Proud Photography Blog

As a professional Photographer, you must be able to build strong relationships with people – your clients, your colleges and your team.  If you are working freelance, which is quite often the case for Photographers, then you need to think about how you will build a contact list.  A good contacts list is essential because it means that you can enlist the help and services of others whenever it’s necessary.

This means that you should keep an address book which has the numbers of people you trust and a few people within each skillset – such as a few assistants so that you have someone to fall back on if your first choice is busy.  It also helps to keep a few notes about the person in question, so that if it’s been a while since you called, you can jog your memory and not appear rude!

In some types of photograph, like portraiture and fashion, you may need more contacts than with other genres. But even in something like Landscape photography, it’s still useful to be able to call on assistants and other photographers for tips and advise on where to go.

As well as assistants within Photography and the media sector, pick up contacts as you go along.  If your genre is Landscapes, are there meteorologists that you can get in touch with? Are there people who know the country and the landscapes well that can let you know of some new, stunning places?

Here are some useful contacts you may want to make, as easy as possible in your career.  Remember that depending on your sector, you may find some contacts more useful than others:

Make up artists
Stylist
Assistants
Hairdressers
Set Designers
Studio Owners
Printers
Digital Manipulation artists
Industry contacts
Magazine contacts
Publisher Contacts
Other photographers
Location Contacts
Weather Experts

And so on.  Anyone can be a useful contact for you, just think about whose expertise is likely to be useful to you.  It can even be, for example, a scientist.  If you want to achieve a certain effect are there two (safe) chemicals that can do this?  Maybe its time to see if there’s anyone you can ask at your local University or College!

The key is to get a contacts list that has an impressive team that you can call upon for when you have work but also for test shots for your portfolio.  As a photographer, be prepared to share your work with others – for example make up artists or hairstylists will want a print.  In return for a print you may be able to get their services for cheap or even free.