When I was first beginning in my photography career in college, I was running my business as a side hustle. It was pretty easy for me to book clients at that time because I was taking graduation photos for other students, and that was pretty much my entire clientele. I had a network of friends I’d made along with my sorority sisters, so it was pretty easy to get my name out there and keep my books filled with consistent shoots.
But when I graduated and moved to Utah, I had to start all over again from scratch. Nobody knew who I was, and I had to figure out a way to start getting paying clients so that I could follow my dream of eventually running my own photography business full-time. Aside from things like networking, posting consistently on social media, and doing a lot of work for free, there were three things that I did specifically that helped me start getting paid clients.
If you’re not familiar with what an affiliate program is, it’s basically paying someone a commission for helping you sell a product or book a service. When I moved to Utah, I knew that I really wanted to start doing senior portraits with high schoolers. When I eventually booked my first senior session, I asked after delivering the gallery if she’d be interested in doing an affiliate program with me.
I asked her to tag me on social media in the photos when she posted them, and to share about my work on her Instagram story. I knew that if she did this, her classmates and friends would see and possibly book with me for their session – and it worked! I paid her a percentage once her friends booked their shoots with me. Creating an affiliate program with all your past clients is a great way to get your name out there.
Another great way to build a portfolio with your ideal work is to create mock shoots, or “pretend” client shoots. There’s even photographers (including me!) who host these types of events on a larger scale, often called “styled shoots” or “content days.” Whether you create them yourself or attend someone else’s, any event where you can build a diverse portfolio filled with your dream sessions is what will help you show clients what they could get if they booked with you.
If your goal is to book more engagement shoots but you’ve never done one before, you can’t just expect people to know that you’re capable of this type of work. You have to always show, not tell. In this case, I would suggest gathering your friends that are in relationships and organize photo shoots with them that you would love to do with paying clients. Maybe you take them to a beach at sunset and get photos of them splashing in the ocean, or style them in edgy outfits and go downtown on main street. Think about what type of client you want to attract and what style of sessions would fulfill you as an artist and business owner – and just do pretend versions.
Afterwards, make sure to flood your feed with these images and put them all over your website, so when potential clients visit, they already have an idea in their head of the creative shots they’d get by booking you.
This is exactly what I did when I moved to Utah – for a while, I expected people to see my older work from Florida and that would be enough to want to book with me. It wasn’t. But once I went out into the local, popular Utah locations and started creating the work I wanted to get booked for is when the paid clients came knocking.
When I did finally quit my job to pursue photography full time, I decided that I was going to pitch myself to local clothing boutiques. I really wanted to work with these brands as their go-to local photographer, whether for lookbooks or product imagery, so I created a huge list of all the nearby boutiques. I then created a pitch email where I told them (briefly – keep it simple):
Who I am, where I’m based, and what I do
Why they should hire me as a photographer
Explained what I could specifically do to elevate their imagery
Included a PDF to my portfolio of work that’s similar to their product (for example, you wouldn’t send food photography to a clothing boutique – make sure they can visualize their brand in your work)
You can add external links to your website and Instagram, but make sure to include an actual PDF in the email that they can quickly click on
If you get any interest back from these brands, be prepared to respond with package options and rates that they can choose from and that make sense for their business.
Pitching to all these brands obviously took a really long time, but it was worth it. Although some of them didn’t respond or told me they didn’t have any opportunities, a few did. I booked quite a few shoots for different brands, a few of which became pretty consistent work.
The most important thing I want to leave you with is that you can’t just wait for work to fall into your lap (or your inbox). Be proactive!
XOXO, Marina
If you liked this blog post, you’ll love my educational community, Made to Make! Each week I post a new video on a topic related to photography or freelancing.
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Marina Williams is a Salt Lake City-based creative portrait photographer & educator.
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Marina Williams is a Salt Lake City-based creative portrait photographer & educator.
hello@marinawilliamseducation.com
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