You Photograph Weddings, Pets, Portraits, Cars, And Thingamajigs, Too?

Choosing the right photographer for your project is incredibly important. This is something too many prospects don’t realize when hiring, and knowing who to hire is a fundamental aspect of good project management. Of course, this is true for any market. While it’s tempting to hire a hobbyist photog friend to save a buck—or that photographer who did an amazing portrait of your dog—to photograph your new office’s aerial, you should be focused on what photographer fits your goals and budget.

While a GOOD photographer who knows their f-stops can often adapt to specialties outside their own, hiring a photojournalist for architectural or product, for instance, can be like hiring a divorce lawyer to do corporate structuring or intellectual property law. The photojournalist understands his discipline, but photographing an interior—depending on the style needed—is a whole different approach. Even two similar disciplines, like photographing children, versus photographing corporate headshots, are very different from the other.

In hiring a photographer for your business or personal needs, you should:

• Do your research, and only look at the best work out there, then look at what you can afford and plan accordingly.
• Check the photographer for good, consistent work and client satisfaction rates. Is their work great, but not reflective of your needs? Would you be attempting to “make it work,” by hiring them? Keep in mind, when a photographer promises “expertise” in too many subsets, that’s often a sign of problems to come.
• If, after reviewing costs of several good photographers, you’re still out of budget, you should probably consider shooting another time, instead of having Uncle Bob, or a GWC (“guy or girl with camera”) photograph your project. Underfunding is one of the key causes of failure.

Like anything else, bad results = turned-off customers = lost profit.

Above all, make sure your project is done well by hiring the right photographer for your project—afterall, it’s YOUR image.