During a recent social gathering, I met an entrepreneur. A sharp woman who’s determination and drive were evident. She asked what I did for a living, and I answered “Commercial photographer,” of course.
Her expression went from curiosity to mild dread.
She laughed it off, but I asked anyway. “What was that face?”
She mentioned that a recent photography session left her frustrated with the results. The photographer she’d hired was professional, friendly, and showed up with all the fancy pieces of gear. They spent an hour together, she smiled over and over, the flashes kept going off.
A week later, she was given a link to 300 images.
She was impressed. “That’s a lot. I guess it was a great session,” she told herself.
Then she went through them.
By image 40, she was already shaking her head. By image 125, it all became a blur. And somewhere around image 270, panic set in. Despite having more photos than she’d ever need, she couldn’t find what she was looking for. Something for the hero section of her website. Something to support the launch of her new promo. Something that looked and felt like her.
Three hundred photos, and she was coming up empty.
She looked at me and said something I haven’t stopped thinking about.
“I have a full Dropbox folder and nothing worth posting.”
The spray-and-pray business model is common among photographers.
It’s exactly what it sounds like. Shoot as much as possible. Cover every angle, every expression, every moment. Deliver everything and let the client sort it out.
It’s a trick as old as time. The client sees a high number of phtoos, and feels like they got their money’s worth.
But they didn’t.
The real problem isn’t the quantity of images.
It’s that there was no strategy behind their creation.
Before the session, the photographer didn’t bother asking the client what she needed. Where she intended to use these images. What her audience responds to. And how the images he would craft could properly support her brand and help her meet her goals.
When you fail to get the answers to such questions, you’re not running a commercial photography session.
You’re taking snapshots.
And the cost is real.
It’s not just about having way too many files to sift through, though that alone can eat hours of someone’s week.
It’s about what those images can’t do.
Images that weren’t built around a brand can’t represent it. You don’t tell a story with 100 photos of someone sitting at a desk, working on a laptop with a coffee mug nearby.
When the client wants to use the content she bought for an ad campaign, a product launch, or a website refresh, they realise nothing quite fits. Frustration sets in.
They paid for photographs.
What they needed was a visual strategy with a camera attached.
The alternative looks exactly like this.
Before anything else, there’s a conversation. Where does your brand stand at the moment? What are your goals? What platforms are you present on? What does your audience expect from you? What does your brand actually stand for, and is that showing up in how you look?
From there, the session gets built around real deliverables. A website hero that hooks viewers within seconds. Social media content that stands out. A few powerful portrait options with room to breathe.
Images that that propel a brand’s visual identity to new heights.
The result might be 60 images instead of 300. But every single one of those 60 images plays a specific role. Most are just what the client needed.
That’s what happens when your photographer acts as your growth partner.
Before your next session, ask yourself this.
Do you know where every image from this session is going to live?
If the answer is vague, or optimistic, or somewhere along the lines of “we’ll figure it out later”, that’s worth pausing on.
Impactful commercial photography doesn’t start with lighting and lenses.
It starts with a clear strategy.
Quantity can feel like generosity. But what most clients need is intention. A smaller set of images that align with their brand, support their goals, and show up where they’re supposed to will always be worth infinitely more than a folder that never gets opened.
Because 300 photos of nothing is still nothing.
Want to talk about what a strategy-first shoot could look like for your brand?
I’m currently booking limited Visual Strategy Sessions to help you map out exactly what you need before you ever step in front of my lens.
