They say that diversity is the spice of life and that in the freelance photographer’s world, an inclusive and knowledgeable skill set goes a long way. So, why does knowing the myriad genres of photography cause so much disrespect in the professional world?
Like many of us, I started my career out of poverty and desperately searched for any kind of photography project I could take on. I want it all, and I say yes to everything. There were certainly a disaster or two in those first few years, but I bit my teeth into interior and architecture photography as well as food and drink.
I shoot on location with natural light and hire a studio to shoot product and still life when needed. I’ve become adept at dealing with wardrobes and regulators, using wide-angle lenses, and understanding distortion at wider focal lengths. My name was given to wedding after wedding, a strange name I still use to this day. It’s busy, it’s varied, and I love it!
Looking back on those days, I am completely satisfied. A fun, curious, busy photographer is racing around Manchester for real estate, menu or studio product shots! Walk along the city’s inner ring road to snap a billboard (ok that was a mistake, a low point for sure, and I’m halfway there, but you get what I mean). So what is beef? Did Jack (let’s call him Jack, ’cause I can’t bother typing Jack of All Trades every time) treading on too many of a photographer’s patches? Wouldn’t he be welcome without a 105mm macro or a portfolio of #yolkporn photos? “His tripod isn’t even Manfrotto, though.”
The short answer is, no problem. I’m clearly abusing it for the sake of humor. No one cares about that. If you do it well and consistently what you do, you can happily “Jack” it all year round and make a decent living out of it, just like I did! However, there is a more complex argument against the vanities above. If you’re looking to take the next big step in your career as a photographer, it can make sense to spread yourself across multiple genres. Let’s take a look at some.
Portfolio Consistency
Investment portfolio. Magna Carta of every photographer. The document is so sought after that you can get 10 surprises depending on who you send it to. It must fit a certain style or, more widely accepted, a certain genre. Bend the lines here and there a bit, yes, but add your “bride prep” edits with “buffalo hot wings” and things can look a little out of the ordinary. Consistency of work leads to reliability and trust from customers, so regular work is more likely.
When I was working on a large scale, I had friends and contacts who already knew my name, and so I was able to work in a different category for different companies, based on word of mouth. Lucky for me, I know. Quickly move to the nation’s capital, and suddenly, no one knows me, and I’m one of thousands of boys and girls doing the same thing. Most of the name parts are gone. What is my point of view? Important investment portfolio.
Like I said, you can have endless variations! If you want to keep capturing and it works for you, then go for those genres and have a few portfolios to show for it! For example, I have a food and lifestyle portfolio that I send out to potential agents and bookings. This is a brief summary of my photography and what is largely available on my website. It embraces a familiar style across what I like to think of as intersecting genres: food, food culture, and overarching lifestyle. This definitely means a little bit of interior creep in, a small destination or travel business, or some nice still life studio photography. It is nicely arranged and passes image to image, page to page.
I also have a much more concise and consistent food and drink portfolio that I’m constantly working on. I pester photography agents with this material every few months, in the vain hope that they will stop ignoring me, but that, my friends, is an article for another day.
Uncertain career
Do you ever feel scared that you are getting old? That the sands of time are sliding faster through your fingers? Yes, you’re 35 now, but blink your eyes and you’ll be 40. Do you want to keep running around town for different clients? Isn’t the time to get a studio and let the work come to you? Shouldn’t you be preparing yourself for a comfortable retirement in 103 years? Only me then? Yes.
Even so, the uncertainty of what is to come is an important factor in how you make an effort in the world of photography. Having a niche or a specialty and a style to call your own will build more ground than not knowing where you sit, or worse, leaving others uncertain about it. Flirt and flaunt as much as you like when you’re just starting out or simply when you have the time and energy to do so, but in the end mortgages, spouse, and kids come together, and a little more solidarity and safety is needed to prioritize personal or family life. Sharpening that expertise is key to forming and strengthening relationships with the right people in your industry so you can continue to work without much uncertainty.
Master of No?
It’s terrible isn’t it? An annoying little phrase that pops up in an already tough industry. And in a world where it’s so easy to be seen and heard that your anonymity truly delights with every post! We chase algorithms like lame hounds chasing a rabbit, completely unaware that it’s just a sock on a stick. Sorry, it was a bit confusing posting to Instagram.
That being said, it can certainly be true that taking on too many things at once – or perhaps rather diversifying your work too much over time – can lead to an overall quality of work. diminished or lacked focus on trends and innovative shifts in one of those genres on a more commercial level. Most importantly, however, you run the risk of being seen as sketchy or simply too diverse for viewers of your work looking for solid, consistent imagery.
I firmly believe that one genre of photography can inform another, that’s why I include food and drink in my lifestyle, but I am completely guilty of allowing those unrelated images that I take great pride in for rent directly on my website. I know the apocalypse is near, but I just can’t bring them down on my own to banish them to a hard drive that never sees the light of day!
You simply don’t see photographers at the peak of their commercial game shooting covers for The Sunday Times supplements and Vogue editorials. However, you can also see photographers capturing recipes for a famous restaurant’s cookbook as well as interior lifestyle arrangements for a “Veganuary” piece in Country Living. . It’s a subtle but important distinction that needs to be understood so that one’s work can be objectively viewed and understood by potential buyers.
Je Suis Jack
Either way at the top of the tree, it’s important that Jack gets his kicks before settling down, so to speak. Play that field! Shoot bands for that local music newspaper and get free gigs from there. Take a portrait of your friends for a pint. Shoot the student apartment for the price of your first official day and be grateful for all the great products you have to keep that have been mailed by the small gift company or in the studio with the brothers. Lovely guy from an ethical personal hygiene startup.
I love diversity in my work. It helps me explore the brand new city I’ve moved to, instead of going to the same place every day. It allows me to write creatively, from bed on a dirty January morning. It gives me scope to take on interesting and fresh briefs for people I want to impress and absolutely enjoy working with. It also gives me the confidence to say no to work that isn’t worth my time and skills.
However, it has been improved over the years. It has been chipped, sanded, planed and varnished to look like something a little more streamlined and concise, and dare I say will continue to do so for many years to come! But never, for a second, did I regret Jack’s days. Jack lives in me. Jack lives in all of us. Embrace Jack, give Jack a chance. Je Suis Jack.
