Pictures, Pictures, Pictures...Please?

If you're in the design industry you know that having photos of your work is probably one of the single most important steps you can take to growing your business. You can be an awesome designer but if you don't have photos of your work, there's no way to prove it. A lot of designers just starting out tend to overlook or minimize the importance of photography in interior design. They are so excited about the project, they forget to include clauses in their contracts that stipulate the necessity of having the project photographed or they get caught up in another project and forget to take pictures. I consider my projects to occur in three phases Design, Demolition, and Delivery, with Delivery being the most exciting as well as the longest of the three phases. During the Delivery phase, the project begins to come together to create the big picture. This phase can take the most time because of all the little painstaking details required to make the project perfect, i.e. touching up paint, moldings, any gilt or plaster work, detailed tilings or mosaics, etc. Sometimes you find that you are not able to take pictures as soon as the last laborer finishes and that you may have to wait for the homeowner to move back in, i.e. take art, family heirlooms, etc out of storage or maybe the family has really moved out of the home during this time due to the extensive nature of the project or maybe the designer's services were retained before the homeowner ever moved in, whatever the case may be, it is these such circumstances that cause designer's to often times neglect to take pictures of their work. Over the years, I've developed the habit of taking pictures throughout the process and using them as a "Before" and "After" pictorial. I've found that doing so lends credibility when trying to establish yourself in this industry. If a prospective client can see that you've turned something from "this to that", it gives them confidence that you should be able to handle their job just as well. Starting out you may not be able to hire an Interior Photographer to shoot your projects as their fees can be upwards of a couple thousand dollars but taking the pictures yourself can serve you just as well. Try to take pictures that are artistic in nature, a close up of a wall sconce, a stack of books piled on a side table, a throw draped casually over a chair. Sometimes it may be hard to get a good picture of a room without the proper lighting or extra staging elements. In these instances, focus on the decorative details. You want to be able to show your scope of work but even the smallest projects give you credibility and add another stone to your foundation.

#interiordesign #photography