As designers, we know how important professional photography is to our businesses. It's the one component that can make (or break) our visual marketing. Those photos are what sell our creativity and services to future clients, so they are CRITICAL to our success. But too often we put off booking a photographer and getting those shoots completed. That's a BIG mistake. Why? I'll tell you...

Things Change

I have a designer friend who got busy and put off a photo shoot for one of her best-ever projects. And when she circled back to her clients a few months later, she was informed that they were divorcing and selling the house. YIKES! She wasn't able to photograph her work because it was no longer there. That was a huge hit to her portfolio, and to her future business. You NEVER know what the future holds, and sometimes your projects change at the drop of the hat. If my friend had photographed the project at installation, she would have had a stunning series of photos that would help her market to prospective clients. Lesson learned.

Wear and Tear

If your clients have kids or pets, waiting even just a few weeks could make a big difference in how your project looks. Paint gets marked, lamps can be broken, I've even known art to be damaged! What?! Ouch. And then there are those clients who are, to be kind, very messy. You don't want to deal with having to hire cleaners or to spend a lot of money on retouching photos to cover up issues in the home. 

Timing Is Everything

The time around installation is perfect for a photo shoot because the client is also caught up in the honeymoon glow. They love their interiors and they love you. You want them to be upbeat and happy so they won't mind the bit of an intrusion. Wait a few weeks or months, and that glow may be gone. Just like all of us, our clients have busy lives. They already gave up their homes for months while you transformed them, so having to do that again for your photo shoot might not be so welcome when school starts, or near the holidays. And speaking of the holidays - you don't want to ask them if you can take down all of their Christmas lights so you can shoot a seasonally-neutral look. 

Too Many Shoots, Too Little Time

If you put off your photography so you can keep your nose to the grindstone on other projects, you may find yourself with several homes to shoot all at the same time. That is not a good thing. The odds are slim that you'll be able to coordinate all those clients, your photographer, and your own schedule so you can shoot everything at once. And then you'll start running into the wear-and-tear issue, the holidays, or other challenges that will keep the shoots from being as ideal as they should be. Make a photo shoot part of your usual process for every single project. That way, you'll have the shots you need as soon as you've wrapped up the interiors. 

To help you stay on top of your photography, download my FREE Photo Shoot Timeline and Checklist. That will help you get in and out with the stunning photos your business needs!

xoxo,

Kathleen