Casey Templeton Photography

Recent photo interview with the good folks at Formula One Actions:
http://formulaoneactions.com/home/2011/11/30/one-on-one-with-casey-templeton/

If you happen to be one of the 21 people that read my blog, I apologize for my lack of blogging. I feel a responsibility to explain why I do not blog as often as I should.

My Niche

I think any successful photographer should find a niche. I’ve had the great opportunity the past few years to work with some of the largest corporations in the world and I am forever grateful. The work I’m doing though, is not for their advertisement campaigns, not what you see on their billboards or in magazine ads. My niche has been working on image libraries for these companies that are used in a wide variety of ways.  I am being asked to come alongside these companies and tell their stories. What an honor.  What this means is the majority of the work I’m doing has be kept off my website and off my blog (although I ALWAYS keep copyright of my images and videos).

Not a Gear Junkie

I use only the equipment I need to use to provide the best possible outcome for my clients.  I do not pay much attention to the latest gadgets and gear so I find I don’t talk about it much here like good bloggers should.

Not Enough Hours in the Day

I have been on the road 7 of the past 9 weeks. The weeks I am in town, I want/need to tend to my local clients.  Today is my first day in the office in nearly 2 months with nothing on my calendar.  All I want to do is go home and play with my daughter but I’m forcing myself to update the ol’ bloggy blog.  Some of the best photographers in the industry are also some of the best bloggers, I commend them for that, but I simply do not know how they do it.

New Ventures

I’m honored to be surrounded by extremely talented creatives and we have been able to join forces on a wide range of projects around the world in still, motion, editing and design. Stay tuned.

The masses seem to connect with America’s Pastime fairly well so lets talk about “being a photographer” in terms of baseball.  Anyone can own a baseball bat, even the very best baseball bat, but we know without a doubt that we can not hit a 95 mph fastball out of Yankee Stadium.  So why do so many people think if they own a fancy digital camera that they are automatically a  “professional photographer?”  It appears that putting a camera up to your eye can also make you blind to reality.

“Oh yeah, I’m a photographer too.” -2 of every 3 people you know

I am often asked if I get nervous about everyone now becoming “professional photographers.” The truth is, no.  The more bad photographers out there, the more we have a chance of sticking out in the crowd. Going back to putting it into terms we can relate with: if a beautiful woman is standing in a room alone, she is still a beautiful woman.  Fill that room with 100 other not very attractive women and that woman’s beauty stands out even more.

The accessibility of photography is possibly the most biggest contributor to the growth of the art. Yet, to allow photography to be a hobby is altogether different than claiming a professional status. I always want to make myself available to help starting photographers, developing their own personal vision from behind the lens. Personal photography is a gift, an attainable artistic tool that we should all use to document our lives in a beautiful remembrance.

Being a professional photographer and actually making a living at doing it, is so much more than owning the right equipment. This also applies to countless other professions.  Let us beat the dead horse here:

- Just because I own Photoshop, doesn’t mean I’m a designer.
- Just because I own a pen, doesn’t make me a writer.
- Just because I can turn on my Mac computer, doesn’t make me a web developer.

Feel free to leave your own or share your photos of pretty flowers and sunsets.

The most valuable service I can offer my clients is my personal vision.  I have a certain way of seeing the world so I focus on that, not on giving the client what I think the hot style is in the industry. I would always be a step behind if I was only chasing the transient industry fads.  Find your vision, trust your eye.

When I am approached by a possible client, I like to show images I feel would fit within their brand to see if our ideas for the brand are somewhat consistent.  If we work together, rather than providing them with only the one or two images they asked for, I like to provide a photo library of images where each image can work with the others to show an overall consistency, a fluid vision.  Beyond filling their immediate image needs, this hopefully gets their minds racing with greater ideas of how they can incorporate the images in various other campaigns.

Long term working relationships are formed when your vision is adopted by the client and it becomes their vision too.

One of my clients that I have this relationship with is here in Virginia, Bon Secours Health System and their agency, Free Agents Marketing.  We began working together in 2009 and although the work is nothing too exotic or uber-exciting, they believe in my vision for their photography and have given me the freedom to place it directly into their branding.  Brand-Vision Utopia!  Long term working relationships are formed when your vision is adopted by the client and it becomes their vision too.  This makes it harder to use multiple photographers because consistency is lost, and keeps you in business.

“The first time we met Casey, he talked about creating a library of images for us, which was something we, too, were hoping to achieve.  You can see how this image library he’s created helps us maintain consistency across the Bon Secours brand,” Suzanne Doran, Art Director at Free Agents Marketing. You can see some of the images from the Bon Secours photo library below.

Bringing your personal vision to a clients brand.