Back in film days, I used to say that the darkroom and the kitchen were my two main places to express creative energy. While the darkroom's been traded for a high-powered editing workstation, the kitchen remains (much to the delight of my friends). One of the keys to successful cooking is mise en place, the notion of "everything in its place and ready to go". It is, after all, much easier to have your tools and ingredients close at hand (or know where they are) than to be running around trying to find the right bottle of wine when your steak is turning to rubber and your pan sauce is turning into carbonized mush.
Mise en place on location: one of our standard gear bags
Of course, we follow this principle on location: everything we bring has a place in one bag or another, and this lets us quickly get to the camera or lighting bit we need exactly when we need it--and know that it's all packed up when we leave. But mise en place also applies to YOU...before the shoot and after as well!
Before-Shoot Mise en Place
Just like cooking, photo shoots go better when things are prepared (or at least planned). This includes things like planning what your photos might be used for, the overall style of the space we're shooting, what we need to highlight, and so forth. It also extends to figuring out what if any staging and cleanup are necessary, and planning to either have it done or structure a shoot so we can work around places that need to be worked while we shoot. (It happens a lot!)
After-Shoot Mise en Place
When you have great photos available, all the rest of your marketing becomes easier.
Imagine this: you get an email from the publication you've been wanting to get your work into, asking for new projects...and you have a project that's just perfect for them. When you have great photos easily accessible, you're several steps closer to getting your work published because you're all ready to go--possibly even before your competitors!
Or, a tradeshow opportunity comes up, and you need to show off a big print of your most recent 'wow' project, and show recent work on your iPad. You'll have everything you need to make a big splash and impress your future clients.
Check Out Our Cookbook
Just like in the kitchen, it often helps to get tips, ideas, and best practices from others so you make tastier things faster and don't get burned. We've put together a new guide, 6 Steps to Distinctive Architectural Photos, to help you with that. It covers a lot of the things we've seen that make for smoother preparation and better photography that gives your marketing a boost.