Our most trusted collaborator, Martin Behrman, steps out from behind the camera this week as he’s the latest guest on our Connection Privée podcast. During their chat, Martin offers advice on how to stand out in your industry – and how standing out and maintaining a glowing reputation helps you get referrals while creating reasons for clients to mention you when speaking with others. Clem and Martin also talk about how networking actually brought them together for a lasting and fruitful working relationship.
Read Martin’s guest post below.
I recently checked my LinkedIn page and saw one of my friends had ‘liked’ my work anniversary. I clicked on the notification and saw it had been five years since I set up Behrman Photography. In that time I’ve worked with some incredible brands, from Fortnum & Mason to Nobu Restaurants, Bollinger Champagne to PIMMS – I’ve photographed and filmed food and drink across the UK.
It all started back in 2015. My first professional photography job was shooting the opening of a new restaurant in Southampton. It was Neighbourhood restaurant and I distinctly remember getting the train down from Waterloo and walking there to be briefed by the client and get my photography career off the ground.
Since then I’ve worked in Bath, Leeds, London & Manchester and even ended up in Elgin, Scotland to photograph the beautiful Glen Moray whisky distillery.
Right from the beginning I made a conscious choice to focus my photography on food and drink – and not only because those are two things I love. I had previously worked as an Event Manager for numerous high end brands including Louis Vuitton, Versace & Selfridges. I knew how to provide food and drink to the exacting standards they required and have transferred those standards to my food and drink clients now as a photographer. Indeed, it was through this work that I met a number of people who would go on to employ me for my photographic skills.
I’ve always been involved in film making and whilst running Behrman Photography have strived to offer clients film as well as photography. Most recently I shot and edited a video for the launch of Bollinger’s La Grande Année 2012 at St. John Restaurant in Smithfield. It was the last event I would attend before Covid took over the world and everything changed – and what an event it was; langoustine followed by guinea fowl pie paired with Bollinger’s classic champagne and rosé variety. There’s definitely some perks to the job.
Attracting clients isn’t easy, even when you have a good portfolio. I can count on 2 fingers the number of jobs that have come from someone unconnected to me. The truth is 99% of all the work I’ve done has been through contacts I’ve made and recommendations from people I’ve worked for. I think it’s important to put your stake in the ground, be clear about what you do and uphold high professional standards so that when someone you know or someone who knows someone you know (!) needs the service you provide, you are the person they think of.
I love what I do. I enjoy working with different brands, providing creative solutions for whatever photo or video requirements they have. I’m intrigued to see what I’ll have achieved when I click on that LinkedIn notification five years from now.
http://www.behrmanphotography.com/
@behrmanphotography
