Most brand photographers look exactly the same. Same portfolios, same Instagram grids, same prices, same everything — which means clients have nothing left to judge them on except cost.
Marcus breaks down why this happens, why quietly copying the photographers you admire erases what makes you different, and the three questions that surface the one thing about you that no other commercial photographer can replicate.
If you’ve ever wondered why some photographers charge what they want while others get squeezed on price, this is where you start finding the answer.
00:01.21
Sam Hollis
hello Hello Marcus, how are you doing?
00:02.87
Marcus Ahmad
I am very well, Sam. How are you?
00:05.33
Sam Hollis
Very good, good to hear it, good to hear it. um And Marcus, more brand photography wisdom today, i understand.
00:11.10
Marcus Ahmad
is. It is, Sam. We’re on the brand photography trip today. um Yeah, and I want to talk to you about something that is one of the most important things that you can do for your photography business. And it’s got nothing to do with kit, lighting, and nothing to do with social media.
00:29.14
Marcus Ahmad
It’s about finding your edge. So I came across this phrase through yoga. And the moment I heard I thought, that is exactly what i want to talk about in the next context of branding photography.
00:42.94
Marcus Ahmad
But here’s the thing.
00:43.55
Sam Hollis
Sounds interesting.
00:44.57
Marcus Ahmad
Yeah, here’s the thing, Sam. Most branding photographers are invisible. Not because they’re bad photographers, not because they don’t work hard, but because they look exactly like everyone else.
00:57.14
Marcus Ahmad
With the same portfolios, Instagram feeds, they’ve got the same prices and services, the same everything. And when you look the same as everyone else, as you well know, Sam, the only thing a client can do is make a decision on price.
01:12.44
Marcus Ahmad
And that’s a race to the bottom, as we all know and we’ve discussed on this podcast.
01:16.59
Sam Hollis
Yeah, not where you want to go.
01:18.90
Marcus Ahmad
Exactly. So today i want to help you find the thing that makes you different. And then I want to talk about how you can use it. So let’s go. Yeah, let’s go.
01:29.44
Sam Hollis
So, Mark, I’m a bit with you’re stealing my job here, Marcus. Effectively, you seem to be kind of, you’re doing my job now. I don’t know what i’m going to do next week.
01:36.34
Marcus Ahmad
ah it’s Well, I’m just talking about myself here a bit, Sam, really, my own ah my main you know my own experiences. so um So first of all, let’s be clear about what I mean by your edge.
01:49.39
Marcus Ahmad
It’s not your style. Style is surface. so Style is the way your images look, the colour palette you favour, the way you use light and whether you shoot tight or wide. And for sure, style matters, but it’s not your edge.
02:05.27
Marcus Ahmad
Your edge runs deeper than that. Your edge is the combination of your background, your experience, and the way you think about a brief. It’s the thing you bring to a job that nobody else brings. And here’s the really important part.
02:22.58
Marcus Ahmad
Nobody else is you. So we’ve often heard this quoted in marketing, isn’t it, Sam? This all ties back that whole why idea as well. So every photographer in this market has a different history, different influences and training, different jobs they did before this one, different life experiences.
02:32.82
Sam Hollis
Yeah.
02:42.94
Marcus Ahmad
And all of that shapes the way you see, the way you work and the way you communicate with a client.
02:51.48
Sam Hollis
Interesting.
02:52.57
Marcus Ahmad
But the problem is, Sam, that most photographers never stop long enough to identify what this is. They’re too busy looking outward at the market, watching what everyone else is doing, adjusting, copying and following trends. you know I know this. I’ve been there. Your edge is not out there. It’s in here.
03:12.12
Marcus Ahmad
And I’m pointing to myself might at my chest here. Three people listening. And until you identify it, you’ll keep competing on the same terms as everyone else, which means you’ll keep losing on price.
03:26.92
Marcus Ahmad
Let’s give me…
03:26.94
Sam Hollis
Interesting. So I’ve now got about 300 questions, but I’m presuming you’re probably going to cover them. So I will keep quiet for now because I’m getting all, are’ now all, because this sounds really interesting, Marcus. So I’ll let you carry on because I think all my questions you may review.
03:40.06
Marcus Ahmad
Well, okay, let’s talk about it at the end. Let’s go through it at the end. But yeah, so i’m gonna what I’m going to do is I’ll give you some personal examples just to bring in context. So I came up through fashion and advertising photography, and that was my world for a long time. Campaigns, editorials, working with art directors and creative directors, understanding briefs, understanding what it means to sell something through an image.
