Don't be hasty

The other day, I had a visual storytelling strategy call with a client who I’ve also captured photos for in the past. 

While sifting through his library, I remembered one photo taken during one of his presentations that I wanted him to use as online content. 

It was an iconic audience reaction photo with rows of people celebrating, smiling, arms up, the whole thing - everything a speaker could ever want in an audience reaction photo. 

The energy was infectious - so infectious, in fact, that the facilitator whose event that my client presented for has used this photo in countless marketing materials.

But when we searched for that photo in his visual storytelling library, it was nowhere to be found.

The reason?

When the original link to the album was shared with him, he cherry-picked certain images that he thought were “good enough” and passed on the rest. 

Here’s why that’s a MAJOR mistake. 

When sent a link from your photographer or event contact, step one is to NOT look through the photos - it’s to click the link, download EVERYTHING on your end, and say thank you. Period.

Don’t sit there and knee-jerk react to every photo you thumb through and pass on photos in that folder because, ultimately, you’re cutting potential future creative options off at the knees. 

Here’s why:

While in the moment, you might feel that that photo has no use for you today, you’re not a clairvoyant who knows the types of visual assets you will need in 3, 6, or 12 months from now. If you skip downloading it, you’ll never have the chance to use that photo in the future. 

“But I don’t like the way I look in that photo - I’ll never use it.”

Not necessarily. 

The way you feel about yourself today MIGHT NOT be the way you feel about yourself in the future. Therefore, if you have a photo that bothers you for one reason or another now could become a valuable ball in play down the line to use for a variety of marketing and promotional purposes. 

Long story short - STOP snap-judging the pictures and START getting into the habit of downloading everything that is sent your way. 

Your future self - and team - will thank you for it.