Lisa's New Book / Running a Successful Photography Business / Keeping Clients Continued

To coincide with the launch of Lisa’s new book ‘Running a Successful Photography Business’, here is another extract from one of the chapters. Following on from Marianne Taylor’s helpful advice on retaining clients on the last post from Chapter 11: Keeping Clients, we bring you another extract and some invaluable insights from not only one of the other contributors, but one of their clients. Who can argue with that ?! Lisa includes ‘Going that extra mile' is a sure-fire way of getting repeat business '' If you go above and beyond what was expected of you, this will set you apart from your competitors and you will be remembered for it.''

Malcolm Snelgrove is a successful equestrian and adventure photographer and has this to say on the subject  ‘’I will always try and go that extra mile to capture the images that help portray what it is I am being commissioned for. And I will always take the time before a shoot to understand the client’s key needs and issues and what they are looking for the images to depict.’’ 

A lovely testimonial from one of his clients confirms this:

‘’I have worked as journalist for over 20 years, both here in the UK and in Australia. I can honestly say I don’t think I have come across a horse photographer who works harder to get the right picture than equestrian photographer Malcolm Snelgrove.

We were on a trail ride across the wilds of Dartmoor with Adventure Clydesdales. My brief was to write about the increase in popularity of these gentle giants. I expected Malcolm to take some pictures of us as we left the yard and then leap into his car and meet us at some high point on the moors. Not so. Malcolm followed us for well over two hours. This might have been relatively straightforward on a very ordinary horsey hack but with the Clydesdales it is quite a different prospect. With a Clydie it is more like orienteering. They are quite happy to tackle almost any terrain and for anyone on foot it takes quite a bit of determination to keep up.

At one point as my horse Ecco and I navigated the swollen Dart, I turned to see Malcolm waist high in the icy rushing waters in order to get the picture he wanted. Later someone suggested that “a galloping picture would be good”, so Malcolm immediately took himself off… to the top of the nearest hill. In fact the whole afternoon we struggled to shake him off at all. He’d also clearly studied the map very thoroughly because there were times when I thought we’d left him behind and he would pop up, clearly having taken a short cut. It was a great day and the most magical of rides. If you are looking for a horse photographer that literally goes the extra mile to capture the spirit of your experience then I cannot recommend Malcolm more highly.’’

Andrea Kuhn, Journalist

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© Malcolm Snelgrove

To read all the tips on how to keep clients and also everything else you need to know to run a successful photography business buy the book, available from Amazon, Bloomsbury, WHSmith, or Waterstones.