Working With Brands As A Visual Storyteller

Maintaining your style while working with brands as a visual storytelling can be a delicate balance. On the one hand, brands come to you because they value your eye and expertise, but they also have a specific agenda of what they need. When I first started out, I said yes to every opportunity that came my way, and it wasn’t always a good thing. My eagerness to partner with a brand, any brand, left me feeling somewhat untrue to myself and how I work. I accepted client work that only wanted straight product shots when this type of photography is far from what I enjoy and my strengths. Whilst it’s easy to get excited about a new brand partnership inquiry, doing your due diligence and research on the project's scope is incredibly important for both you and the client. And saves you headaches along the way! There were so many times when I said yes to a client that I wasn’t aligned with but did so in order to broaden my network and build my portfolio, but I was dragging my feet at the end of it. Procrastinating and dreading your project isn’t a good look or feeling. It may be tempting to take on a higher paying client, but if you know in your heart that the vision or needs they are after aren’t in your repertoire, it’s in your best interest (and the clients) if you pass graciously and let another come your way that is more suited for you. You can even tell them that it’s in their best interest to work with someone else who is offers what they are looking for. Better yet, refer them to someone who can help. It’s a challenge for new photographers to say no to shiny new opportunities, but you have to trust that others will come your way. A scarcity mindset around client leads can lead you astray, taking on projects that don’t bring you joy or growth and leave you struggling to make it work when it’s simply not your wheelhouse of expertise.

So what happens when you align with a client that resonates with your style and work? After the initial consultation and project brief, I take take notes and always, always clarify anything I’m certain about. For example, what are the assets going to be used for? Do they need to be shot in landscape or portrait or both? How many options do they want? Do they need negative space for a text overlay? Will they be used for print or digital? How many do they need? Sometimes putting this all down in an excel sheet is useful so you have a physical reference you can refer back to on the day.

I also create a mood board for my concepts and vision. But in regards to sharing your vision them my best tip is actually not to show them anything! It’s so natural to want to put together a mood board or send them some ideas of what you have in mind about the project, but that could end up selling you short or disappointing your clients. If they have a preconceived idea of your vision, such as images you’ve collected over onto a board in Pinterest, they will then have a preconceived concept of the look and feel of the final result. And if it’s not, they can return to you and say, “This isn’t what you showed us.” Rather than literally sending them images as a reference for your ideas, keep those for yourself and write down your ideas and concepts in your contract or correspondence instead. Be as detailed as you’d like to be in your descriptions or as loose as you want, but by doing so you curb the possibility of disappointment not just for them, but you too. Maybe send them a link to a gallery or past work of yours instead that is similar to what you have in mind. I know when I’ve sent images or a mood board to clients and when I’m in the moment shooting and have this niggling feeling that this isn’t what I wanted or envisioned, it’s disheartening to send my images over to the client because I knew it wasn’t good or exact to the images either. My encouragement to you is to be as detailed as you need in the concept planning process but to keep it to yourself and resist the urge to share imagery with your client.

It’s gratifying to feel like you did your best work and, in turn, your client is happy with the results. From my experience, this really only happens when you both understand the brief, the scope, and the deliverables while staying true to you as a photographer and visual storyteller. It’s even more empowering if a brand gives you free rein over a concept, and that takes so much self-trust and security in who you are as a photographer and what you stand for. But in most cases, there will be expectations and conceptual frameworks that our creativity and photographic eye must create within. All of this shows how important it is to know yourself, your abilities, who you are as a photographer, your strengths and weaknesses, and how you work. Because it makes it much easier to say no to the wrong projects and yes to the ones that enrich your portfolio and bring you joy.

Hope this helps you with your future inquires,

Alanna

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