All kinds of photography
In the last week, I’ve photographed headshots for a college, an event as a second photographer, plated food and drink, and creative portraits (as seen above).
This variety pushes back on the advice I’ve read or heard about the importance of niching down as you go further into your career. Honestly, I thought niching down was the only way forward. Become known for one thing and then keep going down that avenue.
That probably does work for many and is touted as a way to increase prices, avoid burnout and build brand recognition for your photography.
But, to become the best at one thing (or a narrower scope), it is essential to recognize that exploration can create opportunities.
Novelty vs. Variety
In Hidden Brain’s episode “Success 2.0: Getting to the Top and Staying There,” Shankar Vedantam speaks with Justin Berg, an assistant professor of Organizational Behavior at the Standford School of Business, about possible reasons some artists gain success and maintain it over time.
In the episode, Vedantam explains Berg’s research, which examines how early songs may influence later success:
But if there is useful information in the early careers of musicians, it's not enough to analyze the superstars. You have to analyze everyone so you can figure out what the superstars are doing differently. You have to study the vast majority of musicians who never have a hit, the smaller number who have a single hit, and the tiny minority who have sustained success. The only way to do this is by computing enormous amounts of information. Justin algorithmically dissected millions of songs by thousands of artists into a number of different sonic features from tempo to time signature. He wanted to see whether there were patterns common to musicians who had no hits, musicians who were one-hit wonders, and musicians who scored hit after hit after hit. He looked at two ideas, novelty and variety.
Novelty is how unique a song is compared to other songs across the industry at that time.
Variety is how different the song is compared to that artist’s portfolio of songs.
Berg explains that simply finding a novel sound and reusing that would be high in novelty but low in variety.
An increase in variety within a musician’s portfolio can be beneficial to have a better chance of having a hit in those early years. This variation creates more possibilities for a hit and widens the creative range of a musician.
Vedantam summarizes the research, “It makes logical sense. Trying new things decreases your odds of initial success. But trying lots of new things can increase your odds of initial success. If you throw many novel ideas at the wall, the likelihood that one of them will stick goes up.”
Everything is temporary
Even in “How to Find Your Photography Niche: You Don’t Have To Master It All” by Meredith Clark on the Digital Photography School website, there is a nod to the importance of trying different areas and how it can teach photographers new methods, “I’ve not been a master of every genre that I’ve tried, nor have I enjoyed them all, but I’ve learned something valuable in every case.”
In Clark’s conclusion, she makes an important point—everything is temporary, even your niche.
“Your niche in the photography world should grow, shrink, and evolve over time. Give yourself the freedom to identify the types of photography that you really enjoy, and forget the rest of it. You do not have to master it all.”
Explore. Test the waters. See what you can learn and then adjust.
Niches as channels
I am finding it helpful to think of niches as channels.
Since we cannot do everything, niches provide directionality for our work and an area to focus our attention. We can gain knowledge specific to a particular genre and then apply that to the other niches we operate within.
And, even though we are encouraged to niche down, this piece of advice from Dan Ginn’s article “Why It’s Not Important to Find Your Photography Niche” pushes back politely, “Just because the unwritten rule book tells you to do something, it doesn’t mean you’re wrong if you don’t.”
For other early career creatives, this time spent exploring niches is a sign of broadening knowledge and experience.
Niches can help us channel what we want to say and where we want to focus. However, if we are still uncertain about that (or it is changing), I say keep exploring the myriad of niches and be nicheless for a while.
Links:
Why Niching Down Is an Entrepreneur's Best Chance of Standing Out
Notes:
I just released my third zine! This one is focused on my spring travels to Italy! It is travel photography, but aiming to go beyond the post images! You can purchase a copy here.
You amaze me!!!