Finding your “ideal client” without being exclusive, insensitive, and rude.
If I had a dollar for every time I read a post from a heart broken woman who was told by her all time favorite photographer that her and her fiancé or partner just weren’t the photographers “ideal client” or they weren’t the “right fit” for their portfolio, I would sadly have many dollars.
This is S H A M E F U L. Seriously, shame on those photographers that have used these lines because the couple reaching out to you didn’t what? Fit you aesthetic? Gross. Your aesthetic is what drew them to you. I get it if they’re sending you bright and airy inspiration photos and you’re a dark and moody photographer, then yeah, there’s a miscommunication somewhere and that needs to be addressed. But if you’re niched down to size two brides, or couples that fit traditional beauty standards, are in a specific age range, or exclusively wear Gucci, I hate to break it to you honey, but you’re an asshole.
And you’re what’s wrong with the standards of this industry. If your only goal is to have the prettiest instagram feed, or be published on a wedding site, you’re here for the wrong reasons. If you’re doing your JOB correctly, every single one of your couples should be glowing, should look confident and radiant and your photos should shine regardless of any outdated notion of standardized beauty.
How dare you sit here and spew body positivity, and self love, and turn around and shame someone and in no uncertain terms tell them they are not good enough to be photographed by the likes of you.
Is this 2002 and you’re a Hollywood producer or a magazine editor? No baby it’s 2020, and you’re here to serve your clients as they serve your camera lens a whole lot of gorgeous. Get with the times.
And that’s my run on sentence ted talk. Spread love.
Now here’s the things you SHOULD be asking yourself and your clients to narrow down your actual, non judgmental right fit:
- Who do you enjoy photographing the most?
These are categories like Families, Couples, Events, Elopements, Dogs, Newborns, Jellyfish. This probably isn’t the right blog if your answer is jellyfish.
A sub category of this is, if you like shooting families, what range of children bring you the most joy and best results so that you can let your client know what your specialty is? Do you love shooting families with toddlers because they lend themselves to enhance your candid style shooting and make sessions a joy? Do you love babies because they make sessions chill and easygoing? Do you love middle schoolers because they can be moody and you like to feel bad about yourself when they don’t laugh at a single one of your jokes? Uhh kidding, kind of. How about huge extended families where you’re type A coordination skills come in handy and you can get all of those adult children together in one place and impress the pants off the grandparents? Whatever it is, showcase it and make good impressions and those people will bring you more clients.
2. If you like shooting couples, what are your favorite shoots?
Do you like the excitement of a proposal shoot? Do you have the most fun when you’re doing an adventure shoot in the mountains? Do you just want to capture them cozying up in their house? Is the beach where you come alive as a photographer?
3. If you like doing newborn photography are you drawn to shooting in their home, in a studio, in your home, in the hospital? Location can be very important. Do you live near beautifully preserved nature? Are you willing to drive a bit to get to overlooks, cliffs, mountains? Do you have access to historic districts or gorgeous beaches? Advertise the places that bring the best out of you and your photos.
4. What kind of personalities make for a comfortable and smooth running session?
do you like the people who are all about their instagram feeds and have 60 poses all ready to run through immediately? Do you like super easy going couples that just want to cuddle and kiss each other the whole time? Do you want a super high energy family that you can chase around and capture their genuine and goofy spirits? These are all things that will shine through in your images, and not a single one has anything to do with their looks.
5. And finally, if your ideal shoots are events, weddings or elopements, ask yourself which one do you come alive for most?
Do you absolutely rock at commanding a group of 50 into a perfect group shot where you can see everyone’s face and you know you’re going to nail that magic shot where everyone has their eyes open? Or are you more of a let’s fly a drone over this cliff and capture just the two of you and your love from the clouds? Do you thrive in a group of about 20 where your personality can shine through, but you don’t have to feel like you are totally herding cats? Can you not get enough of highly stylized one year old birthday parties? The world is your oyster.
