Nitubara: Discombobulation ? CBuggins Photo Blog

Once again, paper, pen and a 24 minute train journey save the day.

The last week has seen a bit of an ?imbalance? which has needed a little time and thought to resolve. A while ago I made a decision that lifestyle photography would be my bread and butter work, eventually leading to include wedding photography. In the meantime I would be grasping at almost every photo opportunity available.

So far this has seen me shooting portraits, household pets, horses, musicians, models, commercial and sports. This approach has been as good as it gets when it comes to fine tuning my technical development and working in some pretty diverse environments. Being in environments ranging from dimly lit recording studios to be submerged in the english channel has taught me the hard way what to do and when, both with camera settings and how to approach a subject.

However on the flip side of the coin the experiences have opened up new genres for me, which has thrown things up in the air and added some confusion to the mix. I am aware that to get a foot in the door in a saturated industry you need to ideally focus on a very specific niche and customer, to start with at least. Thinking with my business head on, if I advertised myself as a jack of all trades photographer, my target audience would be so varied that I would struggle to get one message to everyone.

My approach to an engaged couple will be completely different to a band looking for a promo shoot. A few months ago I decided that Lifestyle photography would be how I advertised myself and my landscape work would be for the craft fair market. But I was making these decisions before I really got my teeth into these other genres and started looking into local markets with my business plan (or what I now like to refer to as business guesses, which I will be talking about in the future) This situation arose after I had a spring clean of my picture folders and archives.

Going through all of the work over the last couple of years made me think about the variety of shoots I had tried my hand at and just how much I really enjoyed that variety. Business VS Creativity came into play once again, and I was left feeling as the title suggests, Discombobulated (My favourite word) or out of sorts. The creative me wants to be a jack of all trades photographer, and maybe one day when those vital contacts have been made I could follow that path. But at the present time, I?m as unknown as a bar of marmite flavoured chocolate.

My business head is telling me that this would be a bad idea and that I need to focus on a niche subject and be very very specific about who my target audience is to get the ball rolling. I needed to find my balance again, find that happy medium. First I needed to look at what I am enjoying in particular compared to what is a local and sustainable market.

To start with I looked at what I had planned to do and broke the term lifestyle down, as it has a very broad meaning and could be interpreted in several ways. What I meant by Lifestyle was outdoor family portraits, so why wasn?t I calling it that to start with? I think I was trying to intentionally keep the term broad so that it showed variety, but I don?t think its helping me.

Perhaps if i?m very specific in my written introduction for example ?I am an Eastbourne based Family portrait photographer? rather than ?I?m an Eastbourne based Lifestyle photographer? i?m narrowing down the field already. I?m not doing this to get less interest but I am trying to get straight to the point when someone looks at my website. As I have said for some time now, its about keeping things simple and providing a 120% service and being efficient with it.

I need to keep reminding myself that when i?m doing these tweaks to think like a customer, not a photographer! From what I have seen, being a (non studio) Family portrait photographer in my local area could well be a sustainable market, IF promoted correctly with a specific client in mind. By breaking things down further I would need to look at which family member is likely to want the service in the first place, and I think we can all guess who that would be! Its unlikely to be us chaps and certainly wont be one of the kids.

By then breaking things down even further I would need to look at where the target audience would most likely frequent and perhaps feel exited about getting some family pics done. This I think is where it gets a little murky and I need to start asking around. Approaching female friends, work colleagues etc. Have they had pics done before, if so what made them decide to do it etc.

This approach all gets a little psychological and may take a while to get a clear idea on where best to promote your work. But I think its one of the best approaches I can take at this time and will hopefully pay off in the long run. I just don?t have the money to carpet bomb advertise and personally I think its a really bad way to do things too, a complete waste of money. But what about all these other genres I now enjoy?? Well this is where balance comes in.

The lifestyle, or family portrait genre may well become my primary business. But for the time being anything else will be there to fuel my creative side. A good example would be music. Now I love music, I have done for a very long time and my flat is overrun with guitars! If I could mix music with photography I would be a very happy chappy. I have recently been given that opportunity and many of my saturday mornings will now hopefully be spent listening to live performances while photographing them for web promotions. I?m not doing this for a fee, I?m doing it because it gives me the feeling I got when I first picked up a camera. It reignites my passion for the art.

Its no different to me donning my wetsuit and waterproof casing, spending summer afternoons with friends messing around in the sea on windsurfers. I?m not doing it for financial gain, its because I love being in that moment. If one day these experiences lead to business opportunities one day then great, so be it. But i?m not going to lose any more sleep over it. In my blog about balance I mentioned that the times when things go a little askew are when life?s little challenges come along.

This has been one of those times for me. In the grand scheme of things its nothing, a blip on the radar. But by addressing the issue and re balancing myself I have a little more clarity on what I need to change and how I need to continue. To start with tweaks will need to be made to my website and in the long run I wont be having landscapes and lifestyle pics on one site, it doesn?t feel right.?They will need to be independent of each other, but one step at a time!

I hope this makes sense, i?m writing whatever pours from my brain!! So if you are ever feeling discombobulated, give it a little time and thought. Don?t push to resolve straight away otherwise you will end up hitting that mental brick wall. The answer will come, just don?t try to force it.