As I enter into the New Year with you all, a significant amount of my time has been spent on determining what attributes define me not only as a photographer but also as a business owner. Equally, I’ve put just as much time into defining who I am not.

All of us are now part of this era of consequences. Consumers have never before been so savvy and educated to help ensure better purchasing decisions. Thus, everything my team and I do in our work can add to or take away from our business.

What follows is a clear articulation of who we are as well as a reinforcement of who we are not. This list may reaffirm why you chose to be subscribed to this blog and/or work with us. Or this list may change your perception of us and lead you to believe that you do not want to work with us.

Either way – I feel it is important to be fully transparent and allow you to decide.

We will NOT be the photographers who tell you that if you show more skin that you can gain popularity and a large following from overseas markets and then try to push the point further by claiming that a lot of other female models are doing it and no one here has any idea about it. We will not push our client’s moral compass nor will we offer free work or reduced pricing if the talent shows more skin.

We will NOT be the photographers who will make you wait months to get your edits back, meanwhile missing your agreed upon deadlines and ignoring the e-mails you send to follow up.

We will NOT be the photographers who make our prospective clients feel like they are undeserving of our attention and that they are beneath us.

We will NOT be the photographers who make audacious claims that we can make your career for you if you choose to work with us. There will be no false or misleading promises about what we can or cannot do with the images should you choose to work with us.

We will NOT be the photographers who make exaggerated claims or overinflate our experience – particularly when it comes to the clients and magazines we say we work with or submit to. No false impressions will be given.

We will NOT be the photographers who charge a premium price for a cookie-cutter, or cattle-call type photo shoots. Nor will we have sub-consultants do the work that we claim we are doing ourselves.

We will NOT be the photographers to over-edit your photos so that it no longer looks like you.

We will NOT be the photographers who attempt to do guerilla style shooting in parking structures and hotel lobbies. If we have a photo shoot set up, we will have the permit or permission to be on set.

We WILL be the photographers who are not only results driven, but also who want to be held accountable on results.

We WILL be the photographers who spend the time on set to make a great image as opposed to trying to just “fix it” in Photo Shop.

We WILL be photographers who quickly turn around proofs to our clients as well as turn around the final files in usable versions as soon as possible without rushing and hurting the quality.

We WILL be the photographers who understand the marketplace and our client’s direction. We will focus on our client’s goals not our own self-interests. We will study and understand the industry we work in and do what we can to help our clients achieve their goals.

We WILL be the photographers who seek to better the industry we are in by putting out educational materials to support the needs and goals of others.

We WILL be the photographers who always strive to creative commercially and editorially viable work on behalf of our clients. We will use our background and experience to help provide insights on which images will best “work” for our client’s goals.

We WILL be the photographers who are fully committed to our craft. We do not have separate 9-to-5 jobs that will pull us away from our work with our clients.

Our direction is to always be focused on our client. We will be the photographers you would work with not just to get nice looking images, but images that you can put to work and even help you get work.

That is who we are.

James Patrick
jamespatrick.com
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