Brand Photography Isn’t New. Commercial Photographers Have Been Doing It All Along.

Different name. Same business. And the camera was never the most important part.

By Robert Gallagher | Still in Business

I've been watching quite a few YouTube videos lately about becoming a brand photographer. And the more I watch, the more I find myself wondering when commercial photography apparently became something new.

According to some of these videos, brand photography is an exciting new specialty where you help business owners tell their stories, photograph their personalities, create images for their websites, and produce content for social media.

You can build a business around it. You can create packages. You can become a branding expert with a camera.

Well, that's interesting.

Because I've been doing commercial photography for decades, and unless I've missed something along the way, that's what commercial photographers have been doing all along.

We just called it commercial photography.

Now, before anybody gets upset, I'm not suggesting that photographers who call themselves brand photographers aren't legitimate professionals. Plenty of them do excellent work, and there is absolutely a market for what they provide.

What I question is the idea that brand photography is somehow a completely separate profession requiring a different understanding of photography.

And more importantly, I question whether some of the advice being offered is confusing newcomers about what commercial photography actually involves.

Because the camera is only part of the business.

Commercial Photography Has Always Been About Branding

Let's go back a little.

Long before Instagram, personal branding sessions, or subscription content packages, businesses needed photography.

They needed photographs of their products, employees, manufacturing facilities, offices, services, and customers.

They needed images for advertising campaigns, brochures, catalogs, corporate reports, magazines, trade shows, and eventually websites.

And somebody had to create those photographs.

That somebody was generally a commercial photographer.

But here's the part that sometimes gets overlooked.

A commercial photographer couldn't simply show up with a camera and start making pictures without understanding what the client wanted to accomplish.

You needed to know who the customer was.

You needed to know what the company sold, what differentiated it from its competition, how its products were positioned, and where the finished photographs would be used.

Sometimes those decisions were made by advertising agencies, art directors, marketing departments, or graphic designers.

Other times the photographer was working directly with the business owner and helping make those decisions.

Either way, the photographs existed to communicate something about the business.

That's branding.

And it didn't begin when somebody decided to put the word "brand" in front of photographer.

A Photograph Is Not a Marketing Strategy

Here's where I think the distinction becomes important.

Making a beautiful photograph and creating a commercially useful photograph aren't necessarily the same thing.

They certainly can be.

But one doesn't automatically guarantee the other.

Let's say I photograph the owner of a small restaurant standing behind the counter, smiling at the camera.

Nice lighting. Good composition. Natural expression.

It's a perfectly good photograph.

But what does it accomplish?

Does it help the restaurant attract customers? Does it communicate what makes the business different? Does it support an advertising campaign? Does it belong on the About page, in a newspaper advertisement, or in a social media post?

Or did we simply make a nice picture because the owner needed some photographs?

There is a difference.

The real assignment begins with understanding why the photographs are needed.

If the restaurant wants to increase weekday lunch traffic, I might recommend photographs showing its lunch offerings, speed of service, and dining atmosphere.

If the business is trying to establish itself as a premium dinner destination, the visual approach might be completely different.

Lighting changes. Styling changes. Composition changes. The subjects change.

And possibly the entire production changes.

That's not simply photography.

That's understanding the client's business well enough to make photographic decisions that support its goals.

It's something commercial photographers have needed to understand for a very long time.

The Problem With Selling the Title Instead of the Skill

One thing I've noticed about the online photography education business is that creating a new category can make an old service sound like a new opportunity.

Give something a different name, develop a few packages, create a course around it, and suddenly there's an entirely new business model to teach.

Brand photography fits rather neatly into that approach.

Now, there are legitimate reasons to specialize.

A photographer who concentrates on personal branding for consultants, entrepreneurs, authors, and small business owners can develop a strong understanding of that market.

They can create efficient workflows, consistent products, and clear pricing.

There's real value in that.

But specialization doesn't automatically make something a separate profession.

A food photographer is a commercial photographer.

An architectural photographer working for a hotel is a commercial photographer.

A photographer producing corporate portraits for an annual report is doing commercial photography.

And someone photographing a small business owner for a website is also doing commercial photography.

Different specialties. Different production requirements. Different customers.

But the underlying business principles remain remarkably similar.

Understanding the client, creating the work, managing the production, licensing the images, and delivering something that serves a commercial purpose.

You can call yourself whatever you want.

The invoices still need to get paid.