04:07.61
Marcus Ahmad
Now, most branding photographers didn’t come through that background. Most came up through weddings or portraits or events. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But it does shape everything about how you approach a shoot.
04:20.34
Marcus Ahmad
And you know me, Sam. I’m always took the harking back to my fashion photography days. Because…
04:25.37
Sam Hollis
I would like to comment, Marcus.
04:26.71
Marcus Ahmad
ah So because fashion photography taught me how to make people look good, how to direct someone in front of a camera, how to find the angle, the light, the moment that flashes them and makes them feel like something.
04:41.53
Marcus Ahmad
Advertising photography also taught me how to sell, how to think about the end user of the image, the person who’s going to see it and make a decision based on it, how to make an image do a job.
04:55.45
Marcus Ahmad
And branding photography, when you really think about it, needs both of these things. It needs to make the person look good and it needs to sell what they do. So that is my edge.
05:08.09
Marcus Ahmad
Because I guarantee that everybody out there has one. You might just not have heard named it yet. So, yeah.
05:14.65
Sam Hollis
Yeah, and presumably, even if you’ve come up, maybe your experience is short in photography, but long elsewhere, that can also be your edge.
05:24.09
Marcus Ahmad
Yes.
05:24.23
Sam Hollis
And it will be very different to those who spent their time in photography.
05:27.42
Marcus Ahmad
Exactly, Sam. Everybody’s got something they can bring to the table. You know, maybe you spent years in the theatre before you picked up a camera. You understand light in a completely different way to someone who learnt it like me in a studio.
05:42.26
Marcus Ahmad
Maybe you worked in marketing or advertising before you became a photographer. And I know people like that. And I’m jealous of that because they understand what a client actually needs from an image in a way that most photographers don’t.
05:56.22
Sam Hollis
Yeah.
05:57.11
Marcus Ahmad
Yeah. Maybe you spent 10 years shooting weddings and you can read a room, direct a group and get a shoot in three seconds ah so i get a shot in three seconds flat.
06:07.74
Marcus Ahmad
That is a skill most studio photographers would study struggle to replicate. Whatever it is, it’s there. The question is whether you’ve identified it and whether you are using it.
06:24.31
Marcus Ahmad
So… Now, I want to talk about something that I think holds a lot of photographers back, and that’s copying, not plagiarism. I’m not talking about stealing somebody’s work. I’m talking about that slow, gradual shift up toward photographers you admire. And we’ve all been there. um And, you know, I still am, certainly. But you might find so you might find someone whose work you love. You study it.
06:50.81
Marcus Ahmad
You start to understand how they light, how they compose, how they edit. And slowly, without really meaning to, you start making images that look a bit like theirs.
07:01.62
Marcus Ahmad
And then you find someone else, and then you drift a little further. And before long, you’ve got a portfolio that’s a blur of influences, and none of it distinctly you.
07:13.14
Marcus Ahmad
So you can see where I’m going with this, Sam. You is mentioned a lot.
07:15.03
Sam Hollis
Yeah.
07:18.07
Marcus Ahmad
I understand why it happens. We all have photographers we admire. Looking at great work is how you develop your eye. That’s fine. That’s necessary. And I’ve just written a book about it, so you but I’ll no doubt be plugging that when it’s out on the market. But there’s a difference between being influenced and imitating.
07:36.28
Marcus Ahmad
A lot of photographers spend their entire career imitating without even realising it. Now, here’s the thing about imitation. Even if you do it brilliantly, you will always be second best at being someone else. You can only ever but be best at being you.
07:53.75
Marcus Ahmad
And the photographer…
07:54.18
Sam Hollis
Yeah.
07:54.71
Marcus Ahmad
Yeah. And the photographer…
07:55.69
Sam Hollis
Is this where personal projects can work?
07:56.35
Marcus Ahmad
Sorry. Sorry.
07:58.38
Sam Hollis
So like it almost, if you’re doing personal projects, you could then, although you’ve got your look, you could then presumably vary and go, right, going a project where I’m really going to copy this person, but then I’m going to kind of come back and look out what bits of it I want to bring into mind.
08:10.44
Sam Hollis
Well, it’s much more, if you’re saying you’re only doing commercial work, then your commercial work swinging. Well, if you’ve got your personal projects, they could move much more with the different people you’re looking at. And then you work out to bring that into your style.
