Like most things in life, photography changes. For most people this change doesn’t matter, and as such it goes fully unnoticed. However, when you are working in photography full time, you can see the change from the inside, and it’s surprising how different it is to the perception of photography as others know it.
Today we are looking specifically at the photography that matters most to people, weddings, events and portraits. This is a very specialised and specific type of highly skilled photography that has changed a lot in the last decade, and as such, things are not the way you may think they are for most of us working photographers.
For this type of work, it is important to understand the flow of finding your clients, delivering what the clients need and keeping the momentum going. Here we discuss what is needed to be done, the perceived steps and the actual steps for the modern small business professional.
“The Steps”
Anyone will tell you that you need to get your business first, and that has always been the most difficult and most important part of any business!
It’s 2026, and things have changed a lot. Many years ago, getting out there, sharing photos and albums and sending people to your website was a must. Although this is still important and many people still follow these steps to a degree, you have to keep with the times, and the things talked about here almost always override these older techniques and ways of gaining business. This includes the following steps.
• Word Of Mouth – Always the most important part of any business, a happy customer will create more business for you than any other form of advertising.
• Online Presence – Only having a website simply doesn’t cut it these days. Potential clients are far more interested in looking at your Instagram (or other social media) account than looking at your website. The use of targeted online social media can capture clients in a way that we never thought possible a decade ago. You are delivering, in real-time, the images that they want to see. It is your opportunity to stand out from the crowd.
• Meeting Your Audience – Before anyone books you, they would have met you through your activity on social media (which usually involves many online chats using a messenger service), the next step is to meet the client in person, share a quick coffee, have a chat and get to know them and then highlight your images via whichever means. They’ll have their phone with them (no matter which age!) and it inevitably ends in looking at work you’ve posted.
“The Results”
On the assumption that everything went well with the job you’ve done, you have to deliver your work to the client. This part of the job has changed considerably over time, and while many perceive the end result as wedding albums and photo books, the reality is completely different. So much so, it is quite unrecognisable to only a few years ago.
* Expectations – No matter what the event a professional is photographing, your client has expectations. Particularly at weddings and events, everyone there will have a camera as part of their mobile phone, and will be taking photos at every stage of the ceremony or event. As a professional your job is to ensure that your images stand above the phone shots. A customer will expect that “professional” look. Namely, decisive moments, thought out composition, plenty of natural background blur (that only a real camera can deliver effectively), sharp and clean images and plenty of them and nicely edited images! A must these days is to avoid very wide angles whenever your can, as these tend to look like images you’d take with a mobile phone, due to 24mm or so being the standard phone focal length.
* Digital – This is one of the big changes that is unnoticeable to those on the outside. For every 25 weddings you do, you will be lucky to get one, maybe two couples who want their images printed! People are just not interested! Digital is king these days. They want photos that they can share online, send to family and add to their Google/Apple Photo libraries.
* Choice – With everything being digital, your photos need to stand out from the mobile phone shots, because as well as digital albums, the client still needs the quality so that they can print off the photos if they want to at a later date. Printing has never been easier, and the majority of people now send their favourite image off to be printed. It’s these scenarios that keep you on your toes to ensure that you deliver the finest digital prints that are print ready!
“Conclusion”
Professional photography in general is not like it used to be. Things are FAR more competitive now with everyone owning mobile phones that can take great photos, and so many family members owning decent mirroless cameras.
To stand out from the crowd and have repeated business, as well as a flow of new customers you need to be aware that your audience has moved on. Self-promotion and collecting clients is a whirl-wind. The vast number of people are used to the “TicToc” lifestyle, especially younger couples, or people with their fingers on the pulse.
Where, many years ago less was more, now there is a fine-line to tread, because people have changed. It’s a juggle, keeping your quality constantly high, delivering impeccable results while sharing fresh, new work day after day. Gone are the days that you could rely on a website with a tiny selection of images, and it has been replaced with social media galleries, short-form videos and dynamic website’s that need to be constantly evolving, at a rate never seen before.
To many people, things go unnoticed. YouTube and other outlets give you a completely false representation of working in photography that so many people still believe. It feels as though the old rules should still apply to everyone. However, those are the businesses that are failing because they are not keeping up with the times. As mentioned, it is now 2026. Whatever things were like last year, let alone a decade ago, have changed. Unnoticed by many until it’s too late.
“Note”
Onecameraonelens.com is my fun, personal website where I also show a bit of work when I get the chance to share it. Almost all my business as a full time photographer (creating bespoke luxury images for people) like so many other working photographers these days is conducted on targeted social media platforms, local advertisements and by word of mouth where we can be dynamic and react to situations instantly.
I hope that this has been a useful insight into the life of a working photographer. It really is a tough job, and I am lucky to be working with a great photography partner. As a team we make dreams come true weekly, and nothing beats that feeling of seeing the people you have taken photos of enjoying our results.
My name is Mark G Adams and I run Photography By Mark G Adams. I am a professional photographer from South Wales, shooting weddings, events and portraits as well as running meets and workshops. For fun I like to shoot landscapes, wildlife and occasionally do street photography. Enjoy my website as I share my knowledge learned over decades of working and having fun in photography – This Is My Personal Website
You can find all the latest articles and blogs on my homepage here.
My main photography social media page is my Photography By Mark G Adams page.
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