Grabbing the attention of a potential client can often come down to the effectiveness of a single image; one photograph on a promo card or email blast can be the hook that attracts a buyer to your Web site. But how do photographers decide which image to choose for print and email promos, leave-behind cards, for the landing pages of their Web sites, and for other self-promotion efforts?

Recently PDNonline connected three photographers with industry experts in three categories—commercial/editorial, fine-art, wedding/portraiture—who reviewed a selection of the photographers’ images in the context of their marketing objectives and their career goals. The experts weighed in on what factors the photographers should consider when choosing an image to promote their work. Then they suggested which image they would pick as a “signature image” for the photographer.

This fall Benjamin Rasmussen plans to create a marketing effort that will establish a new visual direction for his work. “I am shifting away from my roots as a news photographer into creating quieter images of contemporary issues,” Rasmussen says. “I have switched from a digital SLR to medium format film, and from straight documentary photography work to featuring more portraiture and landscapes.”

With his marketing effort Rasmussen would like to appeal to high-end editorial clients like Time, The New York Times Magazine, Monocle and AFAR, and commercial clients like Nike and Anthropologie.

Rasmussen submitted ten images (click the photo gallery link above to see the images) from a personal project on the Wakhan Corridor in Afghanistan for consideration by our industry experts—art buyer and consultant Heather Morton, and creative consultant Allegra Wilde. Read their advice on the following pages.



Creative consultant Allegra Wilde on Benjamin Rasmussen’s Signature Image

This commentary from Allegra Wilde is adapted from a conversation between Wilde and Benjamin Rasmussen.

I’m looking at these images from two perspectives. One is: Does it match your goals? The other is: What is the most unique and powerful image that would get you attention for high-end editorial, news feature and advertising work, and yet is consistent with your other images? You can’t look at this stuff out of context, because you can pick the greatest picture in the world from somebody, and if it doesn’t look anything like any of the other photographs on their Web site it amounts to a bait and switch for the art director.

The signature image has to get people to the Web site. You need potential clients to read into it personally and emotionally, and sort of dream in the picture: “Oh, wow, this could be for Nike, or this could be for Dewars, or whatever it is.”

Choosing An Image With Wide Emotional Appeal

I want to talk a little bit about the context of editorial and documentary images of this type—we’ll call it a sort of Alex Webb/Steve McCurry area, and I believe both of those people, by the way, do a fair amount of advertising work. With war photography and photography of the third world, it becomes very easy for the average American advertising buyer to exoticize the kinds of things that you’re showing, to say, “That’s not me, it’s not my life and I can’t put myself in those shoes.”

The way around that is to choose images for your portfolio or Web site that include very specific acts between human beings within other cultures that are universal in terms of the emotional authenticity. [For instance] in every culture somebody has an argument with their teenager. Whatever the context is—Afghanistan, Mexico City, wherever you are—it resonates with any person who has a teenaged kid. What we need to do [in picking a signature image] is approach the viewer from a human perspective without an overwhelmingly intense eye on what their job title is. People have to say, “Oh my god, me too.” This sort of “one world” approach is harder to do in portraiture than in situational pictures, so that’s just something to keep in mind.

The Importance of Graphic Cleanliness

When I was recently at LeBook I took a couple of art buyers over to one of the booths where they were showing Ben Lowy’s work. Ben is a photojournalist who is a natural for advertising, and the reason he is, aside from the great power and consistency in his photographs, is [because his images] are graphically clean. You have a sense of craft; you have a sense of composition with incredible intent. I believe that cleanliness appeals subliminally to the advertising buyer.

You have that too. In other words, there’s negative space, the information in your photographs is exactly what we need to know, they’re very impactful and you have a consistent punch to the color palette.

The Signature Image

In looking at your submission, it would be easy for me to pick the [image of the] woman in red. Graphically and stylistically, and in terms of the emotionalism of the content, this picture connects to the very best work that’s on your Web site.



But I went to your Web site, and the picture that I want to pick is [the one] in a field and it’s a father and daughter. It has the graphic cleanliness of the best work on your Web site, it connects stylistically, and in terms of the color palette, to the Afghanistan series, and it is a very aggressively emotional picture.



To do a whole direct mail campaign of your Afghanistan work, yes, you could start with the woman in red and it would make sense, but what this [other image] does is it opens up the entire Web site.

Does it mean that your photo of the woman in red or the guy next to the wall would not attract an advertising buyer? Of course they will, but what I’m thinking about is the possibility of the client thinking of more things to do with you. So again, I’m looking for the thing that feels unique and impactful for a lot of different reasons.

