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As part of my commercial photography training the arts institute at Bournemouth provides a wide variety of guest speakers that ranger from practicing photographers, agents, and all the way up to clients and picture editors. Today we where privileged to receive a talk from Marie-Louise Collards, a highly experienced picture editor for United Business Media, specializing in medical industry photography for Business to Business publications such as PULSE. What was interesting about the lecture was that it opened my eyes to the idea that commercial photography is an overarching discipline that is required in almost every industry imaginable, and that even something as seemingly mundane as medical press can provide both challenging and creative photographic opportunities; to take advantage of these opportunities you must be willing to think from your employers and consumers perspective.
Marie-Louise really drove home the point that she chooses images in order to increase her readership and thus attract more sponsors and advertisers. Thus the images must directly engage with the consumer, in this case medical professionals such as doctors, nurses and pharmacists. This is especially prevalent in the medical field given the high level of education and aesthetic commonalities shared by the vast majority of her readership. The medical images shown where designed specifically with the needs of a very specific audience, catering to the needs of this audience with a level of sophistication I had not previously considered. The images for the most part where not aesthetically groundbreaking but required painstaking care in construction, their vernacular consistency as visual documents being of core concern especially when illustrating new treatments or documenting patients conditions.
This intense need to satisfy an audience was both interesting and informative. I think it is very important to remember that as a commercial photographer you must satisfy the need of the client first and that this goal should be your primary concern rather than any aesthetic agenda you wish to pursue. Understanding the way your employer thinks and expects you to perform is key to achieving success in this regard. I must thank Marie-Louise for sharing this valuable insight. If you are interested in this subject head over to fellow photographer Tom Holes blog HERE for his overview of the talk.
Marie-Louise really drove home the point that she chooses images in order to increase her readership and thus attract more sponsors and advertisers. Thus the images must directly engage with the consumer, in this case medical professionals such as doctors, nurses and pharmacists. This is especially prevalent in the medical field given the high level of education and aesthetic commonalities shared by the vast majority of her readership. The medical images shown where designed specifically with the needs of a very specific audience, catering to the needs of this audience with a level of sophistication I had not previously considered. The images for the most part where not aesthetically groundbreaking but required painstaking care in construction, their vernacular consistency as visual documents being of core concern especially when illustrating new treatments or documenting patients conditions.
This intense need to satisfy an audience was both interesting and informative. I think it is very important to remember that as a commercial photographer you must satisfy the need of the client first and that this goal should be your primary concern rather than any aesthetic agenda you wish to pursue. Understanding the way your employer thinks and expects you to perform is key to achieving success in this regard. I must thank Marie-Louise for sharing this valuable insight. If you are interested in this subject head over to fellow photographer Tom Holes blog HERE for his overview of the talk.
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