Advertising Photographers in London and Manchester can normally work through ad agencies, production agencies, or their agents. There are some advantages of running your own production for smaller clients and building your brand. There are also some disadvantages to the process also but overall it is better to try and work with smaller brands and get them to participate in their own productions often with them trusting you to develop their best campaign. They trust you. However, even some of the bigger productions are signed off with agencies there are some times where the results do not match the client’s requests or match their. expectations. However working with smaller clients you can work together limiting any of these problems and in many cases their is more in the pot rather than sharing it all out with production, agents, advertising agencies.
Some Advantages
+ Helps build a relationship with the client
+ More control in the production
+ Can get across your own ideas
+ Work with your own chosen team
+ Keep an eye and be in the process
+ Builds a brand
+ Gives you more control
Some Disadvantages
+ Agents may stay away
+ Agencies may not like you producing as this is their domain
+ If you make a mistake it can be costly initially
+ Pressure to deliver being reliant on your team
+ Wating for the money to come in and chasing it if not.
In the past and still, I work with the agents and producers but more for the smaller companies who do not wish to pay a large production fee, and this means that most of the time, the planning and preparation of the shoot has been done in advance of you attending.
As my own domain, www.jamesnader.com is listed on page one of Google for Fashion Photographer UK,
This was achieved through some clever SEO optimisation some time back; however, this allows me to get proposals through the door, and potential new business will come via my website. Therefore, I have created two production entities that handle the different layers or types of clients and allow me to keep my fashion work separate from some more commercial work. James Nader Productions handles the main accounts where I am needed, and then www.nadermedia.com handles the advertising campaigns and gets more involved in their production. These campaigns are by the brand and not me, although I can direct or art direct them.
The opportunity here is for me to share some smaller campaigns with smaller clients and give access to the smaller productions I get involved with where clients will contact me directly, but I am happy for my production to take over and manage the shoot. I feel it’s important to get across how some potential clients can feel unmotivated by a full production team and the thought of the expense involved. However, it is possible to make a production with some clever planning and light on your feet planning and crew.
Madabout Specs London
There were to be two productions with one being location-based in Yorkshire and the other in central London in an Airbnb. The one in London was pretty straightforward in so much that we were in a room and capturing the lifestyle of the model wearing specs,
The second location was on location and the interesting story of a photographer. The Photographer, still using his film camera the Bronica ETRS with all the kit (which is mine) would be on location capturing his passion for landscapes and environments but now he needed his glasses to get through the day. The location chosen for me was actually key for the shoot as I wanted it to reflect my passion for environments, quirky avant-garde and film cameras which is where I began. The client loved the concept. The client was happy to let us run with the concept so here it is.
The Locations
The location I suggested was up in Yorkshire at the fabulous Malham Cove and Gordale Scar. Two awesome locations are famous for their naturalness and vastness. An ancient waterfall created by the running waters from the thawing ice in the Ice Age. The story was all about a classic photographer who still works using film for his landscape work but was also a little bit quirky with his look and confidence in his own profile.
The Model
The model we used was PIP, a classic looking guy with strong tattoo work and an authentic feel to his personality which would fit in with the overall look of the brand – Be Bold. He was cast as the classic photographer still using his film camera and rolling his own films, however with age his sight has become a little blurry and now he is ok as he buys his spectacles from MadaboutS pecs
The final look and location.
The final location of the three productions was once again London and we wanted to show the glasses within a working space but with the lifestyle that this reflects. So the two models were more in keeping with London life. We chose to light this with a handheld LED light which can sometimes run a little cool but this was the look we needed.
How to Look after a small campaign – Micro list.
Project Overview & Goals:
- Client name
- What does your company do?
- Why do you want a photoshoot?
- When do you want to shoot?
- Who is your target audience?
- What are you going to use the images for? (social, marketing flyers, website etc.)
Image or Video Specifications
- Image specifications i.e. landscape/portrait, 300dpi etc.
- Total number of images needed
- What style of video , where is it to be seen and for how long?
- What are the absolute must-have images?
- one camera, two cameras or sound?
- Scripts and shoot brief
- What usage rights do you need? E.g. 2-year exclusive license for online use.
Style Guidelines
- Do you have brand guidelines?
- How should the images make the user feel?
- Do you have reference images?
- Have you created a mood board?
- Do you need to leave space for text?
Who is Involved?
- How is to represent the company at the shoot?
- Do you need models? If yes, do you need a stylist and hair and makeup?
- Do you need to scout and/or rent locations?
- Contact details
Budget and Turnaround
- What’s your target budget for the shoot?
- When do you need the first draft of images for review?
- When do the finalised images need to be submitted?
- Agree delivery and storage