Getting Your First Photography Client

Getting your first client can seem like an impossible task: you need a portfolio to get a client, but you need clients to get a portfolio, right? It might seem like a catch-22 but here's where working on personal projects, often on a TFP basis, can come in handy and help you to tackle the first portion of the task.

What is TFP?

Before we get stuck into how to build your portfolio, it's important to understand what TFP means and why it's different to working for free.

TFP refers to "Trade for Print", "Trade for Photos" or "Trade for Pictures", often used interchangeably. It refers to the practice of working together with collaborators who all utilise their specific skills (for example, modelling, makeup, photography) to create work that everyone can use for their portfolio.

In the case of TFP, money doesn't exchange hands. The photos are used in everyone's portfolios instead and any expenses, such as studio or prop hire, are usually divided amongst the collaborators. It's a true collaboration and everyone inputs their ideas, putting in equal effort and receiving equal benefit from the shoot.

Working for Free vs. Working TFP

But, if money isn't exchanged, and no one gets paid, why is this different to working for free?

In regards to TFP shoots, all of the collaborators are getting the same value from the shoot.

The concept of working for free, and the argument against it, is an extensive and complex one, but it's my view that it has a lot to do with value.

When you're working for free, such as creating work for a brand that will be using your work to sell their products, the value is shifted towards the brand: they get more value from that shoot than you do.

Working for free, for magazines, brands, and companies, that will be directly profiting off of your work and not compensating you is different to arranging a shoot where two parties (or more) are collaborating, contributing to the shoot equally (both creatively and financially) in order to extract the same value: boosting their portfolio, not selling clothes or products.

On that note, a promise of exposure is not appropriate compensation. Compensation should be monetary when working with clients and on commercial products.

You should be utilising TFP work to practice your skills and build your portfolio. Whilst it's great to engage with throughout your career in times where you need to develop certain aspects of your practice, don't feel the need to work continiously on a TFP basis once it no longer serves you.

How to Find TFP Collaborators

TFP collaborators can include models, stylists, HMUAs (Hair & Make-Up Artists), set designers -- anyone that is involved in the creative process of a photoshoot. Finding TFP collaborators can be done in a number of different ways:

• You can utilise social media, if you already have a presence, to create a call out for collaborators. Explain that the shoot you're interested in doing is on a TFP basis and what type of collaborator you're looking for (for example, it could be a stylist). If you don't already have an online presence that you can utilise, consider using a social network such as TikTok which allows a wider organic reach and is more likely to be seen by people than using a network such as Instagram.
• Similarly, if you don't have a social media presence, consider using forums such as Facebook groups where you can reach out to collaborators who are looking to build their portfolios. Facebook is a gold mine for this and I'm sure you'll be able to find a group for models, photographers, HMUAs in your local area.
• Shoot with friends and family who don't mind helping you out. You might have a friend or family member who is particularly confident in front of the camera, or who also needs to build their portfolio but as a makeup artist.
• Reach out to modelling agencies to get access to their testing boards. Most modelling agencies will have a board (or group) or models, often that are new to their agency, that need testing. It's often referred to as a "New Faces" or "Development" board. By reaching out to these agencies, you can often organise TFP shoots to work with new models who also need to build their portfolios.

Best Practices for TFP Projects

Once you've got together your team, it's time to start the shoot! Remember you want to make sure your personal projects reflect the work that you want to be hired for. If you wanted to be a fashion photographer, there's no point in organising a shoot to take photos of candles, unless that's something you want to build your brand around and be hired for in the future.

You can also use TFP personal projects to practice specific skills. For example, if your on-location portfolio has already been fleshed out but you need to practice studio photography and lighting and build a portfolio around those skills.

How to Get Your First Client

Now that you've built up your portfolio, it's time to use it to attract your first client. We're going to be talking about three methods, which can all be used in synergy alongside one another, to do this, starting with your online presence.

Building an Online Presence

Building an online presence, in this day and age, is one of the best ways to attract clients. It's important to not put all of your eggs in one basket, when doing this, and to instead ensure that your presence is strong across a number of different websites.

When deciding on which online tools to put your energy into, you can also consider where your ideal client spends the most of their time: for example, if a musician is spending most of their effort in making content for TikTok and you want to be a music photographer, creating videos on TikTok will be more likely to get in front of their eyes.

Let's have a bit more of a deep dive into some of the various ways you can build your online presence!

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a great platform for anyone looking for work or to connect with people in their industry. You can engage in industry news, keep up to date with the people in your network, and share your work (as links, photos, videos and more). LinkedIn allows you the opportunity to connect with people who work in the brands you want to be working with and to get your work out in front of their eyes.

