Lifestyle Photography—What Is It, Really?
Your Ideal Customer Avatar
In the video lesson, I mentioned developing in ICA, or Ideal Customer Avatar: an extreme version of the client or customer who is not only right for you, but that you most enjoy and want to work with.
It can be helpful in the beginning to imagine one real-life client you’d like to lock. When I first launched my commercial photography business, I designed my website, wrote my copy, and even honed my photographic style to appeal to the owners of a specific coffee bar in my area. This gave my brand a personality that lots of people were drawn to, not just the people who owned that place; but more importantly, it helped me get clear on the type of client I wanted to attract, from what their aesthetic and budget were to where they were located, their values, and their long-term goals that I could help them achieve through photography. It helped me narrow my focus about what I wanted to put out there to woo clients to me and what I didn’t. It contained my creativity and gave me direction, which is important.
Imagine the client or customer you most want to work with. Then play a “this or that” game and write down your answers, not for yourself, but for your ICA. For instance, “Urban or rural living?” or “Morning person or night owl?” or “Introvert or extrovert?” If you need help coming up with ideas, print this fun sheet and fill it out. The more exercises like this you can do, the clearer you will become on your ICA’s personality and what you’ve been creating photographically that’s not right for her, and what you can change moving forward.
Next, go through the images below and ask yourself everything you can tell about the lifestyle being portrayed in the image—whom it’s meant to attract and appeal to. I’ve included my own notes next to each, but try not to look at them until you’ve come to some clear ideas of your own!
AG Notes:
I think this image is intended to appeal to the person whose dream life at the moment is nomadic—perhaps traveling across the country in a chicly-renovated van, able to pick up at any moment and go to the Grand Canyon or a tiny, hip town in Oregon or Seattle and drink coffee at all the best local hotspots. The person who is drawn to this image is likely female, married in her younger twenties… I’d also guess both partners enjoy music (records) and photography (curating their life together for Instagram).
AG Notes:
I think this image is intended to attract women ages 25-40 who don’t like to be called “preppy” but truly are classically preppy—they shop at J. Crew and enjoy weekends on Cape Cod or on Nantucket beaches. Their dream life includes a semi-exotic wedding and when they think of Christmas shopping, the think of shopping at Sax 5th Avenue. They genuinely believe that life is better when you’re put together.
AG Notes:
I look at this image and think it’s supposed to appeal the Eat, Pray, Love crowd—women who would actually be totally okay putting everything they own on Craigslist, or at least subletting their furnished home to a stranger, so they could buy a one-way ticket to anywhere they don’t have cell service and can live in a hut and meditate until they are fully one with the universe. These are women who feel most free with their hair down and sandals on their feet, living a holistically healthy lifestyle and trying to spread positivity everywhere they go.
AG Notes:
I look at this image and immediately assume it’s for people who were raised with money, taught how to manage their money well enough to secure a mortgage by age 24 and have a regular housekeeper by age 30, and who have no issue following the latest upper-middle-class trends as set by Joanna Gaines and other influencers. People drawn to this image go to farmers’ markets because it’s something that brings them joy and makes them feel connected to the community.
AG Notes:
This image reminds me of some friends I have who make surfboards at one of the top handmade-surfboard shops in the country… and everyone who works there lives fully in the moment. They’re not vain about anything. They shop local because everything they do is local and salt-of-the-earth; they’re aware places like Walmart exist but it never occurs to them to go there. They drink craft beer and support local musicians and mind their own business and get up early to go surfing.
As you go through these lifestyle images, consider everything you’re able to “figure out” about the people who posted these images, just from what they included in their images. These clues are the things that tell people who come to their accounts, “I’m an interesting person for YOU to follow,” or, “I’m probably not the right fit.” You want to have this sort of impact in your own photos, whether you’re shooting for your own brand or for a client!
What have you learned in this lesson that you can apply to your own images? Feel free to drop a comment below! It might help some other students in the class!
Hello there! I’m your hostess, Alexis.
I’m the Original Subscription Photographer (& photo stylist) for creative professionals. I run my business in Portsmouth, NH. I’m super pumped to have you here!