I came across a great blog post on currentphotographer.com by Chris Nitz, called Photography 101: What is Your Photographic Voice? Even though the post was written a couple of years ago, I believe it’s still incredibly pertinent for every aspiring professional photographer.
One of the fundamentals of marketing any product or service is to decide who you’re targeting and what you have to offer them. Determining your photographic voice, or in other words, your photographic or artistic style, is a critical step in determining what your offering actually is, and what makes you unique!
Determine what style you like
As Chris points out in the post, “the first part to finding your voice is to pinpoint the style of photography you like. Style is different from voice as style is the genre. Your style might be nature, animals, portraits, sports, architecture, or any of the other umpteen dozen styles that exist. For me, I found I really enjoyed macro, grunge, HDR, and landscapes. Keep in mind these don’t all really fit together as one cohesive style. I was able to finally pinpoint this by simply paying attention to the images I spent the most time gawking at.”
Your style might also include particular poses, styling, lighting effects, post-processing effects or elements of your product packaging – ultimately it’s about creating something unique (but consistently unique to YOU) that your fans, followers and potential clients can recognise in your photography.
Kirsty Mitchell, a British photographer whose work I’m constantly inspired by, created the amazing Wonderland series – you only have to look through a few of her images to see that her photographic style is very design-lead. It’s as much about styling and setting the scene, as it is about the painstaking detail of the costumes and makeup on the models in each scene. She chooses locations which compliment her vision for the scene and the costumes and props shes makes specifically for each shoot. Her images are indeed fine art, that you could imagine hanging on the walls of high-end galleries and hotels.
Of course it may not be practical, necessary or relevant to go into that much detail to create your photographic voice, but it is certainly worth studying the portfolios of photographers you admire, be they wedding, portrait, pet or sports photographers, to work out a way of achieving a particular look, in a way that is consistently unique to you.
Learn as much as possible about the styles that interest you
Chris Nitz goes on his his post to say, “The second part is to start learning all you can about the styles that interest you. This encompasses everything from looking at photos to reading up on techniques. I cannot even begin to tell you the amount of macro and HDR photos I have looked at and studied over the years. This was all part of the learning and growing process. Really, this area should be no different for you. You know what you enjoy looking at, and should work with those areas you enjoy and are comfortable working.”
So true – let’s face it, you’re far more likely to succeed doing something you love, than something which feels like a chore.
Questions to ask yourself
Whether you are just starting out, or have been in business for a while, it’s worth taking some time to reflect on your photographic voice. You might like to consider these questions to get your creative juices flowing:
– What is my photographic style?
– What do I enjoy photographing?
– If I could create any kind of end-effect on my photos, what would that look like (forget for the time being whether you know how to create that effect or not)?
– What sort of feelings do I want my images to evoke?
– Which photographers create the sort of work I aspire to create?
Keeping a visual diary
In a photography class I did a while back, they made a great suggestion about keeping a visual diary of photographs that appeal to you. With sites like Pinterest and Flickr, this is easily done online. I also use Evernote to store ideas about a whole range of stuff I’m interested in, so it’s all in the one spot, accessible from anywhere.
Honing in on your photographic voice, I believe, will actually strengthen your product offering. You can’t be everything to everyone – no business can succeed with that approach. The clearer you are about what your photographic voice is, the easier it will be to identify and target potential customers, and tailor your offering to suit.
What are your thoughts and ideas? Any advice about how you finally found your photographic voice?
marketing4photographers 
Thank you for this post. I realized only recently the beauty, life, history and completeness a photo diary adds to it all. I have always valued and admire the work of photographers, but I have also come to understand their brilliance.
Thanks for your comment Kendall. I agree that photography sure helps us to see and deliberately notice the details that we can otherwise miss in our busy lives. 🙂