The Dots

I like to think of The Dots as a LinkedIn for creative people. It's full of photographers, designers, stylists, and more, all sharing their ideas, work and opportunities across a like-minded community. Not only can you use The Dots as a portfolio host and a networking tool, The Dots also feature creatives across the platform, putting more eyes on your work (and in the relevant fields!). If you're working in the creative industry, you want to make your presence known on The Dots.

Instagram

For over a decade, Instagram has been a great place to host your portfolio, connect with collaborators and clients, and get more eyes on your work. Whilst this is still true, and a lot of my work still comes from Instagram, organic growth has been more tricky in the past few years over on the gram. I would still recommend putting your energy into the platform, but the decline of this networking site is a great example of why it's important to not put all of your eggs in one basket!

Twitter

I'm a true advocate for Twitter. Unlike with Instagram, organic reach is a lot easier with Twitter. A simple "like" or "retweet" can spread your content in front of a lot more eyes than just those who already follow you. You can also post photos in 4k, so that people can see your photos in all of their glorious detail.

TikTok

TikTok is the new kid on the block when it comes to social media. It might be a video platform, but that doesn't mean it's not an amazing platform to engage with as a photographer. Not only can you share your work and your portfolio to your followers (and with an algorithm that has better organic reach than Instagram, might I add!) but you can also show your followers an insight into your practice through behind-the-scenes videos and more, allowing them to build a relationship with the person behind the camera.

Portfolio Website

When it comes to your online presence, I ultimately believe that the most important thing to consider is your own personal website. Social media sites come and go as trends live and die and so it's important to have something that you have more control over. Your website should be your little corner of the Internet, a place to explain who you are, what you do and why people should hire you, as well as show off all of your amazing work.

Of course, when it comes to a website, organic reach is a little harder than social networks which have algorithms that are designed to push out your work. That being said, you can utilise strong SEO to gain organic traffic which can be converted into paying customers.

It's Time to Network!

Once you've set up your online presence, it's time to turn your eye to networking and making connections with relevant people in your industry.

Networking Etiquette

When it comes to networking, there's important etiquette to keep in mind. You don't want to create shallow, meaningless relationships that are designed just to sell to people. People will see through this straight away and won't appreciate the hard sell or being used. Remember that using your contacts is an added benefit to the relationships you've already genuinely created. Photography, especially when working in genres such as portraiture and fashion, is a very human experience and building good relationships with people, being approachable and easy to get on with will often be as important, and in some cases more, than your portfolio.

How to Network

Networking, and meeting people, can be done in a number of ways. The first way in which I'd recommend is by utilising the social media and networking sites that we explored earlier to connect with people in your industry.

Secondly, you can engage in in-person networking events; any events where you can interact with people in your industry. Using the example of attracting music clients, an obvious place to meet the relevant people would be at live music events where you may run into all sorts of individuals within the music industry, from musicians themselves to artist managers or gig promoters.

Pitch Yourself

Next up, let's talk pitching!

Pitching refers to reaching out to clients and pitching yourself, your portfolio and your skills. It's a great idea to pitch yourself when you have specific clients in mind and a solution for how you can help a problem they have.

When pitching, you will first want to make sure that your proposal is being directed to the right person or people. You can use tools such as LinkedIn or The Dots to find the right people within a brand or company to direct your pitch to. This might be someone in the position of Head of Production, Head of Marketing, Marketing Director or Creative Producer, for example.

Once you've found the person you want to send your pitch to, it's time to introduce yourself. Who are you and what do you do. Make this short but sweet (you want to come across as friendly and polite without taking up too much of their time).

Make it clear what value you can offer the client; why do they need you and your services?

You'll also want to make it clear that you've done your research, too, and that you're not batch emailing as many creative producers as you can find with the same pitch that's irrelevant to their brand. Personalise your pitches to the brand that you're directing it at.

Attach a PDF of your best and most relevant work (relevance is important here!), making sure that the PDF is small and not too difficult to download. Ensure that all links are clickable, too, and remember that you don't want to make the prospective client work to view your portfolio, you want to make it easy and accessible.

Networking, building an online presence and pitching can all work in synergy with each other. For example, building your network can help you to build an online presence, which can help you in your pitching process, which can help you network, and so the cycle continues and can help your business go from strength to strength.

Take your time with these steps and find a flow that works for you. Make sure you understand your legal and financial obligations of running your business, get clued up when it comes to contracts and pricing and go into your job with the confidence that you know what you're doing and you know how to deliver what the client needs.

The world of working as a photographer is a great one, full of highs and lows, celebrations and challenges, so take it in your stride and enjoy it.