It’s no secret that making it as a photographer today requires more than a sense of composition and a good eye. To succeed in today’s photography market, you need have a specialty. At least that’s the conclusion drawn by luminaries on a panel about “Tools for Selling Stock Direct” at the recent PDN PhotoPlus Conference in New York.
The consensus was that, as PhotoShelter CEO Allen Murabayashi put it, “Generalists won’t survive,” given all the current pressures on the photography market. Those pressures include: the increased availability of quality prosumer camera gear, a flood of royalty free microstock images that often were produced by amateurs, low pricing, and the growth of quality low-cost photographers as the loss of staff jobs at many media organizations put more freelancers on the streets. Then there’s the impact of the more global economic downturn on overall demand. “You have to specialize and understand who’s buying to really succeed,” Murabayashi added.
Via our own informal poll, we found that to counter trends in the industry many photographers already had begun to specialize.
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© 2009 Lee Roth / Roth Stock
Drew Barrymore at the premiere of "Whip It" at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. |
“I’d say having a specialty today isn’t a choice – it’s mandatory,” said Lee Roth,a LicenseStream subscriber and celebrity photographer known for photographing more than 150 red carpet events per year including movie premieres, awards shows and charity fundraisers. Roth, who started on the red carpet in 2002, “still shoots scenic and model imagery,” he said, adding, ”but it’s the celebrities who are paying the bills.”
Stock photography industry consultant Ellen Boughn said she thinks being a generalist “is a lost cause.” She adds that any photographer who wants to sell stock direct really needs to be a specialist. She points to stock photographer John Lund, who has become known for his humorous images of animals; James Steidl , known for his “retro” shots of people and objects that look as if they’re out of the 1940s and 1950s; and to Andrew Zuckerman, known for his splendid photographs of birds ranging from African Fish Eagles to the American Kestrel. Then there’s Michael Lamotte , a food packaging specialist who also is well known as the go-to guy for photographing ice cream.
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In addition to his ability to capture the lusciousness of frozen treats, Michael Lamotte’s technical savvy has set him apart from other photographers, said Marianne Campbell,a San Francisco, CA-based agent who represents Lamotte and several other photographers.
“Clients ask him for his expertise in color management and calibrating monitors, so in addition to the creative side, he’s a whiz,” she said. Campbell added that she is not yet ready to say that generalists can’t make it, and notes that even specialists – for example those focused on the auto industry – have suffered in the recent downturn. However, she adds, “I am noticing that people who are a little bit more narrowly defined in terms of what they shoot seem to be weathering what’s happening in our industry a little better than others.”
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© 2009 Michael Lamotte
Strawberry Ice Cream
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Whether you’re a stock photographer or working on assignment, said Chicago-based photographer Joe Pobereskin,“You really do need to specialize because I don’t think clients are going to be comfortable anymore with someone who does everything.”
Pobereskin markets himself as a photographer who specializes in environmental portraits, portraits of people that reveal something more about them. For example, to impart more about the passions of a financial advisor, he photographed him with his 1959 Les Paul Goldtop guitar. To say more about the personality of an individual stock broker, he photographed the subject at home in his trophy room, in front of a fireplace with his dogs.
However, Pobereskin added that it’s not enough to have a specialty in today’s challenging market. “You have to be very good at what you do because there’s no room for mediocrity anymore,” he said. “Today, you need to guarantee that when you’re sent out you’ll come back with what the client wants. If you don’t, you won’t be sent out a second time by that client.”
Car racing and generalist photographer Ben Colman agrees that the photography market is much more competitive today than it was ten years ago. “Given today’s global economy, a photographer will be better known for having a specialty and expanding from there,” he said.”You need to be known and fairly high up in your field, whether you are an aerial photographer or an architectural photographer.”
Colman said that as a long-time ASMP member, he encourages those entering the field to join the organization and to “pay close attention to their business practices, licensing information, copyright information, negotiating information.”
While it’s still important to have a good eye and sense of composition, Colman said, “in these times, it’s as important to be a good business person and Web savvy as it is to be a good photographer.” Such skills also open up entire new markets to photographers who have the skills to take advantage of the global growth of the Web. “Today, you can sell a photo directly to someone in Hong Kong who may see it online and say to themselves, ‘I like that,’” he said. “The world is our oyster now.”
