It might be a bad idea to date yourself, but I just had my 60th birthday on Monday. I have been thinking about my imagery that I have taken since I was about 8 years old. Of course my idea of what makes an image has changed over the years, just like my writing skills have improved, I hope.
I was talking to one of my clients; she is also my mother-in-law, and she is also a long-time real estate agent. She told me I need to study images from homes that sold more than a million dollars on the market. She says that my work as a photographer is fabulous and I have a high level of skill. She also states that’s not good enough to work in real estate as a photographer, taking excellent pictures is not enough. You need to think like a realtor in selling the house when you are taking the pictures.
She says I need to photography the homes to produce images that the realtor needs to visually sell the house. Even in this industry, you have to be a visual storyteller. Is it not enough to just take technically quality images of a house, follow standard design elements and make the building shine, at least by how I have trained.
You need to make a story with your images, like how a realtor writes the description to sell the property. It’s not your job, but the homeowner and the realtor. But you still have to make sure they have cleaned the place and staged before you take the first image. Highlight key areas of the house in your images that people want to see. Dishwasher, stove, Washer and Drier. Key elements that accent the house and make it different from the average house.
She asked me to study the images from homes that sell for more than a million dollars. You always should study your contemporaries. I didn’t think there are that many homes that sell over a million, but in the DC/VA/MD area, it’s more common than you think. It’s where the residential realtor can make some, similar to the commercial market. That’s where I really want to work in.
Why do I like to work in the commercial architecture market? Like photographers Ezra Stoller and Julius Shulman. It’s a mixture of technical and artistry, showing human culture that benefits humanity. I also think that it’s more cut and dry for being paid. That’s the bottom line, trying to make a living and helping others with my photography.