my road 8
VIII.) My Road – Bring Something Creative to the Table
As it stands now commercial photographers are almost always hired onto a project after the major creative decisions are already made by the agencies that handle their accounts or the internal marketing departments of the brands themselves. Or, as is the case in the editorial world, the shooter is brought in after the story has already been assigned or in some cases already written. Often, photographers are barely creative partners in the development of advertising campaigns. I’m not a huge fan of this process. And if there is anything I can do to help change this convention – I’ll certainly try.
Personally, I think too many shooters are treated like disposable commodities. A successful commercial photographer needs to be fundamentally skilled in the specific and technical aspects of the tools of the trade,– they need to be good at taking pictures and to be able to recreate someone else’s creative ideas. BUT, they also need to be skilled businessmen – to be their own brands and agencies unto themselves. Wait a minute – you mean a successful photographer has to be skilled at a trade, run a business, a brand, and be their own ad agency too? Yep.
Well, if that’s the case you’d think some successful shooters might have legitimate ideas to bring to the creative table while developing campaigns for the end clients. Granted some shooters might not want to be involved in this process – they’d prefer to be hired after the ideas are already in place and to just shoot the layout. That makes sense for some, but to me it seems like it’s a lot harder to set yourself apart once the ideas are already locked. At that point you are the photographic version of a tradesmen – artistry and creativity are not necessary in order to complete the job. As I move forward in my career I would like to become known as someone that can be brought to the creative table – before the ideas are closed.