Often, as photographers, we can get into a rut with our photography and our business. We end up using the same old poses and our online work can start to look repetitive.
People get excited by new and different and even if we have a signature style, sometimes just by showing something out of the ordinary we can attract a lot of attention.
That is certainly true of the photograph I am sharing with you today.
This image and the entire session it came from is the result of being inspired and then acting on that inspiration. About two years ago I saw a video by Benjamin Von Wong where he showed how he was approached by SmugMug to photograph their employees as athletes to display on the walls of the SmugMug employee gym.
On watching that video I was struck by how fun it looked to create and I felt it was something I’d like to try myself. With the help of my former photography student Megan Muir, we set about the work of building a rain shower tube which we could connect to the garden hose in my backyard.
The photograph was lit by three strobes which had to overpower the daylight. We strung up a black cloth background and after many lighting tests we let our models do their thing in front of my lens.
The entire shoot was carefully planned and we shot tethered to my mac so we could adjust pose and lighting as necessary.
When I posted these images after the session I was inundated with inquiries from fitness models and local athletes wanting something similar for their own online presence.
Fitness photography wasn’t even something I had been pursuing but as a result of pushing myself to try something new I was able to attract some new clients and referrals.
Standing out in today’s saturated photography market is difficult but by just stretching our creative muscles and trying something new we can often capture the attention of prospects and become front of mind for them. If my images are memorable enough and make a connection, it’s very likely that I can build on that audience to help them begin to connect with my brand.
