As I sit in front of him in silence
waiting for the interview to start I think to myself I hope this goes well, and
not be nervous. He stops what he is doing on his computer, looks at me, and
smiles. I take a deep breath in and relax, because I know I have his full
attention now. I’ve known Greg for almost a year now he was one of my first
teachers here at Brooks, he taught the History of Photography class. Having him
again two semesters later in Lighting Studio I really got to know him better
and form a connection. I found out that he was a still life studio photographer
before he became a teacher, which is the type of genre of photography I wish to
pursue a career in. As we talked through out the interview he kept repeating
similar things over and over again, he kept going back to how important communication is with your
clients. Communication is –“the imparting or interchange of thoughts,
opinions, or information by speech and writing”- [dictionary.com]. In the interview he explained to me how
communication
is the key to good business and how all photographers use writing in little things like contracts, emails to
clients, and as simply as jotting down ideas. In this essay I will talk about the
different conventions photographers use to communicate with their clients and
how writing is involved.
The
first interaction you have with a client is most likely going to be them
viewing your work on your website. Your website is based off of who your
potential clients -your audience- may be. There they can read your artist
statement and other writing that explains your work and who you are as a
photographer. If they like your work they will contact you by email. This is
one of the first steps in the process of working with a new client where you
use writing. Emails back and forth between clients and the photographer lose
the connection you get when you talk to them in person, that’s why it’s
important to schedule a meeting in person if the client is serious. There you
can reevaluate what you talked about in the email, making sure everything came
across clearly to both parties.
During
the interview Greg mentioned how it’s important to always be prepared. When he
has a meeting with a client he likes to make a list of questions that he is
going to ask so he can have a clear idea of that the client wants and what
their expectations are. The different genres of questions he prepares range
anywhere from breaking the ice, project descriptions, budget, all the way to
scheduling. From there these genres of questions break down into different
conventions of questions. He makes sure he gets specific with his questions so
that everyone understands. He makes sure he makes this list of questions prior
to the meeting so he doesn’t forget to ask or clarify with the client questions
he may have. After the meeting and all the questions are asked he sends a email
to client that goes over what they talked about in the meeting, this email is
taken as their written contract. The written contract clarifies what is
expected out of both parties and if anything changed or there are any questions
during the project they would return to the email which should resolve any
potential questions.
Writing
doesn’t stop there when it come to photography, photographers use writing to
help sketch out and plan how they are going to set up a shoot. After talking to
the client the client may give them a layout of the project. Then the
photographer has to sketch out how they are going to shoot it and may have to
email/ call incase they need props or other supplies to accomplish the look.
During the shoot, Greg mentioned it’s important to take notes during the shoot
and to keep all the receipts. All of the information you take should go in a
file, that way if the client hires you again you can pull out the folder and recall
the work you did. Keeping your work in a folder is important if a client
contacts you again because they may want you to shoot something similar or
shoot or using the same lighting. Keeping records is a great way to help you
duplicate a shot for a client.
The
final step in a job is writing the invoice at the end of the shoot. During the
interview with Greg he gave me an example of an invoice he would use. He helped
explain typical things you would charge for and how different jobs you charge
for different things. When writing a invoice you have to make sure that you and
your client understand how much you are charging and what you are charging for.
This deals with communication, its important that your client knows what our
charging for so that nothing is a surprise when they get the invoice. In the
writing artifact I received from Greg shows things you would charge for, like
production charges, fees, prints, studio, etc. The invoice is a different
writing genre that is simple but very important. It’s one of the most important
writing genres because you cant make any mistakes, since you’re dealing with
money it is very important to get everything exactly how you and your client
agreed upon.
My
interview with Greg showed me that communication is the key to good
business, all photographers use
writing in things like contracts, emails to clients, and as simply as jotting down ideas. In this essay
I talked about the different conventions photographers use to communicate with
their clients and how writing is involved. Writing is an important part of
photography as a business that most people look over. Even though writing isn’t
a major part of the business it is at the core and has to be well constructed
so that the rest of the job runs smooth. Communication with your clients is
very important and typically done through different writing genres found in
each step of the job.
