Any idea why the highest paid photographers are advertising photographers? I’ll save you the trouble of guessing. It’s because their images sell. They may not be the most beautiful, except to a marketing or advertising agent, but they sell. There are two types of images, those that are fantastic on the walls of museums and those that sell. The between the two is often fuzzy, but real.

 Just as there are two types of images there are also two types of photographers: Artistic photographers and advertising photographers. The difference may sound slight, but for you as a communicator it is important. In case you haven’t figured it out yet your job is to sell ideas, not art. So you don’t want to employ an artistic photographer to create the images to sell those ideas.

 This can be a hard one at first. A local photographer shows you a portfolio. There are pictures there that you find appealing. They are works of art. But do they sell? That is the question you must have in the back of your mind at all times. You are not looking for art but images that sell.

 An advertising photographers portfolio is usually different. It concentrates on images that sell. They may not be high art, but they sell. That said most of us also include a section in our portfolios dedicated to images we do for fun. After all there is no rule that says an advertising photographer can’t have fun at work.

 Advertising images tell a story. They use the fore ground, middle ground, and back ground to carry that message. The perfect advertising image does not need text to get the message across. Perhaps that is why they say a picture is worth a thousand words. But what do those words say? Ah, now there is the catch. Are they a thousand good clear words promoting your ideas or are they a thousand words your audience finds repulsive? Perhaps even worse are they images that say absolutely nothing at all? And that is exactly where your advertising photographer comes into the story.

 It is your photographers’ job to translate your slogans and text into images. Actually if they get it exactly right it will be one image. Yes, all that work is to get one or two images you can use again and again through out your campaign. Images that become like the campaigns logo, its visual slogan, its’ unspoken text. When you consider that 90% of our brains waking efforts are dedicated to processing visual stimulus then you get an idea of how important it is to get this part right.

 Just as there are two types of photographers there are also two ways that photographers work. Most wait until something happens and hope they can catch it when it does. An advertising photographer makes things happen in a controlled environment then keeps shooting until they get exactly the image they are after. One is passive in the process. The other is actively controlling it.

Some photographers believe that if they just shoot enough film they will get a good shot. Kind of like give enough monkeys word processors and eventually they will write Shakespeare. The advertising photographer works from an idea: your idea. They want a certain image, in a certain surrounding, that tells a specific story. A lot of planning and preparation goes into their work before they ever take out the camera.

 A good advertising photographer goes through the same stages of planning and preparation that you did while preparing your campaign. Just before a shoot they can usually tell you exactly what it is they are after, and what you can expect. That said there are times when something happens to change the direction of a shoot.

 Sure you will get what you and the photographer planned. That is why you hired a professional. But, the photographer may see something that experience and taste says will be even better for your objectives. Let them get on with it even if you don’t understand it. In fact, if you insist on being around during shoots, which is not always the best idea, do not interfere with the process in any way. Let your professional do their job. After all if you could do it better you wouldn’t have hired them in the first place.

 In my experience working on preparing a shoot develops an insight into how you need to convey your message. Ideas flow and in the end one becomes the target. Once on the set the flow of ideas doesn’t stop. If anything it is intensified. The number of times I shot what was decided on and then went off on “ something I saw” only to have those images become the stars are uncountable.

 It’s the nature of creativity, but only works if I completely understand what you are trying to do. I must understand your half page of objectives, your slogan, and your strategy enough to condense them into a single powerful image.

 All of the best advertising photographers I know have one thing in common. They are egotistical tyrants on the set. There is a very valid reason for this. An advertising photographer must firmly believe that their way of seeing things is so good it justifies the exorbitant fees they charge. Some of the nicest guys and girls I know in this business turn into domineering raving rude creative monsters when they are working. I know I have been accused of that fault occasionally.

 In my case it is simply because I become so intense when I’m working, so focused on what I’m doing, that the every thing else ceases to exist. I exist for only one reason in those moments. Getting you the very best images possible. Afterwards I usually revert to normal eccentric self again.