Professional Photographers Embrace USB Flash Drives
Today there are an estimated 50,000 professional photographers in the UK. Its popularity as a subject means that colleges and universities are turning out thousands of budding new professional photography students every year to add to this already high number.
Couple this with falling prices of professional photography equipment, the flexibility that digital photography now offers and an amazing array of software designed to allow the enthusiastic amateur to turn out near professional looking results and you get a picture of a crowded market and a profession that is understandably concerned about its future.
Professional photographers with years of experience and qualifications behind them are being undercut by new entrants who see photography as an easy way to earn a “bit of cash on the side”. After all the barriers to entry are a considered by many to be little more than the ability to point and shoot a decent digital camera and print off the best results.
What is often misunderstood is that whilst the ability to take a good photo is important, professional photography is also about running a business and this includes a whole gamut of skills from advertising, marketing, cash-flow management, customer relationship management and time management to name just a few.
Experience is also a fundamental requirement and it’s not something you can buy over the counter or order online. Experience ensures that the “once in a lifetime” moments (weddings, birthdays, christenings, engagements etc.) are captured properly and clients are happy with the end results.
On the marketing and delivery side of the business more and more professional photographers are turning to USB flash drives to supply the finished photographs to their clients. In the past digital copies of the portfolio shot for a client might have been sent on a CD or DVD but these are increasingly seen as “old hat” and not a particularly attractive way to present the portfolio.
USB flash drives on the other hand offer an exciting, professional and innovative way to present a portfolio of photographs. The flash drive(s) can be supplied in a wide range of shapes, designs and styles and they can be printed up with the photographers logo, website address and phone number. Some photographers using Flash Drives already have commissioned printed gift boxes to go with the drives to add a real professional touch!
It’s little touches like this that will help to differentiate a professional photographer that invests in his business from a new start-up that might just be looking at photography as a way of earning a “few quid on the side”.