Why no professional photographer is allowed an ‘off’ day.

Does your job allow you to have the occasional off day? A recent job for Caring Hands, a care provider in Lancashire made me realise how that’s never an option for commercial photographers.

You know what it’s like. If you’re a one-man (or woman)-band, you tend not to spend a huge amount of time thinking about where the jobs come from because you’re too busy doing them.

But a recent project for Caring Hands (you can find out more about it here) made me realise the impact one job can have on the next.

Not so long ago I was asked to carry out commercial portrait photography for the team at BrightRED Digital in Preston. Chuffed with the results, Bright RED asked me to get involved in the commercial photography for Caring Hands.

When I arrived at Caring Hands’ Preston Base, I met the director – and it turned out that we’d already met. I’d covered his wedding photography, so immediately there was a strong relationship, and the director could relax because he knew the quality of the commercial photography he’d be getting.

I’m not really one for offering unprompted advice to budding photographers, but I think the point I’m making with this is that no project ever sits in isolation. Every job you do, every subject you shoot, has a connection to someone else. And if years of doing this job have taught me anything, it’s that those connections surface more often than you’d think, and often in the most surprising places.

Which is why no commercial photographer is allowed an off day, because the day you do is the day those connections unravel.

I’ll stop soap-boxing now…

Commercial photography in Lancashire? Give me a call.

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