What is a Commercial Photographer?
A commercial photographer is someone who is paid to create images to promote a product or service. I have been a professional photographer for the last 3 decades, it has been a long road to get to where I am today and I have had to keep learning and evolving my craft to keep up with what’s new in the photography scene, although I will tell you, good photos will always win out over gimmicks and fads.
I have done many, many different styles of photography over the years, specialising at points in my career, just because that was the jobs I had at the time, I have worked for car magazines and trade magazines for commercial vehicles which mostly entailed taking photos of vehicles outside in all weathers! Not such good fun in the Northwest of the UK. I have worked for newspapers, although in the modern age there is less and less demand for the old-style media of newspapers so there is not as much work in this industry as there once was. This is how being a commercial photographer Manchester has been through the years, you have to move with the times! The internet was not really a thing when I started my journey but now most of the images, I take end up online, be it social media, stock image websites or newspapers websites. Adaptation is a must have skill as a professional photographer. Your shoots will be changing, and things will happen that you must be ready for, but you haven’t accounted for. You must move with the tide, so to speak, sometimes shoots will not go your way, you have to adapt and overcome these problems to get the best images you can for you clients. They are paying you after all! You must plan for problems, problems with your equipment, problems with the subject of the shoot, changing weather, power cuts. Any and every possibility should be considered when going out on a shoot. Anything can happen and frequently does! You must stay on your toes and always be looking for the best shots you can get.
Commercial Photography is not an easy career to get into, but I personally find it very rewarding, no two days are the same and I don’t spend too much time stuck in one place!