Understanding Branding Is Part of the Job

Here's something that I think gets lost in the conversation.

If you're going to work as a commercial photographer or content producer, you need some understanding of branding.

Not necessarily a marketing degree. Not necessarily the ability to develop an entire corporate brand identity.

But you need to understand how businesses communicate.

You should understand the difference between a company trying to compete on price and one trying to compete on quality.

You should recognize that a restaurant targeting families may need a different visual identity from a restaurant targeting high-end dining customers.

You should understand why a manufacturer might want to emphasize reliability, precision, and experience rather than making its facility look like a technology startup.

And you should know that consistency across photographs, video, design, and messaging matters.

Otherwise, how do you make informed decisions about what you're photographing?

Branding isn't just a logo, color palette, or collection of photographs.

It's the identity, reputation, positioning, and expectations associated with a business.

Photography helps communicate that identity.

But photography alone doesn't create it.

And that's a distinction worth understanding before someone starts selling branding services.

Let's Talk About a Gastropub

Consider an independent gastropub.

The owner contacts me because the restaurant needs new photographs for its website and marketing.

One approach would be to offer a package of 30 photographs.

A few food shots. Some pictures of the bar. A portrait of the owner. Maybe a couple of employees working in the kitchen.

 

 

We deliver the photographs and collect payment.

Nothing particularly wrong with that.

But I'd rather have a conversation first.

What is the restaurant known for?

Where does most of its business come from?

Is lunch more important than dinner?

Are its craft beers a major selling point?

Does it have catering services? Does it host private events? What does the competition look like?

Maybe the restaurant makes most of its money during dinner service but wants to build its lunch business.

Now we've identified something useful.

Instead of simply photographing whatever looks attractive, we can build an assignment around supporting the lunch operation.

We might create photographs of the lunch menu, the dining room during service, the people preparing the food, and the atmosphere customers can expect.

We might create short videos showing how quickly lunch is prepared.

Perhaps we record natural kitchen sounds to give the videos a little more character.

Now the client has material designed around a specific business objective.

Will those photographs automatically increase lunch sales?

Of course not.

Marketing doesn't work that way.

But we've produced useful material that supports a deliberate marketing effort, rather than just delivering a collection of attractive images.

That's the difference between photographing a business and understanding what the business needs.

And it has nothing to do with whether I call myself a brand photographer.

Commercial Photography Is Also About Production

Another thing that doesn't get discussed enough in some of these videos is production.

There's more to commercial photography than taking pictures.

There's planning, scheduling, location preparation, lighting, equipment, file management, editing, licensing, delivery, and client communication.

Sometimes there's a team involved.

Sometimes there isn't.

I've spent a great deal of my career working through these details, and they're not particularly glamorous.

But they're important.

For a restaurant assignment, you might need to coordinate with the kitchen so dishes are photographed when they're ready.

For an industrial client, you may need to work around safety requirements and production schedules.

For a corporate portrait assignment, you might have only a few minutes with each executive.

None of those problems can be solved by calling yourself a different type of photographer.

They require experience, planning, and the ability to adapt.

And when you start offering video and audio production alongside photography, the considerations expand.

You have to think about continuity, recording conditions, sound quality, editing time, delivery formats, and where the finished material will be published.

These are the practical parts of the business.

They aren't especially exciting topics for a YouTube thumbnail.

But they're the things that determine whether an assignment is profitable.

The Pricing Conversation Nobody Can Avoid

I've written before about my approach to pricing and why I prefer offering a small number of clearly defined packages.

That approach comes from understanding how customers make buying decisions.

But there's something important to remember.

A commercial photography package is not simply a number of photographs.

You have to consider what it costs to produce the work.

How much planning is involved? How much time will the assignment take? What equipment is necessary? How much editing is required?

And then there's usage.

An image appearing on a neighborhood restaurant's website may have a very different commercial value from an image used in a regional advertising campaign.

The intended use, scope, duration, and licensing terms matter.

So does the question of ownership.

These are fundamental commercial photography considerations.

You can certainly structure branding assignments as packages, and in many cases that makes purchasing easier for the customer.

But a package shouldn't become an excuse to ignore licensing, usage, production costs, or profitability.

If you're charging based entirely on the number of images delivered, you're overlooking much of what makes commercial photography a business.

And eventually that catches up with you.

Usually right around the time the client requests additional work that wasn't included in the original agreement.

Funny how that happens.

