Don’t Pick a Photography Niche. Do This Instead.
I made the mistake they say no photographer should make.
After picking up a small, Sony mirrorless APS-C camera almost ten years ago, I started my photography journey snapping photos of my travels, which led me to starting this blog. With my passion for photography growing with every trip, I decided that I wanted to earn some money while doing what I love. So, I started taking adventurous product and lifestyle photos for local brands. When some of those brands asked me to take professional headshots for them, I accepted. When some of those brands also asked me to take event photos for them, I accepted.
Things seemed to be going pretty well, but, the more I researched building a photography business online, the more I started seeing the same advice: focus on one niche.
It’s true that focusing on one niche can be beneficial not just for photography, but also any kind of creative work. When potential customers have a problem that they need to solve, they typically look for specialists to help them. For instance, if you need to hire a photographer for your wedding day, chances are you’re going to hire a dedicated wedding photographer over a generalist that photographs weddings, product shots and real estate. While the generalist could, in fact, be a more skilled photographer, many clients perceive the specialist as the better, more experienced option for that specific type of photography simply because that is their main focus.
So, as I continued to read more and more articles about building a photography business, I, of course, started to doubt the path I had chosen. Should I have focused on one niche? Why was I accepting all of these different types of jobs? Should I completely start over and rebuild my portfolio?
Filled with doubt, I started to revise and rethink my photography business, tweaking my messaging and service offerings constantly. I focused on one niche after the other, trying to establish what single type of photography I would truly be happy covering. Every time, I found it hard to discard some of the other forms of photography that I loved from my service offerings. Finally, I read a book called Start With Why, by Simon Sinek, and my whole perspective on my photography business changed.
Focus on Your Why, Not Your Photography Niche
Without spoiling the book, the author encourages the reader to focus less on their product offerings, and more on the why behind the products they offer. If you can figure out why you do something, you can then figure out what services help you achieve that why.
Why is this important? Because customers connect more with your why than your how. Think about it. Do you follow travel photographers on Instagram because they offer various content creation services to hotels? Or do you follow them because they share stories and experiences from around the globe? Chances are it’s the latter.
Using the same example, a travel photographer who’s why is to share incredible stories and experiences from around the globe could use that to start creating services (aka their how) to help achieve that why. For instance, a travel photographer could offer photography for hotels and tour companies, destination weddings and vacation photos for tourists, as these all help tell incredible travel stories.
With a singular why established, as opposed to a singular niche, photographers can focus on a number of different types of photography services - as long as it still helps them achieve their why.
Finding My Why as a Photographer
After I read Simon’s book, I started to think about my photography a bit differently. I wasn’t just simply trying to make money from photography; I was trying to tell stories through it. So, after a bit of brainstorming, I determined that my why, or my mission, is to tell unique and inspiring stories of brands, people and places. Once I wrote that down, I knew I was onto something, and immediately felt more at ease with my photography business.
Even though I’m a photographer, I’m also a writer. In fact, my background is in professional writing. I even published a collection of short stories back in 2014! Because of this, I’ve always taken a storytelling approach to my photography. It’s also why I started a photography blog all those years ago.
As a writer and photographer, I realized that my why had to be focused on telling great stories, so my how had to be focused on the services that would help me tell those stories. That’s why I now confidently provide a combination of article writing, branding and lifestyle photography and event photography. In combination, these skills may seem like different photography niches, but they all help me tell my clients’ stories, thus driving the why driving my business.
Conclusion
Establishing a singular photography niche can be challenging and limiting, especially if you enjoy multiple types of photography niches like me. Focusing on one particular photography niche can be quite profitable, as you can become known as the go-to photographer for that niche, but it is still possible to succeed as a photographer with multiple niches. First, determine the why behind your photography. What makes you take the photos that you want to take? Once you’ve established that, you can start to determine how you take those photos and achieve your why. Your how could include multiple different types of photography, but, if they all help you achieve your why, you still end up with a photography business that’s focused on doing one thing very well.
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