Trends I am noticing:

Social Media Thinning.
Photographers are becoming more selective in where and how they spend their time in social media. This is a good thing. Not every SM platform is right for you and what you do.Facebook may be find for consumer shooters, but for commercial it is pretty much a bust. Some photographers have built huge groups but watched those numbers tumble after FB’s recent algorithms that force paying for views. Not worth it at this point, I believe. Flickr is more and more irrelevant. Not sure why, but it simply is.If you want to blog, but have not started one at this point, I would suggest Tumblr. Absolutely the place to be for photographers. Whether you post an image only or an image and brief text or a set of images, the people who visit there are more infused with clients than FB and G+. In short, it is where to be seen.Instagram is very important as well. Especially for editorial and commercial shooters. Clients love Instagram… you should love places that get your work in front of prospective clients.

Vine may be a perfect platform for small, BTS videos and other random personality driven videos.

One of the most important, and often overlooked platform is Behance. Stories, sets, complete shoots, process… all work well on Behance for photographers. More clients there than on any other platform. Be there NOW.

Content Driven Websites.
Instead of the usual ‘here are my photos’ websites that photographers have used for over a decade or more, we are seeing content within and new frameworks to help inspire contacts.Vanessa Rees blogsite is a prime example.Yes, it is important to show the work, but it is becoming even more important to show the brand – the personality – and the depth of the photographers offering. Get more engagement by being more engaged.

Personal Brand.
More and more important as we find more and more platforms that need our attention to gain others attention. Without a strong personal brand, being remembered becomes more challenging. Just as rock stars, authors, actors and others in the public eye create branded personalities, so should photographers. it is absolutely important.

Behance. Be there.
Yes, it is so important I am mentioning it twice.

Wider variety of lighting.
No more “I only shoot ____ for my lighting”, photographers are expanding into all sorts of lighting choices for all sorts of images. The “natural light only” or “storbist” approach is feeling a bit thin. It is more important to use the right light for the vision you want than it is to adhere to some sort of ‘mantra’. The waning interest in compartmentalizing the production is a good thing, and there will be a stronger emphasis on the image than on the production.

One word:
Film. Yeah, it is an old technique, but it is a unique technique that is becoming very boutique in its approach and interest. I will not say you MUST shoot film, only that you consider some other forms of image making that can set you apart… (brand?).

Smaller, more targeted lists.
We pared down over the last decade, now we will see micro list marketing, where ultraniched workwill be marketed tomuch smaller groups of potential buyers.Let’s say you have a targeted list of 500 magazines. It may be time to narrow those lists to different approaches or images to be sent. 500 names is not a lot versus back in the 90’s when lists of 3500+ were normal. But the way that media works today may make it more important to separate out the different magazines into segments… and perhaps you end up with a list of 250, one of 150 and one that is only 100 names.Smaller, more agile and specifically focused marketing.

More geographical freedom.
Live where you want, work where ever the work takes you. Shoot globally and regionally. Mobility gives us more freedom. And where you live helps establish a bit of your ‘brand’ as well.

Gear will be less of a factor this year.
More emphasis on the images and creating work that sells will be the focus of much photographic press. Gear will always be a big draw for many photographers, but for those who are working toward creating a unique brand or vision it will take less and less gear to create the work they want. Technology is leading the way to less need for gear and more need for vision. I notice that so many more articles are featuring the work of photographers with hardly any mention of gear or technology.

Fees will begin to rise again. I see little signs of it here and there… and the need for excellence is finally beginningto be seen by the clients who NEED to know this stuff. With the focus on brand that is replacing a lot of traditional advertising there is more of an emphasis on photography and how visualsare being used in the marketing. This trend will continue throughout this year and the next and will end up affecting design and ad agencies as much as photographers and illustrators.Uniquely crafted imagery, with the ability to show the brand in ways that engage the public will replace the single page ‘Ad’ in periodicals. This will become a sea change. I believe it will be a sea change in the industry and could end up benefitting photographers more than we can see at this point.

For those of you who are simply struggling to stay up with all that is going on, pare down. Simplify and focus.

There are a lot of other trends out there that we should be looking at. Neil Patel has a list of marketing trends that will affect all of us. Spend a few minutes with his list and see what you think about the changing shape of marketing – especially online marketing.

Some cool books to consider: