There are two types of professional photographer:

  • STANDARD. What you hire when you don’t need anything special. No surprises. No creativity. No personality. No extra effort. Just basic pictures that meet a standard of proficiency. This is probably your guy for school pictures, team photos, and some types of commercial imagery. Some people, of course, will hire this type of photographer for their wedding or portraiture. Interesting. If you need this type of service, you’ll probably want to make your decision based on price, or at the very least, dependability.
  • CREATIVE. Who you hire when you need something special and unique.  Keep in mind that unique means that no two creative photographers are going to provide the same type of creativity.  So you’ll want to make your decision based on the photographer’s individual style.

It’s important to understand which type of photographer you’re hiring. The standard photographer will provide standard images. This is exactly what might be required in certain situations.

The creative photographer will probably resist the typical shot, opting for interesting angles, expressions, story-telling composition, and insightful timing. Even with basic portraiture, the creative photographer tends to bring out a little more in his subjects than a painted smile.

If you hire one, and expect the other, you might be a little disappointed.