Marketing Tools for Architectural Photographers
How has marketing evolved and what are the tools that can be used to promote photographers’ work?
Zoomed In is the online festival of architectural photography that launched to support the photographers’ community at the start of the Covid-19 outbreak. In that occasion we talked to industry experts to have a better understanding of how professional photographers can navigate through the complicated world of marketing and where to invest efficiently their resources.
Discussion panel:
Christian Trampedach, curator of the popular Instagram architecture page @restless.arch and founder of the weekly architecture e-magazine Restless Living. He is M.Sc. in International Business and Politics from Copenhagen Business School and consults the architecture industry on how to leverage Instagram as a branding tool.
Peter Townsend, Director of Creative Services of Found Artists, Marketing and Advertising Photography Agency based in New York. He has spent most of the last 3 decades working with photographers, images and clients at the very highest international level. Starting his career In Paris in the 80’s he has launched, guided and propelled the careers of many world-renowned artists as a photo agent working through his own agencies in London, Paris and New York.
Luke Neve, communications consultant running the agency Neve with over 7 years of experience in the architecture, design, and culture industries. He has delivered PR campaigns as an external consultant for a wide range of creative and corporate clients, such as the Brighton Photo Biennial, Look International Photography Festival, Sony, and the Polish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
In summary, in this conversation we discuss the importance of curating your portfolio and how to show it to your audience through the tools we have available. The website remains the primary place where to show an updated selection of images from the portfolio, while social media are a free and easy way to interact with your professional network and expand it. All these and other elements require a strategy and an investment both in terms of time and money to achieve the most out of it.
Personal work has an important role in how you present yourself as it shows how you can creatively approach a project when you don’t have the constraint of a brief. This and the commissioned portfolio should collaborate seamlessly creating a coherent body of work that should be easy to read for a potential commissioning client.
Among all the photography genres, architectural photography has probably the most rigid parameters – especially in the commissions – and often doesn’t leave much room for interpretation and creativity, not as much as the other genres at least. Personal work then becomes a great opportunity to show your artistic side, which is an invaluable additional element that enhances your profile as a photographer allowing you to connect more personally and making you look more approachable.
Our panel of experts talks us through the intricate world of marketing, something that some photographers prefer to ignore, though it’s becoming more and more important to send out from the crowd.
You can watch the full talk here: