How to Build a More Sustainable Photography Business

By Stuart McIntyre

Running a photography business is about much more than taking good photographs.

You need to find clients, manage enquiries, market your services, keep on top of finances and deliver a consistent experience. And, particularly when you’re starting out, there can be a temptation to rely on one type of photography or wait for the work you really want to come along.

A more sustainable approach is to look at the whole working week and ask a simple question:

How can I make better use of the skills, equipment and time I already have?

That doesn’t necessarily mean doing everything. It means understanding where the opportunities are and building a business that isn’t dependent on a single source of income.

Don’t rely on one type of photography

Many photographers start with a particular speciality. That might be weddings, portraits, commercial work, events or something else.

Having a speciality can be a real advantage. It helps people understand what you do and gives you a clear direction when marketing your business.

But specialising doesn’t necessarily mean refusing every other type of work.

If your main work is concentrated around particular days, seasons or times of year, consider whether there are other services that complement what you already offer.

A wedding photographer, for example, might also take on engagement sessions, family portraits, headshots or commercial work.

A portrait studio could offer personal branding sessions, business headshots, family photography or makeover-style portraits.

A photographer who normally works on location might be able to use quieter periods for studio sessions, commercial assignments, editing or developing new products and services.

The important thing is that the additional work should make sense for your business. Taking on everything that comes through the door isn’t diversification; it can simply create more work and make your business harder to manage.

Look at the whole week

One of the most useful exercises you can do is look at your diary over several months.

When are you actually busy?

Which days generate most of your income?

When do enquiries normally arrive?

Are there particular months when your bookings fall?

Once you have some real information, you can start looking for gaps.

For example, if your weekends are consistently busy but Tuesdays and Wednesdays are quiet, those quieter days could be used for a different service.

You might offer headshot sessions, business portraits, product photography or smaller commercial assignments. You could also use that time for client consultations, marketing and other activities that help generate future work.

The aim isn’t necessarily to fill every available hour.

It’s to understand where your time is going and make deliberate decisions about how you want to use it.

Build complementary services

The easiest opportunities are often those that use skills and equipment you already have.

If you’re already confident with lighting, for example, moving from portraits into headshots or small commercial assignments may require less additional investment than starting an entirely new type of photography.

Likewise, a wedding photographer already has experience working with people, directing groups, managing time and working under pressure. Those skills can transfer into other areas of photography.

Think about what you already know and ask:

• What other types of clients could benefit from these skills?
• What equipment do I already own that isn’t being used regularly?
• Are there quieter times when another service could work?
• What do existing clients ask me for that I don’t currently offer?
• Could one service naturally lead to another?

You may find that your next opportunity is closer than you think.

Don’t confuse diversification with doing everything

There is a danger in this approach.

If you try to become a wedding photographer, newborn photographer, commercial photographer, product photographer, sports photographer and landscape photographer all at once, it becomes difficult to explain what your business actually does.

Your marketing becomes diluted and you may end up accepting work that isn’t profitable or enjoyable.

Instead, look for related opportunities.

The best additional services are usually those that fit naturally alongside what you already do.

They should make use of your existing knowledge, equipment, contacts or reputation wherever possible.

Learn the business as well as the photography

One of the challenges facing photographers is that learning to take photographs and learning to run a business are two very different things.

You can become highly skilled technically and still struggle to make the business work.

Marketing, pricing, bookkeeping, sales, customer service, contracts and planning aren’t necessarily the reasons you became a photographer, but they are part of being a professional photographer.

This is particularly important when starting out.

Don’t wait until you’re busy to think about the business side. Build basic systems from the beginning.

Know what your work costs you.

Know how much you need to earn.

Keep track of where enquiries come from.

Understand which services are profitable and which simply keep you busy.

And review those figures regularly.

Use quieter periods productively

Not every quiet day needs to produce an immediate booking.

Some of the most valuable work you do may be preparing for future business.

A quieter period can be used to:

• update your website
• improve your portfolio
• contact previous clients
• develop new services
• create marketing material
• build relationships with local businesses
• learn a new technique
• improve your workflow
• review your pricing
• plan future promotions
• work on personal projects

The key is to avoid spending every quiet period simply waiting for the phone to ring.

Your business should still be moving forward.

Don’t automatically compete on price

When work is quiet, reducing prices can seem like an obvious solution.

Sometimes a carefully planned offer has a place in your marketing, but constantly cutting prices can create problems.

You need to understand what it actually costs to provide your service. That includes your time, equipment, insurance, premises, software, marketing, travel, editing and all the other expenses that are easy to overlook.

Then consider what makes your service worth paying for.

It might be your experience, the quality of your work, your approach to people, the finished product, your specialist knowledge or simply the experience you provide from enquiry through to delivery.

A sustainable business needs clients who value what you do, rather than simply choosing you because you’re the cheapest option.

Keep developing

One of the advantages of having several complementary areas of work is that they can feed into each other creatively.

A commercial assignment might teach you something about lighting that improves your portraits.

A portrait session might give you an idea for a personal project.

Working with businesses might introduce you to clients who later need other photography services.

Training and experimentation can therefore have a business value as well as a creative one.

Don’t assume that once you are established, you have finished learning.

Photography changes constantly, but the fundamentals of running a good business remain remarkably consistent: understand your customers, know your numbers, provide a good service and keep looking for ways to improve.

Build a business that works for you

There isn’t a single formula for running a successful photography business.

What works for a studio photographer may not work for someone shooting weddings exclusively. Someone working from home will have different costs from someone running a large commercial studio.

The useful lesson is to look honestly at your own business.

Where does your work currently come from?

Are there gaps in your diary?

Are you making full use of the skills and equipment you already have?

Are there complementary services you could offer?

And are you spending enough time working on the business, rather than simply working in it?

You don’t need to transform everything overnight.

Start by looking at the week in front of you, identify where the opportunities are and make a plan for using your time more effectively.

A photography business doesn’t have to depend on one type of client, one type of photography or one busy day.

With some planning, the different parts of your business can work together to create something more consistent, flexible and sustainable.