And About the Web Site

During the course of their conversation, Wilde also discussed the structure of Rasmussen’s Web site with him and made the following suggestions.

In addition to the “Stories” section on your Web site, I would do something called “Current Portfolio” or “Portfolio,” which had effectively the greatest hits, so that [in looking at your work] we weren’t tied necessarily to the sequence of each story. However I would then have the [full] stories in a sub menu or subsequent to that. Then I would do a section called “Client Work,” because what we have to do is get a creative director hot for you and then you have to give them the tools to help close the deal for you with the client, and you’re not at that meeting and your rep isn’t at that meeting. What you’re doing on your Web site now is you’re muddling the sale. You’re not really saying [this image] was for this [client], and you’re not getting a clean presentation of your vision either because you’re mixing in the job pictures with the beautiful personal work.

Allegra Wilde has more than 20 years of experience as a picture strategist, creative director and consultant to artists, photographers, art-based businesses and to the advertising, editorial, and assignment marketplaces in particular. She was until three years ago the director of talent and agent branding at The Workbook. During her tenure there, and currently as an independent consultant and creative director in her own business, Wilde's expertise lies in a broad overview of the commercial photography industry. Recognized as a community builder, her large client base seeks her consultation and advice in such areas as sales strategy, image forecasting, marketing, business development, small business infrastructure design and portfolio development for individual talent. 

Wilde is also the owner/moderator of two online industry forums: Art + Photo Agents Forum for commercial artist's representatives, and Art Producers Forum for advertising agency art buyers and photo editors
. She also and advises a wide range of mainstream businesses, political campaigns, and individuals on branding, positioning and picture strategies.

She can be reached at aw@allegrawilde.com.



Art Buyer Heather Morton on Benjamin Rasmussen’s Signature Image



I love this image: the quality of the light, the composition; the posture is hopeful (face turned towards the light) but casual. There is a lot of texture in this image—rock, wood, earth; which is appropriate to a fashion client. There are also a lot of stylistic, color and contrast choices in this shot which, if you're only sending one image, can tell the art buyer a lot about your aesthetic.

Judging by Ben's statement, I think he understands what an image needs to communicate to a prospective client and I think his work, though it is based in photojournalism, shows that he is capable of and interested in making esthetic choices that deliberately create a soft and beautiful feel. His work evokes a slightly nostalgic feeling (use of film, I think) with a good dose of the exotic. His work seems appropriate in many ways for Anthropologie, one of his choice clients.

He says: “When my signature image comes across the desk of these clients, my goal is for it to fit their visual needs, and to stand out because of its esthetic and subject matter.”

I think he totally achieves on the second point in this statement—the images definitely stand out on the esthetic and subject matter front. But, I think commercially, he needs to be sure that they fit not only the visual but also the reality of commercial production.

On the other hand, from a commercial perspective, though Ben's work is beautiful and uses some visual clues that we also are familiar with in commercial photography, I have some concerns with showing this type of work because it is not "produced" but rather "found." For example, the casualness I mentioned above can be very hard to recreate—a lot (but not all) of the feeling of this shot came pre-prepared. So, as a next step, Ben needs to show some work that is more commercially applicable by recreating the feel of these images using talent, stylists, location scouts, etc. We need to see that he can recreate this feeling on demand, with pre-determined people, props etc. and in differing conditions.

I also really like the image of the two men pushing the motorbike up the mountain. The muted color contrast is beautiful and the image is both graphic and a bit fun.

Heather Morton is a freelance art buyer and photographer consultant. After five years as the head of art buying at one of Canada’s largest advertising agencies, Morton left in 2006 to pursue a freelance career—offering senior art buying services for advertising agencies and creative consultant services for photographers. An occasional speaker for professional photography organizations, Morton also regularly speaks with photography students about portfolio development and art buying process. In 2008 Morton launched a blog, HMAb (www.heathermorton.ca/blog), that receives over 25,000 unique visitors a month and encourages interesting discussion about all matters having to do with photography in the commercial world. Morton also does video-podcasts as part of an ongoing "Ask an Art Buyer" series on her blog. Morton is a member of the Art Producers Forum, and is the Chair of ADBASE's FoundFolios Buyer Advisory Group.

View parts two and three of this three-part series:

The Signature Image: A Fine-Art Photographer Looking for New Gallery Representation

The Signature Image: A Wedding and Portrait Team Seeking High-End Clients