The Right Image

Part 10 on the business aspects of being a successful photographer by Ron Pybus

46 36 In this article I want to remind you all of the importance of image – your image. We are, after all, in the image business. It was interesting to wander round Focus just looking at people.

I accept that as a body of photographers we were all ‘off duty’ – or were we? Many of us had appointments with our suppliers, but few seemed to have given consideration to appearance. So many photographers were lugging large camera bags around or worst still, had cameras round their necks. The general feeling in the trade is that the more visible the camera at such shows, the less professional the person. You only have to go to Focus on Sunday, when all the amateurs are present, to see cameras round the necks of every other person.

It is not just the display of cameras, but the state of dress and often the overall cleanliness that is of concern. It has to be said that 95% of my comments are aimed at male photographers. Females usually make the effort to be attractive and clean. I am not saying that male photographers are dirty, only that, in several cases, there is room for improvement. It is not just at such shows, but on stands in shopping centres where we let ourselves down. At such a stand today I saw a well groomed female, together with a young male assistant trying to market a well known-brand. At best he could be described at unkempt or better still as scruffy and totally presenting the wrong image.

Visiting photographers in their studios is often a revelation. I am usually uncertain as to when the studio was last cleaned and certainly when it last had sight of polish on anything. The loo is often not the cleanest of facilities and towels have often seen better days.

The majority of photographers dress in black, and I am just as guilty as anyone. It was only when I was photographing a couple of very reticent children the other day that a parent commented that if I had been wearing light colours I might not have seemed so forbidding to two young children. We were certainly having trouble with them. During a break in shooting I changed my shirt to a white one which was highly patterned. Whether it was the break in shooting or the change of shirt that made the difference I am not sure, but the change was dramatic. The children were responsive, not afraid of being separated from parents, and we ended up with a set of great pictures.

It is not just a personal image that is important, but the image created by the whole experience of visiting your studio. You have to be careful just how you fit out your studio. Some of the larger photographic companies employ designers to create an experience, but many photographers do their own design or use things that happen to be around. Using a design company is expensive and if you get the wrong designer it can be an absolute disaster. Doing it yourself can be just as much a disaster unless you really analyse how you want to present yourself and your studio. For wedding photographers without studios, how you present yourself, whether you are on time, whether you are knowledgeable about the venue and your prices, all have an effect on the image that you portray. On the big day, whether you match the dress code for the occasion or stand out like a sore thumb will give a clear impression of your professionalism to all the guests.

To give you an example outside the photographic world I will relate a very recent experience – in fact the trigger for this article and for a review of my studio, its décor and facilities on my return.

I decided that I needed a couple of days' break and as the weather was good at the beginning of March I took a couple of days out at a hotel in Wales. It looked brilliant on the internet and from its image on arrival it appeared excellent. It turned out to be a designer’s dream but a customer’s nightmare.

We were, according to the publicity, to be under the personal care of the owners – after all it was really a high-quality restaurant with eight bedrooms. We never met the owners during the two days of our stay. The staff’s welcome was great as was the room, but then we were faced with the designer’s ideas and the owner’s ideas. The owners had decreed that tea and coffee would only be available in the room as part of room service – no facilities were available in the room. It was apparently ‘policy’ to provide guests with the best that could be offered and guests were not expected to have to make their own drinks – even at 3am or at any other time. No consideration was given to the fact that guests did not want room service staff entering the bedroom at that time in the morning! Comment after comment in the visitors' book made the same point and despite the hotel priding itself on meeting customer needs, no action had been taken.

Unfortunately it was not just the tea and coffee, but in the bathroom, the only mirror was too high for most females and also the nearest light was on the other side of the room, meaning that, for make-up or shaving, the light was not on your face, but on the back of your head. The mirror in the bedroom was at a similar height and was nowhere near the power supply for a hairdryer.

There was a wi-fi connection in the room but no table to work off, so you had to sit on a high bar-stool, nowhere near the power supply or rest the computer and yourself on the bed. All these points were clearly made in the visitors' book over several years, both before and after the rooms had had a revamp. There were many other examples of stupid design features but the next most annoying aspect was the breakfast. The evening meal was superb, but at breakfast, when I asked for muesli I was told that the only choice was items from the menu and they did not do any cereals. Reluctantly I consulted the menu and found poached eggs on toast with spinach, sardines and a sauce. I explained that I just wanted poached eggs on toast, only to be told that ‘chef does not do such breakfasts’. When I pointed out that it was on the menu and that all I wanted was some items left off, the waiter, grudgingly went to check with chef. He came back saying that as a special favour he would prepare this for me. When it arrived it was poached eggs on fried bread, not toast. Needless to say, I sent it back, and several minutes later out came the toast and the eggs.

In all, the experience was far from a relaxing holiday. It just goes to show that how you treat your customers and how you design your studio has a considerable effect on the image that you leave with your customers. I will neither go back nor recommend this hotel to anyone.

Editor's comment

Very thought provoking as usual Ron! Re your studio revamp, George Dawber obviously thinks so too. He was so taken with the job that 1997 New Designer of the Year, Tina Kypriadis did on his own studio that he invited her to PTO to convert the rest of us!

Tina may be contacted
by email at
tinakypriadis@marshallkypriadis.co.uk

Photo Quote: Photography is about finding out what can happen in the frame. When you put four edges around some facts, you change those facts. -Gary Winogrand