08:21.46
Sam Hollis
Would that be a good way to look at it?
08:21.75
Marcus Ahmad
Yeah, look, first of all, yeah, definitely, Sam. And first of all, you know, behind every great photographer, there’s a personal project. um You know, it’s at the core of your why, really.
08:34.58
Marcus Ahmad
And this is, you know, this is ah a well-known thing, as you know, in marketing.
08:34.97
Sam Hollis
Yeah.
08:38.86
Marcus Ahmad
so the But the photographers who build genuinely strong businesses, the ones who attract good clients, good fees and get referrals, they’re the ones who have moved away from the crowd, not towards it.
08:52.31
Marcus Ahmad
So finding your edge means being willing to be distinctly yourself, even if it feels uncomfortable, even if it means some clients won’t get it.
08:52.40
Sam Hollis
Yeah.
09:01.50
Marcus Ahmad
The ones who do get it will be your best clients. So let me have a quick sip of water here.
09:11.00
Marcus Ahmad
So how do you actually do this? How do you find your edge? Well, I’ve got three questions I want you to sit with. Don’t rush them. Just think about them properly. The first question, what do your clients say about working with you that they probably wouldn’t say about another photographer?
09:27.99
Marcus Ahmad
Not what they say about your image, but what is the experience? What’s the process like? What it felt like to work with you? Because the way you work is as much a part of your edge as the images you produce.
09:41.30
Marcus Ahmad
Maybe clients always come and comment on how relaxed they feel in front of your camera. Maybe they talk about how prepared you are, how prepared you are, or how clearly you communicate, how easy you make the whole thing.
09:54.14
Marcus Ahmad
So that’s your edge. So right up there. The second question you might ask is, what do you instinctively do on a shoot that others have to consciously think about?
09:58.44
Sam Hollis
Yeah.
10:05.46
Marcus Ahmad
And there’s always going to be something, the way you use light, the way you direct a subject, the way you move around the space and find the shot, something you do without thinking that would take and another photographer much longer to work out.
10:21.17
Marcus Ahmad
that in Yeah.
10:21.75
Sam Hollis
How easy he is that to find? So the first one, you can obviously talk to people and that’s other people are helping.
10:23.19
Marcus Ahmad
Yeah. Yes. Yes.
10:26.64
Sam Hollis
That one, because you’re doing it instinctively, in some ways, how would you know that other photographers aren’t?
10:32.92
Marcus Ahmad
Well, I think where you this is not an easy thing to do, Sam. You’ve got to set time aside and really dig deep here.
10:37.22
Sam Hollis
Yeah.
10:40.54
Marcus Ahmad
Go through your process, be critical, do it with rigor, and that will help you find what your difference is. And there there is always a difference. And it might be something at first that might seem minor.
10:52.10
Marcus Ahmad
But when you start digging up deep on it, you’ll realize that’s your difference. That’s your edge.
10:57.50
Sam Hollis
yeah And in some ways, I guess, could food conversation with other photographers help? Because you’re saying, what do you do? And you’re comparing, and that way you can start to see where the differences are.
11:04.75
Marcus Ahmad
Yeah. Yeah, it’s an open market we live in. Communication is key. um So the third the third question and final question, what could you talk about? So so the third question is, because what could you talk about for an hour without preparing? Now, i would find it quite difficult because whatever this is, that that’s where your genuine knowledge lies.
11:28.59
Sam Hollis
Yeah.
11:28.63
Marcus Ahmad
lives and genuine knowledge is the foundation of genuine authority and authority is what attracts clients who are willing to pay properly they’ll pay for their expertise so as i said earlier as we said earlier sam sit with those three questions write the answers down because somewhere in those answers is your edge And once you know what your edge is, something interesting happens.
11:56.89
Marcus Ahmad
Everything sharpens. Your website copy stops being generic. and Instead of saying you’re a passionate photographer, we’ve read that a million times, haven’t we, Sam, about pages, and a passionate photographer who loves capturing authentic moments, which means nothing and sounds like everyone else, you can start saying something specific, something that only you could say, something that makes the right client think,
12:07.26
Sam Hollis
Yeah.
12:21.94
Marcus Ahmad
Yes, that’s exactly what I’m looking for. Your pricing starts to make sense because you’re not comparing yourself to other photographers like we, like yourself, and you’re not justifying your rate against someone who shoots the same subject that brings completely different experience to it. You’re pricing your edge.
12:42.15
Sam Hollis
Perfect. Well, as as you said, Marcus, the questions I had you covered.
12:46.62
Marcus Ahmad
Yeah, well, I mean, this how are we doing for time here? I’ve just sort of lost it.
12:49.40
Sam Hollis
Yeah, we’re still good on time.
12:50.84
Marcus Ahmad
Okay, let’s just go. I’ve just got a little bit more written down here, Sam, so I might just go to the end.
12:53.66
Sam Hollis
OK.
12:55.12
Marcus Ahmad
um So finding your edge requires a kind of honesty that can feel uncomfortable. And we do say that because it means accepting that you can’t be everything to everyone.
13:08.38
Marcus Ahmad
It means Sam.
13:08.75
Sam Hollis
Does it also mean almost exposing yourself not to? That’s the wrong way. You know I Exposing what you’re about, which can feel quite scary, can’t it?
13:17.34
Marcus Ahmad
Yeah, it’s being vulnerable, isn’t it? And…
13:19.36
Sam Hollis
Yeah.
13:19.42
Marcus Ahmad
um I think, you know, without listening to be too generic, I think guys find that hard to do that. And I think that’s why, you know, I see a lot of women, especially especially in branding photography, really, you know, doing really well with their marketing because they they’re more comfortable being vulnerable, dare I say.
13:39.88
Sam Hollis
Maybe, yeah.
13:40.47
Marcus Ahmad
And maybe, you know, because it feels like a risk. But it’s really, in reality, it’s exactly the opposite. The photographers who try to appeal to everyone end up meaning nothing to anyone.
13:53.02
Marcus Ahmad
The ones who are clear about the edge attract exactly the right people and exactly the right people become exactly the right clients. So find your edge.
14:06.15
Marcus Ahmad
It’s not your style. It’s not your kit. It’s not how many followers you have. It’s the combination of combination of everything you’ve lived. and learnt and done that makes you the photographer you are.
14:19.00
Marcus Ahmad
Nobody else has it. The question is whether you know it what it is and whether you’re using it. There you go.
14:26.16
Sam Hollis
Interesting.
14:26.21
Marcus Ahmad
That’s that’s one, the edge.
14:27.15
Sam Hollis
Yeah, interesting way of kind of thinking about it, finding that what makes what makes you you almost and how that yeah feeds into what you do as a photographer and makes you unique and enables you suddenly to elevate yourself of the mix.
14:42.39
Marcus Ahmad
Yeah. And as I say, it’s not an easy thing to find and it does take a bit of digging deep. But you need to separate yourself from the crowd, find your right market. You know, the whole why thing. This is part of it, isn’t it?
14:54.88
Sam Hollis
That’s it. And then, presumably, as a new photographer, effectively, you probably can’t do this yet. You need some experience behind you, don’t you?
15:02.20
Marcus Ahmad
Well, I was thinking that. I was just thinking that just then, fun enough, Sam. Yeah, it does take time to develop. You know, I mean, let’s you know let’s have a um let’s have a big up for the mature crowd out here.
15:15.15
Sam Hollis
I didn’t say had to have been doing it for that long. But you got you know you you have to have had some time, don’t you?
15:16.89
Marcus Ahmad
yeah
15:19.99
Sam Hollis
And and you will at the beginning. Like you said, you’ll look at some photographers and you’ll move their way, and look at us and move their way. And as time moves on, you you create your own style which has those influences but is your own.
15:30.49
Marcus Ahmad
Yeah, yes. i think I think, you know, maybe when you’re younger, um you’re more willing to experiment. And I think that’s how you can possibly find your edge.
15:41.46
Marcus Ahmad
You know, when I think of myself more when I was um starting off, I was probably more, you know, not too worrying about making mistakes and just getting on with it, really.
15:51.99
Sam Hollis
Yeah, that’s it. But presumably when you say younger, I i see that as younger getting in your photography career. You could be younger at photography at 70.
15:56.57
Marcus Ahmad
Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
15:58.99
Sam Hollis
You just picture a camera. It’s kind of your part of du wherever you are in that photography journey.
16:03.51
Marcus Ahmad
Yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah younger in your your career, in your journey, exactly. Yeah.
16:08.53
Sam Hollis
Perfect. OK, really interesting, Marcus. Thank you very much. Loads and loads of things for people to think about there. And I’ll speak to you again next week.
16:17.88
Marcus Ahmad
Thanks, Sam. See you next week.
