My journey: Press photographer to specialist commercial photographer in Lincoln.
I was fortunate, despite the CD-rom-based career advice system suggestion I should become a milkman (because as a 13/14-year-old, I ticked I liked driving (well, the idea of it)), I knew I wanted to work in photography.
I took an opportunity to become Lincoln City’s official club photographer alongside my Dad, Andrew, when I was just 14 years old. From here, it opened up opportunities for work experience at the Lincolnshire Echo with their photographic department.
It was the foot in the door for a potential starting point for my career, and two years later, I was offered a full-time job.
Working in newspapers was an important training ground for me. It taught me how to react in pressurised situations, work with different people (colleagues as well as people outside of the newsroom) and deliver consistently good images from a range of photographic shoots.
Whilst I loved working in newspapers, looking back, I loved working with people and producing great images to tell their stories. I didn’t want to be standing outside various courts for hours or responding to cover a road traffic collision.
I left the paper when it went from a daily publication to a weekly publication. I could see how the paper would go in terms of photography. I didn’t have the heart to be part of that. So, I decided to set up my own business.
I’d been a photographer all my career. I was (and still am) passionate about photography. I wanted to produce great images that helped my clients get noticed.
Learning how to become a business person, run a successful commercial photographic company, and hone my values, beliefs, and purposes took time.
Coming out of working full-time in newspapers to becoming a specialist commercial photographer in Lincoln was a challenge. People knew me as a press photographer - which was great when they required a photographer to produce images to accompany a press release. However, I wanted to be a trusted commercial photographer delivering images for a wider marketing scope.
I launched my business during a recession. I survived running a business which relies on being face-to-face during the COVID-19 pandemics and a couple of years ago, celebrated 10-years in businesses! I’ve also been able to diversify and become a drone photographer too.
Aside from learning how to become a business person, my approach was the main shift I had to make. Working in newspapers, my sole focus was delivering the image for the page. Yes, you would always try to work with the people you were photographing, but when you had rules of no handing over cheque presentation images and limited groups in photographs, my hands were tied at times.
Now, I have the freedom to produce not just good and great photographs but the right images for my client. And ensure they are still creative and eye-catching so that images work as part of my clients marketing campaigns - be it a press release, a social media post, a blog on their website, or on a bigger-project scale a website redesign or a piece of printed marketing literature.
One of the many positives in shifting from starting in newspapers to becoming what my clients consider me as, a trusted commercial photographer in Lincoln, has been dedicating the time to a shoot it deserves. In press photography, we would have seven or eight, maybe more shoots to undertake in a day. Often, you leave the office first thing in the morning and do not return until the last hour of your shift to process images. Now. If a client needs me on site for an hour, I am. If they need me for half a day or a full day, I am there for that period.