Episode 25 of the Filter Photography Podcast is here! In this episode we’ll talk through how to get a rock-solid brief from your client. In this podcast episode we’ll talk about what questions you will want to ask to get a very clear photography brief that will make it super easy for you to impress the client!
I’ve been taking a break from social media, which is tough because it is a big part of my life being a digital project guy in the day job. Something strange happened while I was taking a break from social media. I stopped using Instagram, Facebook and the rest and after a week, I received more photography job offers than ever before.
What does that tell me? It tells me that social media is not that important. I never felt it was the most important thing in life, but I was a firm believer that you can’t get ahead in the creative industry without an effective social media presence.
A fairly interesting relegation in an otherwise boring period of time, I know. But think about that for a second if you feel locked in a loop with social media. Friends would tell me that it doesn’t matter that much, and I agreed with them but I was so scared of just stopping using social media cold turkey in the thoughts that I would be forgotten and people just wouldn’t book you. So that was nice, surprising and kind of eye-opening. There’s some issues with self-worth there to unpack, so if you ever feel like you’re rubbish at what you do or forgettable, now is your insight into how others are probably feeling the same as you even if it looks like they aren’t.
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The main thought: How to get a good brief for event photography
This episode we are going to go off music photography for a bit and talk about how to get a good brief for event photography.
There’s some questions that make it super easy to extract the information you need to deliver great results for the client and know the expectations upfront.
Can you tell me a little bit about the purpose of the event?
What do you want these photos to do?
Promote next year’s event? Show sponsors what was delivered? Show stakeholders what happened?
Send out photos to visitors that walked a red carpet? This is your time to think about licensing and discuss that. Also discuss the resolution of images, and agree to what should be delivered. This is a natural place to ask for that.
Who is it for?
If not answered above. It will help you create content with that audience in mind.
What are your must-have shots?
What shots do you need to get?
Who can you ask for help on the day?
Is there someone who can assist you wrangle people together for photos, or deal with high-profile people at the event that might be hard to access?
When are the photos required by?
This might be in a two-part delivery. You might want to ask if there are any photos that are required sooner than the others. If the client isn’t sure, I ask more specific questions – ‘Are there one or two photos you’d like me to prioritise?’. If they don’t have any idea, that’s cool, but it’s always good to ask and help them think about what they might need sooner rather than later. These kinds of questions make a huge difference in increasing your chance of being re-booked for a future event with the client.
Listener questions
What is your least favourite part of photography? – Sonny
My least favourite part is billing people. I just can’t get my head around it.
I feel ok about what I charge, but I hate the chasing. And you always have to chase. You rarely get paid on time because everyones pay cycles are different, you gotta send follow-up invoices… it can get messy just keeping on top of it. Someone said recently I have a really nicely designed invoice though. So in case others want a nice looking invoice, you can check out Waveapps which is free. I’m not getting paid or a cut for saying that, I just find they are a good product. The only downside is if you mail straight from the Waveapps platform, the invoice can get stuck in the recipients spam filter. I prefer to download it as a PDF and email it straight from my email client.
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