If You Could Have Ideal Clients, What Would They be like?
Artists need people to buy their art; photographers need people who need photography. The major problem is that those people aren’t always what you would rather they were. It’s how things work and you have to make peace with it if you want to stay in business. Surely you know what I’m talking about. If you don’t, head over to Clients from Hell and read some true stories from different freelancers.
But now and then, you work with someone and really enjoy it and that’s when you know a successful business relationship is about to begin, or that it is a collaboration that will always be a good memory. These clients are of course less common. We each have the ideal client profile somewhere in the back of our minds and we easily recognize someone we would like to work with. If you won’t recognize any of your clients in the descriptions bellow…well, you can at least day dream. But cheer up! Quality clients will come knocking at your door in no time!
The ideal wedding couple:
The ideal bride and groom will hire you because of you portfolio and unique style of shooting weddings. They will not look at the money or try to negotiate a discount. They will listen to everything you have to say before the wedding and try to stick to the plan as much as possible on the wedding day.
The ideal art director
He will do his best to explain the concept and how he wants the final result to look like, but he will also ask for your creative input. He will clearly not hire you to simply set up some lights and push a button and he won’t breathe in the back of your neck after each frame you take.
The ideal portrait client
The portrait client will tell you what they would like you to capture in the photographs or if they have a certain trait or expression they would like you to highlight. They should be receptive to our instructions and have patience when posing. Actually, time shouldn’t be a problem for any category of clients. But of course, this is a parallel universe we are talking about here.
The ideal company that approaches you directly
It obviously appreciates your work enough to avoid advertising agencies so it contacts you directly. It offers you generous resources and understands that they are all necessary for making their product look as competitive as possible. They have faith in your vision and don’t interfere with it other than suggestion small changes. They will also understand that it takes a few days or even weeks before you deliver the final images because of the editing process.
The ideal magazine editor
He will give you a decent budget to work with for the assignment and he will open all possible doors to make sure that you can do your job instead of arguing with strangers over small details. He will ask for everything he needs from you respectfully and he won’t remind you constantly that there are countless photography students just waiting to shoot your assignment for half the money.
Oh well, c’est la vie!
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