Shooting Subjects Other Than Interiors and Architecture
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 8:06PM 
So I was reading Larry's post the other day on PFRE about the fact that some real estate photographers seem to wonder if other real estate photographers shoot anything else other than real estate (what a sentence). I thought I'd give my opinion on that one: Yes, and I'm proud of it.
Take this whatever way you want, but I like doing two things: paying the mortgage and photography. It's because of one that I can do the other, and vice vera. My view is that if you can make a living taking pictures - no matter what particular area of interest - you're doing just fine.
One drawback, and there's truth to it as well, is that a jack of all trades tends to be a master of none. Look at it this way - Person A shoots architecture full-time for 5 years while Person B shoots architecture, portraits, and weddings full-time for 5 years - all things being equal, Person A will be ahead of the curve when it comes to architecture. There's really no disputing it. Hey, I admit it, I'm Person B and I love what I do. How about you?
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Reader Comments (4)
I'm an archetypal Person B, in part because I'm blown away by good photography, regardless of genre. So I do weddings, portraits, travel, sports, and now I'm about to break into real estate. My dad was a dentist and used to bring home ghastly, glowing photographs of oral surgery, taken with a ring flash. Would I do that? Well, maybe not. Although I'm sure the technical challenges must be consuming. But I do believe that the skills learned in one area of photography spill over into others, and that while Person A may become accomplished in producing within the box, real innovation is more likely to occur when Person B brings new skills from outside the box.
TOTALLY in to paying the mortgage, and maybe getting ahead one day - so RE is the 'bread and butter', but portraits, engagements and weddings are the cake :D
And here's another person B. I found a great mixture in RE, corporate, music photography and workshops. My website is mostly about architecture and interior to show that's my core business. The presentation affects the sort of assignments. If I want more music than architecture I would have to change my marketing campaigns. It's just all about what you want and like to do. You can go deep or very wide. You just get other sort of audience and clients.
In my work I use my experience from different skills. In this way I believe I've got more solutions and can be more creative than with just one skill.
I love reading your blog! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for commenting everyone - I agree with all of your views, especially with the notion that those of us who's work is more diverse, perhaps we bring 'outside-of-the-box' approaches to interiors and architecture.