Commercial Photography – There’s no substitute For Experience
Nearly everyone has a camera, some people have really quite good cameras, there are even people with commercial quality equipment, but as with any tool, having good quality gear doesn’t necessarily guarantee a good quality result.
There’s an old engineering story; a factory has stopped because a big expensive machine has stopped working, engineers are brought in and each is baffled and unable to fix the problem. The owner calls in a senior engineer with decades of experience, he checks the machine all over, thinks for a few minutes, takes out his hammer and taps. Instantly the machine whirrs back into life. Later on, the owner received an invoice for £5,000. Taken aback he calls the engineer, “You were only here for an hour, please could you send me a revised invoice with a breakdown of costs?”. The senior engineer obliges and the next day the owner receives an invoice for the same amount, broken down as – Tap with a hammer £2, knowing where to tap £4,998. This story highlights perfectly the value of experience. Doubtless, all the engineers had a hammer at their disposal but lacked the know-how to get the result they were being paid for. Doubtless, despite not achieving the result they were brought in to achieve, each would have charged for their time anyway.
What do you want from your commercial photography?
When you hire a commercial photographer, you’re recruiting a silent salesman. He may only be part of your sales team for the duration of your photoshoot, but his work continues to drive sales and support the rest of your sales team every single moment and at every single location his work is being displayed. An experienced commercial photographer knows just how to set up a shoot to make your subjects look their absolute best, how to capture a particular mood or feel and how to enhance these images in post-production so that they have maximum visibility and appeal to your target audience. Having the best quality equipment is a start, but ultimately, the true value of such photography is the revenue it helps your business acquire. Average photography costs you money, good photography makes you money.
Similarly, the average engineers in the story all the cost the factory owner money to hire, both in their own fees and for every minute of lost production while the machine remained broken. The experienced engineer charged more, but he understood what needed to be done and got results quickly, which meant the rest of the factory could get back to work and start making products to sell once more. Clearly, the experienced engineer was far better value in the long run. It’s easy to see that the experienced engineer should have been consulted first. So should it be with Commercial Photography.
Get the best commercial photography you can for the best results
When you consider the cost of commercial photography, make sure you also consider it’s value. The price is but the tip of the iceberg, what lies beneath is years or even decades of experience of getting the right shots, the right angles and the right tone for hundreds of clients who’ve paid for photographs, but expect results not just pictures. The craft of the photographer is honed by experience so make sure you hire experience not equipment.
At Ikon, we have over 20 years of experience in Commercial Photography, we know what gets results and how to achieve them. We’re fortunate to have clients who’ve been with us for over a decade and who wouldn’t consider trying anywhere else. If you’re considering an agency with far less experience, consider how much that could cost you in the long run, then get in touch with us to find out how we can be the most productive member of your sales team.
