I have often called myself a Jack of all Trades.  Somehow that sounds like a negative thing, but is it?  I usually can do a lot of things…crafts, photography, cooking, etc.  Now am I perfect at all these things…probably not.  But is that a bad thing or a good thing?

When it comes to photography is it better to be a Jack of all Trades or a Specialist?

When I first began in photography, it was all about photographing whatever came my way.  I would photograph babies, children, families, brides, seniors and anything else that came my way.  It was all about building a portfolio, getting my name out there and getting jobs!  But I was all over the place, and truthfully, I was photographing things that I didn’t enjoy photographing.  But being the Jack of all Trades that I am, I thought I had to just take what I could get.

Then I figured out that by shooting everything I learned a very valuable lesson…I learned what I love and what I don’t.  And not loving something is ok!!

We are all making our own way in this business and each of us has a very unique set of skills.  That is what makes having your own photography business great!  You can truly design it around YOU!  There is no right or wrong way.  Some things work for some and not for others.  Specializing for some is perfect and for others being a Jack of all Trades works great!

So how do you determine what you love?  Well go back to the third paragraph, shoot a little of everything and determine what you are passionate about and what you are not.  You will never know until you try it and in the beginning practicing is extremely important.  So rather than looking at shooting everything as a negative, look at it as a positive, as a learning tool to help you on your journey to building your business.  Whether that is specialized or not!

Don’t be afraid to look inward and really ask yourself the question, “do I like this?” or “am I good at this?”  I know that I am not good at newborn photography.  It stresses me out and I just feel bad when the baby cries.  It also takes a long time and I just know I don’t have the kind of patience needed for the job.  I am hyper, energetic and frankly a bit loud.  So newborns really just don’t fit in with that and I don’t feel myself when I have to calm down and be quiet.  But don’t think I didn’t force myself for a long time to try to fit that mold.  But after realizing that my work was suffering because I was forcing myself to do something I didn’t love, I realized that I didn’t have to continue.  There was no set-in-stone rule that said I had to photograph newborns to be a successful photographer.

The trend right now is to specialize in just seniors.  But those that do specialize in seniors, got there by shooting a little of everything and determining that seniors was where their passion was and then they built their business around that.  It was not a “wake-up-one-day-and-decide-to-be-a-photographer-and-only-photograph-seniors” type of thing.

“I worked half my life to be an overnight success, and still it took me by surprise!”  Jessica Savitch

Specializing allows for you to concentrate on your passion.  It allows you to become an expert with time and allows all your attention to be on that one thing.  It allows all your thoughts, marketing and workflow to be dedicated to that one thing.

Specializing also takes time. Building a market of just one thing will require you to work extra hard to secure that part of the market and will narrow your chances of having a backup market to photograph when senior season is slow.

Being a Jack of all Trades type of photographer allows you to branch out, use your talent in new and exciting ways and secure more business because you can do several different things.

But that may mean photographing things you are not passionate about.  And that could result in your work not being up to its full potential.  It also allows for your attention to be spread thin over a bunch of different things.

A Combination

I decided that for my business, I would create a combination of a Jack of All Trades photographer and a Specialist.  I love seniors and that is truly my passion.  However, I also have tried and true family clients and I enjoy seeing these families over the years and watching them grow.  So I decided to specialize in two things…Seniors and Families.  This allows me the benefits of both types of photographer and still allows me to specialize in my passion.

I love combining the two and taking family photos of my seniors and their families!  It is the perfect thing for me and my business!

What is perfect for you?  Take some time and really explore these options.  Ask yourself the questions and look at your work.  Look at photos from past sessions and see which ones make your eyes light up.  Do you tend to like the same type of images?  Are they all of the same kind of subject?  Do you get stressed before certain types of sessions, happy before others?

Keep a journal for while and note your feelings.  That way you can really make an educated decision and build your business around YOU!!