my road 4
IV.) My Road – Start With A Better Plan
Now you know even more. I’ve got a big dream. And I’m building a road into the wild woods – but I’ve got a plan. A dramatic, laborious, and long-term plan. A plan that breaks conventions.
Before I go into the details of my specific plan. I want to take a moment to expound some of my thoughts on the way many commercial shooters market themselves now.
Firstly, let me remind you that commercial photography is insanely competitive. – I have heard before that there is 1 commercial photo assignment available for every 12 commercial shooters. And that the top 10% of commercial shooters get 90% of the available assignments or dollars associated with those assignments – And that the volume of assignments is down by as much as 70% this year, with pricing for usage off by over 30%. My statistics are based mostly on hearsay, but even if they are only half right – the point remains, if you are not one of the top tier global commercial shooters the preverbal deck is stacked against you – by a lot.
As far as I see it, here is the way most commercial shooters try to get paid assignments: They create a portfolio of a certain type of work, with a specific style, print up some portfolios, get a portfolio website up – maybe a blog too, send out postcard mailers and e-mail campaigns a few times a year, and if they’re more in the middle and not so much at the bottom, they’ll take out an ad in Workbook or Blackbook – And if they’re really lucky they’ll also have a decent rep working on their behalf. And hopefully they are smart enough to stay in touch with previous clients to get some multi-year work. Sounds like a good plan right? Sure, if you don’t mind being just another name in a pool of thousands of other commercial shooters who are doing exactly the same thing – in the same style, with same gear, etc. Now, don’t get me wrong following the steps above will get you work – but what kind of work? I wonder how many commercial photographers have the ability to choose their clients?