yourself at least as much as you promote your photography. Constantly do something different (unless the A.D. wants you do do the exact same thing you did for him last time). Re-invent yourself every five years.

 

Best of luck. -BC-

Hi Jeff,

I'm an art director and you've gotten a lot of great advice here already. A couple of things I

can add:

 

1. Get yourself a Rep to pimp out your work for you.

 

2. Take the art directors to lunch one a week :)

Advertising is a big jump IMO. When you say advertising, you are usually talking about major campaigns with companies with big budgets who are only looking for the top names. A good way to build up a portfolio is to work as a corporate photographe for small and medium businesses, get your foot in the door, start doing small PR or related campaigns, build your portfolio, then break into true advertising photography.