How to hire a photographer for your next project

Whether you want to showcase company culture to attract potential employees, highlight your unique product, document an important event or just stand out from the sea of sameness, you may find yourself ready to hire a photographer or videographer to capture original assets. Where to begin?

Find your purpose

First and foremost, define your end goal. Are you trying to create a library of images for long term use? Do you just need a few images for a short term campaign? Will you need models and wardrobe? Do you have a specific location or timeline in mind? Do you need both still images and video footage? Creating a short brief outlining your ask before reaching out to anyone, including sample images if possible, will speed up and narrow your search.

Types

Photographers are creatives, and like other creatives they tend to have focus areas or specialities. Categories include:

• Portrait: Focused on individuals or groups of people
• Lifestyle: Stylized scenes of people in a moment or action
• Reportage/Documentary: Documentation of a real story or situation
• Event: Documentation of a planned live event
• Environmental: Outdoor or indoor scenes
• Studio: Controlled indoor environment, usually with a backdrop
• Architectural: Exteriors and interiors of spaces and places
• Artistic: Highly stylized concepts

The list goes on. Knowing what kind of approach you need to achieve your ideal image will provide some keywords for your search and help you assess the portfolios you uncover. Hiring someone that specializes in studio portraits to cover a live event or a documentary videographer to photograph products in a studio will typically not yield the best results.

The Search

Finding the right person can be challenging. Google is generally a tough place to seek such specific skills and talent. Seek out representatives or index sites that showcase many portfolios in one place. Look through networking and social sites like LinkedIn or Instagram. Or better yet, tap a creative director, producer or agency to help you.

Negotiation

Every photographer approaches and prices their work differently. Costs will be driven by experience level, equipment required, crew needs, location, rights and licensing terms, quantity of final images and other factors. Read the proposals carefully. Again a creative director, producer or agency can help review and assess your options.

Now what?

Once you have approved a proposal, you may have a few more tasks to ensure a smooth photo or video shoot. You may need to provide general direction and approvals, assist in securing locations and people or select images or footage from the options captured. Be sure to transfer all final assets to your organization’s file management system for future access.

There are few project results as gratifying as a set of your very own original images, depicting your brand in a one-of-a-kind manner across numerous channels. The time and investment will likely supersede that of stock imagery, but with a little planning and research, it can be a streamlined and even enjoyable creative experience. Ultimately, there is no replacement for the reward of originality and authenticity.

Images provided by:
Bob Coscarelli / coscarelli.com