Episode 004 - The Ready Steady Pro Photography Podcast: To Specialise, or Generalise? That is the Question

5 Photographers coming together via Skype back in October 2013 to share their opinions on whether it's better to specialise in photography and choose one niche, or to generalise and shoot everything that comes your way. 

Episode 4 was the first time we had a guest from outside of the UK, as Mary Angelini from Chicago in the USA joined the conversation. Joining Mary as the other newcomer was Mr Jeff Hall from. Returning guests Lee Jones and Neil Graham made it 5 photographers in total to take on this topic.

Whilst some would say there is nothing wrong with wanting to shoot everything to gain maximum exposure, others may argue that specialising and shooting one niche is the best way to move your photography business (and skill set) forward. Then again what about the seasonality of some niche’s such as wedding photography? Should photographers shoot other things, say food, portraits or commercial, during the winter months to keep cash flow coming in? I’m really excited about this topic and am really looking forward to hearing the thoughts of my guests.

So be sure to take a listen to hear what my guests and I have to say on the topic.

This weeks Topics

To Specialise, or Generalise? That is the Question

Today’s Little Gems

• Jeff’s Gem for Episode 4 was Elliot Siegal’s book “Photographing Women: 1,000 poses”. A great read and of course, available on Kindle
• Lee Jones shared with us his new purchase – theWacom Bamboo Graphics Tablet that aids in precision and speed when it comes to post-processing
• Mary wanted to highlight the fantastic new video series from David DuChemin from Craft & Vision; “The Created Image Video Series Vol.1”
• Neil kindly shared the book ‘Tribes’ from Seth Goden – a very thought provoking read. Also available as an eBook through Amazon
• Michael wanted to share the very inspiring work by Brandon Stanton, who is known for the Humans Of New York body of work

Show Notes / Links

• Michael mentioned that Jerry Ghionis suggests Second Shooters shouldn’t be paid. Sign up to the ICE Society for free here to watch the web cast where Jerry says this
• ICE Society Affiliate Code
• The guys also gave a brief nod to the superb Cliff Mautner. Take a look at his work here
• Rob Grimes got a mention on today’s show. You can see his work here. I’m very pleased to say that Rob will be on Episode 4 in Late October too.

Guests featured in this Episode

• Michael Rammell
• Lee Jones
• Neil Graham
• Mary Angelini
• Jeff Hall