Business

Although we’re required to wear many hats as photographers, we tend to think of ourselves as artists first, treating other roles as secondary, with sales often regarded as only an afterthought. The truth is that we are, first and foremost, salespeople. Photography is our trade—sales is our business.

Over the years I’ve had the great fortune of befriending many very talented photographers from around the world; I’ve also come to have an obsession with all things British thanks to binging episodes of Grand Designs and Top Gear. Consider me another American British Fetishist, I suppose.

It seems near-constantly that we are asked for ‘all rights’ to the photographs, or to own them in ‘perpetuity’ for some reason or another, but a recent e-mail exchange I was a part of presented a perfect opportunity to share one way I ensure my clients have the license they need while at the same time not giving in to overreach and a loss of image rights.

A group of high-profile architecture visualization professionals have banded together to ensure that they are properly credited when their work is disseminated throughout the architecture and media world at large. A problem that many photographers are also familiar with, for years, architectural visualization artists have found their work has gone uncredited when those assets are so vital to getting architecture projects off the ground.

Architects, interior designers, developers, and hotels don’t just exist in big cities, and neither do architectural photographers. I personally know photographers everywhere from the biggest cities in the world to remote and desolate areas, and they all have different definitions of success – but one thing is for sure and that is they are all making a healthy living at it, although using different methods and approaches.

In order to grow your photography business, you must constantly be re-assessing and re-evaluating how you are doing business. One integral part of your business is how you price your services and capabilities; doing this incorrectly and undervaluing or overvaluing what you provide can be your downfall as a professional.

I can comfortably say that I’m not the most talented photographer that I know. I know plenty of photographers that are extremely talented. The kind of work they produce is simply astounding and I’m consistently impressed by them. The issue is that many of these photographers tend not to be as successful than many other photographers I know who may not be as capable.

You’re having a great day, birds are chirping, sun is shining, life is good… Until you come across someone, or something, using one of your images without even the courtesy of credit. I’ve had enough, and I’m sure if you’re reading this, you’ve also had enough, so I’m going to show you how to get stolen and uncredited content removed from instagram.

Cost-sharing is a common business practice in architecture and interiors photography that allows the photographer to make more money by providing more clients access to project images for less money. It may sound counterintuitive at first, but can be a simple way to create happier clients while significantly improving profit margins with little additional overhead.

The photo credit is an important, yet sometimes elusive, piece of the professional architecture photographer pie. With the speed at which the photography landscape is changing, there are varying standards for getting photo credit in almost every situation. Here’s how I make sure I’m properly credited for my work, and how you can stand up for your own work to make sure you get credited as well.

I’ve lost count of how many times I thought that one dream job that I finally landed would steer my career in some lofty direction. This, finally, would show those top designers/architects/hotel marketing people that I can handle photographing a museum, church, multi-million dollar mansion, design icon skyscraper, or whatever shiny object was the object of my affection that day.

Sorry, I'm clickbaiting you here. There are a few oft-repeated phrases that will help you to "become a better photographer." These platitudes include things such as placing yourself in more interesting situations, concerning yourself (a true master, of course) with the qualities of light rather than gear, slowing down to make better photographs, speeding up to make better photographs, and on and on. I'm here to tell you that the single most important thing is...

In the ongoing discussion of renders vs. reality, a very keen-eyed Dezeen viewer noticed that a shortlisted project for the 2019 Dezeen Awards was actually a render, not a photo. As renders improve more and more every day, is this something that will begin to permeate architecture awards and photography contests?

What do clothing, music, cars, houses, and architectural photography have in common? They all go through trends; many of them arguably cyclical in nature. Rob van Esch is an experienced architectural photographer based in Amsterdam who recently created the e-book “Trends in Architectural Photography” which focuses on the recent shifts in the way architecture is photographed.

Your phone rings while you're on a shoot. Do you answer? Someone re-posts an image of yours on Instagram without permission. Do you tell them to take it down?