Boring Summer

My raison d’etre of being a dedicated prestige property photography specialist seems to have been put on hold at the moment, with my supply of top-end jobs having been totally cut off at the base for the time being. My workload is almost exclusively restricted to higher volumes of basic properties in my local area - which is good for a work/life balance, but isn’t the most exciting prospect moving forwards. The feelgood factor of turning up at a £2m mansion has all but disappeared from my day, being replaced by various 2 bedroomed, empty ex-council houses with the faint smell of chip-pan fat in the air and neighbours who have tyres in their garden. Slight exaggeration, but you know what I mean.

The multi-branch estate agent I used to freelance for has now employed two in-house full timers - shooting everything from offices to mansions using “gun and run” techniques to save money presumably. It looks like they’re moving away from prestige to mass-market stuff. The proposed job of shooting high volumes of luxury property for them has all but disappeared, and my associated revenue has dropped by 80% compared to last year. Looks like my longstanding relationship is diminishing somewhat. Never mind.

I think I’m going to let the summer take it’s course so I can enjoy a bit of leisure time after a gruelling 20 years, and then begin to reach out to select clients in the autumn - markets which seem to value high-end, well produced imagery that I’m known for. I love shooting the biggest properties, and I don’t intend to consign that side of my business to the history books just yet.