Brinson+Banks (Kendrick Brinson and David Walter Banks) is a commercial photography team in L.A., represented by Stockland Martel. They met at college in a photojournalism class and fell in love with photography and storytelling at the same time in the same place. Before joining forces, they worked individually for the likes of TIME, The New York Times Magazine, Sports Illustrated and FADER for several years.

A photo duo can be, at its best, a well-oiled machine with twice the amount of eyes, hands and ideas, all efficiently flowing in sync, acting and reacting in perfect harmony to a greater end and with more means than its individual parts. At its worst, it can be two diametrically opposed forces, like two north poles of a magnet resisting cohesion and collaborative creativity. So goes the choice when two photographers decide to take that leap of faith, forsaking their own creative identities to build a new, unified one. Perhaps we paint a rather dramatic depiction of the decision to join forces, but that’s because we take it very seriously.

A personal project playing with floral backdrops and clothing, used in a promo piece. Photo © Brinson+Banks.

Before Getting Started, Ask Yourself…

Why do you want to team up in the first place? What do you have to offer as a pair, and why will that excite your clients?
We pride ourselves in creating a seamless entity that is greater than what we could achieve on our own. We have different eyes and different strengths that, together, integrate well.

What draws you together? Why do you think this partnership would work?
What first drew us together as a couple was our creative passions, so it’s fun to be able to create something together. Often on a shoot, his idea plus her idea builds on set, and it’s no longer his or hers; it’s ours. He decided to light it this way, and then she suggested we add a red gel, and then he asked the subject turn to the left and she suggested she flip her hair. One photo—double the creativity to get it.

What are your strengths or likes? What are your partner’s? What do you share in common?
Creatively, one is better at studio lighting and the other does all of the social media. For the most part, one is the phone answerer and the other is the email answerer. One is more drawn to graphic images and the other is more drawn to moments. A graphic, colorful moment is something we both seek out in our shoots.

Do your strengths complement your partner’s weaknesses?
This harkens back to what your individual roles are within the company, and how they add value to your client. Perhaps one of you runs the business end, allowing the other to fully realize their creative talent without distraction. You must define those roles between yourselves to be an effective team, and be able to translate those roles into terms that your clients will understand and appreciate.

How It Works For Us

Yes, we’re married and have been together for nearly ten years. This typically means that while out on a dinner date we’re brainstorming our next personal project, and when we’re on vacation we’re making each other stand in the nice light for a portrait, and when we’re with family, one of us might have to sneak off to build an invoice—but that’s okay, because we love what we do and we love doing it together.

We are both equal creatives with different eyes, but have aesthetics and an overall vision that sync up perfectly. We offer our clients twice the creative vision, often shooting from multiple angles on lifestyle shoots, delivering our clients twice the choices in the same amount of time. Often on commercial shoots, our client will come back and buy more images than originally contracted because we have two cameras and four eyes working a scene. While tethered in the studio, we trade off shooting while the other acts more as a director, working with the talent and conversing with the client.

In business, we share the load, each taking on tasks fitted to our strengths, streamlining the workload. To our clients this means more availability, responsiveness and quicker turnaround on important matters. Because we both ran our own individual businesses for years before teaming up, each of us knew how to do just about everything a professional photographer has to do on both the creative and business sides, so being able to now divide that labor is an asset. There are lots of tasks that aren’t so fun that we trade off on, like invoicing and accounting.

Looking Inward

If you are about to venture into such a pairing, you must truly know yourself and your partner—personally, creatively and professionally. Take a bit of time for self-reflection. Go camping, take a trip (or at least take the afternoon off), and turn off all your electronic devices

Ask yourself the following: Who are you as a creative and a businessperson? What is important to you? What type of images do you create, and more importantly, what type of work do you want to be producing? What are your goals? Where do you see yourself in five years? In ten years? And the crucial question: Do you work well with others? Is your work ego-driven? Can you share your camera and the workload? Can you share half the profit?

Now it’s time to ask why you want to do the impossible as an artist and leave your egos at the door. What do you stand to gain from this partnership? Is that gain enough to give away half your income, and the glory of the lone-wolf photographer?

We both worked as professional photographers individually for six years before we opted to share a credit. This partnership, like signing with a photo rep or moving in with a significant other, is a marriage (even if you aren’t married). You’re not just creating art together; you’re billing, going to meetings, creating a portfolio and gracing the cover of a magazine together.

From an advertising lifestyle shoot in the Mojave Desert outside Joshua Tree for Italian jeans brand Meltin’Pot. Photo © Brinson+Banks.

Facing Reality

Now sit down with the other half of your prospective whole and compare answers. If these core points don’t align, then save yourselves some heartache and energy and move on now. If, however, you’re aiming in the same direction, then start looking for your differences. If one of you wants to keep overhead low, while the counterpart wants to take out a loan and build a state-of-the-art studio in town, then you’ll start to find where your sticking points are going to be.

A bad pairing can mean not only damage to your career, setting you both back by years, but it could also mean the end of something much higher in value by imploding a relationship that clearly has meaning to you both.