The portfolio mechanism
I have been making a living as a commercial photographer in the Adelaide hills since 1997. Without a doubt, I would say that my fixation on developing my commercial photography and art photography portfolios, has been the single most important factor in maintaining my engagement and the health of my career. This may sound a touch overblown, but the importance that I place on striving to develop my portfolio has heavily influenced my approach to every job I do and elevated my skillset.
On a purely practical level, there are very obvious benefits for my business to having large numbers of high-end commercial photographs on hand. It means I can assemble precisely tailored folios of either the exact subject matter for the job I’m being asked to quote on or at least images from a previous job in an allied field. I have a huge number of high-quality photographs on my website and social media, showing the width and breadth of my accomplishments.
All this allows me to demonstrate my capacity and my style as a photographer. It also illustrates that other businesses have chosen to engage me and are regularly using my services.
On a personal level, it’s the motivating force behind portfolio development that has had the most profound effect on my photographic career.
One of the most significant challenges of self-employment, actually any long-term career, is understanding how to maintain the desire to constantly seek out challenges to improve and grow as a practitioner. It’s commonplace to see people ten to fifteen years in who have lost that spark of joy and now embody a very competent technician, no longer personally invested.
As I see it, the single biggest threat to having a great career is to stop caring about what we are creating. Without a reason to pursue challenges and develop new skills, plateauing is inevitable.
It was a lightbulb moment when I realise the potential outcomes if I was to fully commit to every single job. It really was the key to the buoyancy of my future. Every time I'm asked to do a job, big or small, complicated or simple, I have been gifted new ingredients to create stronger photographs that can elevate my portfolio. Energetically the effect on my attitude was profound. Yes, I want to get paid properly for my work, and yes, I am doing the job for the client, but in effect, I became the client too.
If I feel I am getting a fair price for a job, I stop looking at the clock and just engage in the task. Payment comes in two forms. I get my fee then and there, and if I make high-impact photographs, I use them to elevate my brand, which generates more work into the future.
This “portfolio mechanism” has shaped my fundamental attitude towards my capacity. As a matter of course, I always do more than I am being asked to do. I'll try one more variation and the image is finished, only when I am happy with it. Every time I have a new subject in front of me, I challenge myself to see where I can take it.
Personalising my goals within the framework of my commercial photography has proven incredibly important. There is great satisfaction in creating work on a higher level than I had previously attained. This has become the driving force that has elevated my capacity to remain so invested for so long. A positive by-product is that this attitude has permeated across all of the creative disciplines I engage in. "The next opportunity I get, I can make this even better…"
True, I love to spoil a trusted client for choice, but in many ways, it’s my selfish goals that drive my desire to constantly better the quality of my work. I feel very lucky that my personal motivations marry so perfectly with my required commercial outcomes. If someone engages me to do commercial photographic work for their business, they are getting my full attention and they get my willingness. I actually want to do the best that I can for them because a win-win result will feed me as a practitioner, both metaphorically and physically.