This text isn’t simply one other swipe at fluffy branding. It’s about constructing an genuine pictures model that truly feels plausible to potential shoppers. It’s about tone of voice, copy that works, and figuring out the distinction between being actual and being repeatable.
I’m speaking about one of the apparent “hiding in plain sight” issues in pictures: all of us hold utilizing the identical phrases to explain ourselves. You’ve seen it. “I’m genuine.” “A real strategy to timeless imagery.” “Telling your story by the lens of connection.” It’s in every single place—bios, captions, web sites—all claiming to seize “genuine moments” with “genuine emotion” for “genuine folks.”
However right here’s the factor: if everybody’s saying the identical factor, how is anybody supposed to inform us aside?
“Genuine” Doesn’t Imply Something If Everybody’s Utilizing It
The issue with buzzwords isn’t that they’re evil. It’s that they’re lazy. Phrases like “genuine,” “timeless,” and “pure” get thrown round a lot that they’ve turn into verbal wallpaper— invisible, forgettable, and fully interchangeable. You would possibly as properly inform shoppers you’re providing “good pictures of good folks being good.”
Don’t get me mistaken, I perceive the intention, and hell, I’ve been responsible of it too. You’re making an attempt to precise that your work feels sincere and unscripted, that you just care about actual emotion and pure moments. However that message will get misplaced within the noise when it’s delivered in the very same language each different photographer is utilizing.
What begins as a heartfelt description of your strategy rapidly turns right into a carbon copy of each different About web page in your market. And when your web site reads like a template, your model identification flatlines. That is the place tone of voice turns into a deal breaker. You could possibly be essentially the most technically gifted photographer in your area, but when your copy is indistinguishable from everybody else’s, shoppers received’t bear in mind you lengthy sufficient to e-book.
What Purchasers Truly Need (And Why Copy Issues Extra Than You Suppose)
Most potential shoppers aren’t pondering when it comes to “model tone” or “copy technique.” They’re simply scrolling by a dozen tabs, making an attempt to determine which photographer will get them. They’re on the lookout for clues—in your pictures, sure, but in addition in your phrases, your tone, your captions, your About web page.
That’s the place so many photographers blow it.
You say you’re “real.” However do you truly sound like an individual? Do your captions sound such as you’re speaking to a buddy or such as you’re submitting a university essay? Does your web site copy sound such as you, or like one other Canva template holding a hostage?
In case your writing doesn’t match the vitality, character, or emotional tone of your pictures, you’re sending combined indicators. That disconnect makes folks hesitate, and hesitation kills conversions. Take into consideration the final time you clicked away from an internet site as a result of one thing simply felt… off. That very same intestine feeling is what your potential shoppers get when your model voice doesn’t match your work.
Having an genuine pictures model isn’t about what you say—it’s about how constantly and convincingly you say it.
Ditch the Fluff, Write Like You Speak
When you’re prepared to scrub up your copy, begin by stripping out something you wouldn’t say in actual life. Which means dumping the buzzwords, deflating the hype, and embracing some actual human language.
Let’s check out some frequent offenders and the way to rewrite them:
“Capturing timeless, genuine moments with coronary heart.”
This could possibly be a greeting card, a marriage photographer, or the beginning of a meditation app. It’s poetic, however fully generic.
“I assist {couples} really feel like themselves in entrance of the digital camera so their pictures don’t really feel like another person’s Pinterest board.”That’s direct. That’s particular. That’s voice.
“Your love story is exclusive. Let me inform it.”
That is technically superb. But it surely’s additionally everybody’s Instagram caption.“No two love tales are the identical, so why do all of the pictures look an identical? I’m right here to repair that.”Growth. That tells us one thing.
Your tone of voice is a part of your visible model whether or not you prefer it or not. When you shoot with vitality, your copy ought to have vitality. When you shoot with precision, your phrases ought to be simply as sharp. Consistency builds belief, not simply in how your work appears to be like, however in how your model feels.
You don’t have to sound intelligent. That you must sound clear. Write like somebody who is aware of their craft and isn’t afraid to talk plainly about it. Or higher but, write like somebody who’d be enjoyable to take a seat throughout from at a pre-shoot espresso assembly. As a result of that’s what your copy actually is: it’s the beginning of that dialog.
Your Bio Isn’t (Simply) About You, It’s About Belief
One of many quickest methods to face out in a crowded market? Cease treating your bio like a private memoir. Nobody must know whenever you picked up your first digital camera or that you just “fell in love with pictures at a younger age.” You and 900,000 different folks. Transfer on.
Your bio isn’t about your backstory. It’s about constructing belief and relatability. Purchasers need to know what it’s prefer to work with you—the way you see the world, what you worth, the way you present up. And so they need to hear it in your voice, not some bizarre third-person model of you that solely emerges throughout web site edits.
Right here’s filter: After writing your bio, learn it out loud. When you really feel even a bit of bit like a device studying it, rewrite it. Your model voice ought to make you are feeling snug, not self-conscious. That’s the candy spot, and the one approach to sound like somebody shoppers can join with.
So What Ought to You Write As an alternative?
Right here’s the half the place I inform you to be sincere, clear, and constant. However I’m going to do one higher and offer you some precise, helpful steerage, not simply obscure recommendation:
Select three to 5 adjectives that truly describe your work. Not fashionable ones. Not phrases from another person’s web site. Yours.
Learn your web site copy out loud. Edit something that feels off.
Cease explaining your gear and begin explaining your course of—the way you truly work.
Write one new Instagram caption this week in your actual voice, not your “photographer voice.”
You don’t must turn into a full-blown copywriter. You simply have to sound like your self, and never the 37 different photographers that somebody’s evaluating you to.
When your copy and your pictures inform the identical story, folks hear. When your tone of voice helps your visible model, folks bear in mind you. That’s an genuine pictures model. Not since you stated the phrase “genuine” 12 instances, however as a result of it felt actual from the second they landed in your web page.
You Don’t Want Louder Phrases, You Want More true Ones
Ultimately, your model isn’t simply how your work appears to be like. It’s how your small business speaks. If you wish to construct one thing sustainable, one thing shoppers join with and bear in mind, your voice has to work simply as onerous as your visuals.
So skip the buzzwords. Skip the jargon. Skip the poetry about “capturing mild.” Say what you imply. Sound like your self. And for the love of all issues Canon and caffeine, please cease utilizing the phrase “genuine” until you’ve obtained the copy to again it up.
