Day in the life of
Photographer – Eliott Kroll
Working as a photographer can be an amazing gig if you are truly passionate about artistic expression through the medium. Whether you’re creating commercial photo and video to sell products or out in a field at sunset snapping some engagement photos, you’ll be happy with a camera in your hands as long as you are still getting to tell the story you want.
I’ve shot studio and field photos and videos for websites, catalogs, weddings, documentaries, and more. One universal truth is that like any creative job, you’re driven by your passion for seeing the perfect shot in your mind and bringing it into reality. That manifestation from vision to action is incredibly exciting and a very fulfilling way to live your life.
With that in mind, the most difficult thing to do can be exercising flexibility when it comes to messaging. Many of your clients may have a differing vision and being stubborn won’t get you anywhere. Having a solid education in artistic style and theory will serve you well when one client wants something dark, moody, and mysterious while another client wants something vibrant and full of color.
In previous years, most of my work was focused under my position as Director of Marketing and was focused on selling products through signage, billboards, social media, and web. It could be a little grinding at times, but I found a great way to fine-tune my work was utilizing analytics and user feedback to focus my energy on which styles were most appealing to people. There would be a lot of A/B testing such as utilizing two different styles of photos for the same product and post them at the same time in the same channel on different days. Eliminating variables one step at a time helped to make every shot I took thereafter more effective and saved me a lot of time. That narrowing of the conceptual window also opened me to new possibilities and styles and I grew and progressed as a photographer.
One style might be new and result in a ton of clicks to your website, but no sales. The other ‘original’ and ‘older’ style may result in fewer overall clicks, but those may be dedicated customers that buy your product based on the image they first bought into when they chose your products. Understanding how these two are both useful in different circumstances (acquisition versus acquired customers) will dictate what, when, where, why, and how you shoot and present your products.
With individual customers such as weddings or engagements, be open to exploring new possibilities. Showing up to the shoot ready to take vintage-style natural light photos might be your style, but your customers have likely seen a particular style they want to duplicate that may include artificial lighting or being indoors. Be prepared to change on the fly, and don’t be afraid to fill your memory card. I have found that many of my favorite shots have come in between poses.
Having this background (and putting in the hours) has allowed me to pursue my true passion; nature. I had a pretty nice gig working in Scottsdale, Arizona full-time in digital marketing where I had unlimited resources to be creative with photography in a commercial setting, but I wanted to chase something more in my life. I received an opportunity to live in Estes Park, Colorado where my new yard shares a border with Rocky Mountain National Park. During the COVID lockdowns, I used my time to learn videography, and now I am able to combine my education and experience in different styles and settings to put together my first full-length documentary titled, “A Place Among the Stars.”
My typical work day
A typical work day is different depending on if you’re self-employed or work for someone else. A salaried position with a company will generally allow more time for actually photographing things. When you’re self-employed, you spend a lot more of your time marketing than photographing. With cameras constantly becoming better and cheaper, everyone has a “Jane Smith’s Photography,” business, so it’s imperative to differentiate and stand out from the commodity photography crowd. The most critical part of photography education is not technical camera operation or composition, it’s storytelling. If your shots aren’t speaking, neither are you. Story is the only way to make your work stand out from the iPhone crowd, and you’ll be spending a lot more of your time both in front of a computer and behind a lens trying to figure it out than actually photographing or editing anything.
Pros and cons
Both salaried and self-employed positions have their pros and cons. A salaried position is much easier since you are typically speaking in one voice and style to maintain brand consistency with your employer and much of your performance objectives are based upon easily discoverable metrics like clicks, likes, and conversions. When you’re self-employed, you will often find yourself changing styles and techniques based on who your clientele are. A formal wedding won’t often want grainy, moody photos, but an outdoor brand may want just such a style for their catalog. Speaking to your audience and delivering results for your clients will vary wildly based on what you’re shooting.
A salaried position may offer access to loads of high-end equipment so you can turn out the best shots, but you don’t own any of it. Self-employment means providing your own equipment which is a huge up-front investment, but your new capital equipment will pay dividends if you can figure out how best to profitably employ it. Ultimately, you’re facing a choice of security or flexibility. Like any great endeavor, it takes years to build an authentic ability to craft a new and original vision into reality. Don’t be discouraged if your work isn’t as good as someone else’s, but be open to changing what you’re doing and figuring out how to accomplish better things. Take a salaried position to learn technical skills and how to speak. Once you’ve mastered artistic expression and selling via technical means, you’ll be ready to move on to full-time self-employment.
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Photographers
photograph people, landscapes, merchandise, or other subjects. May use lighting equipment to enhance a subject's appearance. May use editing software to produce finished images and prints. Includes commercial and industrial photographers, scientific photographers, and photojournalists.
The Artist
