You are, who you are online
Why brand trumps skill (kind of).
I recently wrote an article on ASMP’s Strictly Business blog called “Why a Strong Brand Online is Worth More Than Your Skill Set.” Of course, there has to be some kind of ability for photography and video production to call yourself a photographer/cinematographer, but I was surprised to learn that Nordstrom recently hired 11 Instagram celebrities to photograph what they call an instalog (a mix of Instagram and their catalog).
The end of professional photography!
I can already hear the lament: “This is the end of professional photography!” No. It’s not. Nordstrom did not shut down[nextpage title=”next page”]
their website, neither did they stop the presses of their catalog nor cease from mailing advertisements to their customers.
Professional photography is definitely shifting. But that’s not Nordstrom’s fault. Gone are the days where the photographer was the magician, who was the only person on set who knew when the shot was done. Everyone else found out after the film came back from the lab. No today, everyone crowds around the monitors on a shoot and sees the shots roll in. It seems so simple, anyone could do it.
So simple everyone can be a photographer!
Obviously, that’s not true. You still need to understand lighting, composition, color theory, production, etc., but you gotta agree it’s a lot easier for anyone to create a beautiful photograph with their iPhone than it was for your Grandfather with his Brownie.
So what’s the takeaway for us? Social Media is here to stay and creating an online brand for yourself is vital. Check out what I recommend to my fellow professional photographers on ASMP’s blog “Why a Strong Brand Online is Worth More Than Your Skill Set” and see if you agree.
11 Nordstrom photographers, who aren’t photographers (well most of them aren’t)
Here’s the list of the 11 Instagram shooters Nordstrom used to create these images. Surprisingly only 2 of the 11 were professional photographers, some were stylists, others bloggers; but they all are very active on Instagram in NYC with follower counts from the low 3,000 on the low end to over 1 million on the high end!
