Big Companies, Relationships, Local Jobs
There’s something magical about hanging out with people in the industry in a mid-size town. First of all, there aren’t many photographers who have the gear and can do the entire job from pre to post, so you’re going to get the call; meaning, at some point your name is going to be mentioned. Second of all, if you cut my teeth in New York or LA on some pretty big jobs, you’ve got the tear sheets to back up what I’m talking about. So if you answer your phone for a job, engage in the conversation with the marketing/PR person, do a reasonable estimate, your in the game.
(You also need to own all of your gear in a small or mid-size town, unless you can rent it less than 3 hours away. And, of course you need a crew and you really do need to have the re-touching done in-house.)
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If it’s one thing I’m learning, it’s that companies want to cut costs but they don’t want to sacrifice quality. So they want to shoot locally and as a result, they are looking hard for photographers in each regional market. Yesterday I got two calls, one to shoot very large machines, and one from a Cookbook author on the West Coast who needs some lifestyle shots on Hilton Head.
