23 — Ways to Play: Types of Family Photography Businesses
How to run a business?
Who are the images for? What are they of? What are the expectations? How bold can I be? How do I generate bookings? Should I satisfy my creativity in my business or separate them?
I’ve run a few different types of family photography businesses and have enjoyed each for the creativity, income and connection they brought to my life
Here are three ideas to inform your thought process, developed from doing them and also observing other businesses
You don’t have to choose (customization is key) but knowing one’s goal and boundaries is an aid
Mainstream Family Photography
Difficulty level: easy
What is pictured: the family’s happiness
“The customer is always right”
Broadly accessible price point
High volume, high demand
Generally loving gaze
The audience: the family themselves
Pitfalls: burnout, self-abnegation, cosmetic
Pros: potential for large income, easily understood
Documentary Family Photography
Difficulty level: intermediate
What is pictured: the family’s reality
“We collaborate to depict your life”
Moderate investment but accessible to those looking for a deeper depiction
Moderate-high volume & demand
Loving and observant gaze
The audience: the family themselves and those interested in documentary photography
Pitfalls: blurred boundaries, mainstream clients who like the price but not the work, longing for more
Pros: compromise that often releases inner tensions related to art vs. business
Niche Family Photography
Difficulty level: advanced
What is pictured: the artists vision
“I want to be seen through your eyes”
Significant investment, many priced out
Low-moderate volume, must create demand
Observant and editorializing gaze
The audience: those interested in art; galleries, photo books, prizes & awards
Pitfalls: questions of consent & image ownership, total trust required, polarizing, feast and famine bookings (supplemental income often required), travel often required
Pros: creative freedom, personal fulfillment, a seat at the table of the Art world
Hybrid Blends
My work is a blend of documentary and niche, often when I am unable to cross the social discomfort to create the niche work of my mind
My price point is niche, it is generally inaccessible and purchased by those who have a personally felt connection to my work AND a milestone they want to materialize and hold in physical form
Where mainstream is service-oriented, niche is vision-oriented
Mainstream family photographers often possess the courage of tolerance
Niche family photographers often possess the courage of conviction
Documentary blends a diluted, moderate version of each
Businesses proceeding from personality are often the most successful because they are the easiest to run
Vitality can be seen and felt from a mile away
What is your experience? If you currently run a business, do these categories describe yours? Do you experience tensions between them?