Content Production Isn't a Different Universe Either

Now we're seeing a similar thing happen with the phrase "content creator."

Businesses need photographs, videos, interviews, product demonstrations, educational material, and behind-the-scenes footage.

A photographer who can provide several of those services has an opportunity to offer more complete production.

That's a useful evolution.

I've been increasingly interested in combining photography, filmmaking, and location sound as part of a smaller commercial production operation.

Not because I believe I've discovered a new profession.

But because the tools and workflows make it possible to provide a broader range of services without building a large production company.

For a local business, that can be a practical arrangement.

Instead of hiring separate people for photography, video, and sound, a client may be able to work with one experienced producer for an appropriately sized assignment.

There are limits, of course.

Not every production can or should be handled by one person.

But for many smaller businesses, the model can be efficient.

The important thing is maintaining the quality of the work and pricing the assignment properly.

Adding video to a photography package isn't free simply because you already own a camera that records video.

And sound doesn't magically take care of itself.

Ask anyone who's tried recording an interview next to a commercial refrigerator.

Why Experience Still Matters

One of the advantages of spending decades in commercial photography is that you start recognizing patterns.

Technology changes.

The equipment gets smaller, more capable, and sometimes more complicated.

Delivery methods change.

Advertising platforms come and go.

But the basic relationship between a commercial photographer and a client remains surprisingly consistent.

A business has a communication problem.

The photographer is hired to help solve some part of it.

Sometimes the solution is a single image.

Sometimes it's a complete collection of photographs and video.

Sometimes the right decision is to recommend doing less.

And that's something worth emphasizing.

Experience isn't simply about knowing how to produce more material.

It's also about knowing when the client doesn't need more material.

There's no advantage in selling a small business an elaborate production it can't afford or doesn't know how to use.

A sustainable commercial photography business depends on clients receiving value.

Not just images.

Not just files.

Value.

Because satisfied customers become repeat customers.

And repeat customers are often what keep a photographer in business long after the latest marketing trend has disappeared.

There's Nothing Wrong With Calling Yourself a Brand Photographer

I want to be clear about something.

If the term "brand photographer" helps customers understand your services, use it.

There's no rule saying everybody has to call themselves a commercial photographer.

In fact, there are good marketing reasons to speak the language your potential customers understand.

A small business owner may immediately recognize the phrase "branding photography" while finding "commercial photography" a little intimidating.

That's fine.

It's a positioning decision.

And positioning is part of marketing.

What I object to is the suggestion that changing the title somehow replaces the need to understand the business.

You still need to know how to work with clients.

You still need to understand usage and licensing.

You still need to estimate projects, produce consistent work, manage expenses, and deliver on your promises.

And if you're presenting yourself as someone who can help businesses with branding, you should have a working knowledge of how branding actually works.

Otherwise, you're simply selling photographs with a fashionable description.

Staying in Business Is the Real Specialty

I've reached a point in my career where I'm far less interested in what photographers call themselves than I am in how they operate.

Can they consistently produce work?

Can they solve problems?

Can they adapt when the market changes?

Can they charge enough to remain profitable?

Can they build relationships that last longer than a single assignment?

Those are the questions that matter.

A title doesn't build a sustainable business.

Neither does an expensive camera, a beautiful portfolio, or a cleverly packaged collection of services.

Those things may help.

But staying in business requires something less exciting and considerably more important.

It requires understanding the customer, controlling costs, protecting the value of your work, and delivering services people are willing to pay for.

Over and over again.

For years.

For decades, if you're fortunate enough to keep at it.

That's why I don't see brand photography as some remarkable new invention.

I see it as one more way of describing an established part of commercial photography.

The marketplace changes its terminology.

The underlying work continues.

 

If you're beginning a photography business today, there's nothing wrong with specializing in brand photography.

But don't limit your education to watching videos about branding sessions, posing business owners, and building three photography packages.

Learn about advertising.

Learn how businesses operate.

Learn about marketing, licensing, usage rights, estimates, production, and customer relationships.

Learn how to ask better questions before taking out your camera.

And remember that the purpose of commercial photography isn't simply to make something attractive.

It's to create images that are useful to the people paying for them.

After decades behind a camera, that's one principle I haven't seen change very much.

You can call it brand photography.

You can call it content creation.

You can call it commercial photography.

Just remember that knowing how to photograph a brand isn't the same as understanding one.

And understanding the business is what gives the photography its purpose.

That's the part worth learning.

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