Being an advertising and editorial photographer and building a photo business in a small market isn’t just a good idea. According to those who work outside major markets like New York City and Los Angeles, it can also be a great way to build a clientele and enjoy a high quality of life. 

There are tens of thousands of working commercial and editorial photographers in the United States, many clustered in New York City and Los Angeles. That leaves myriad locations across the country with potential opportunities for photographers looking to start out small before moving to a major market, or who find working in a small market a perfect fit.

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“I’m always encouraging photographers to move to smaller markets. It’s a huge advantage,” says Ben Rasmussen, a magazine and advertising photographer based in Denver.

You can make a competitive edge out of being a regional photographer, Rasmussen says. He has shot jobs across the country for editors on the east and west coasts hoping to keep costs down. “It made sense for them to save $1,000 on a plane ticket,” he says. He adds that his location has also helped him gain access on stories, even when he is shooting a long way from Denver. “It’s easier to show up in rural North Dakota as somebody coming from Colorado than somebody coming from New York.”

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Those assignments have skyrocketed since the 2016 presidential election raised debate over whether an elitist media had overlooked or ignored the voices and views of middle America, he says. “People are investing a lot more resources into covering the non-coastal parts of the U.S.,” Rasmussen explains. “Before the election, I think people thought their audience was only people on the coasts. If they told any story that was more middle America, it would be something about poverty or it would be something about agriculture. Now they’re covering the rest of the country.”

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From Seattle, Kyle Johnson spent a decade working as a commercial and editorial photographer, doing assignments for editors in major markets. “They remember you more if you’re in a smaller market,” Johnson says. “There’s a million New York or L.A. people, but when you’re one of four or five they meet from Seattle, when something comes up, they think ‘oh yeah, that guy.’”

That means championing your region’s assets, says Greta Rybus. Based in Portland, Maine, she photographs native residents, the food, the sense of self-reliance and the connections to the land and sea. Her work has appeared in national publications such as The New York Times, Outside and Bon Appetit, and she has also shot for New England clients such as Down East and Maine Farmland Trust. “I don’t get tired of being on a fishing boat with people,” she says. “It’s something that l feel really protective of, people making a living close to nature.” 

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A small market is fertile ground for building the roots of a business that eventually branches out nationally, says Gia Goodrich, a beauty photographer who built her business in Portland, Oregon. She started out shooting fundraising galas for the city’s opera company and Institute for Contemporary Art, modeled after the images of celebrities that photographer Mark Seliger shoots on Oscar night for Vanity Fair.  

“I thought, okay, if I can really become known here, I know a lot of people have connections in L.A. and New York,” she said. “It really is about who you know.” She also shared her work to art directors and art buyers, sending emails and promos and attending the Fotoworks portfolio review in New York. “In a couple of years, it really built my visibility,” she says. Local production company Revery hired her to shoot a social media campaign for Adidas, and she has shot for CNN, Tech Insider and Huffington Post. 

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In small markets, it can be easier to be visible. Photographer Ian Crucio lives in Greenville, South Carolina, where the population is less than 70,000.
He says he is mindful that even a trip to the grocery store can mean bumping into clients. “So I’m going to be a bit presentable. I could not show up in my slippers and my pajamas, and I’m going to be ready to have a conversation right away.” 

Curcio believes every encounter can lead to future work. A graphic designer friend once recommended Curcio to a client who hired him to shoot 300 corporate headshots over five days. He continued shooting the company’s events, which is how he met an event planner who told him about another corporate client. Curcio got in touch to say he would love to photograph the company’s sales incentive and customer recruitment trips, and he has since worked with them many times. In addition to counting on word-of-mouth and networking, Curcio also markets his work regularly and consistently. “I rely on the network I’ve built over the past ten years for sure. I’ve also built a very curated list of potential clients within a 150-mile radius that I actively reach out to in a variety of ways all through the year, every year.”

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“It’s being a people person and being a person people can rely on,” says Thomas Ingersoll, a Phoenix-based photographer. “That’s definitely a talent that you really have to develop and cultivate.” Ingersoll has spent several years cultivating his local client base, building repeat business and now is tackling work further afield. 

By email, he introduced himself and set up meetings with agencies and businesses before a recent 10-day visit to New York shopping himself and his work. He notes, “The disadvantage is living in a smaller market you definitely can be pigeonholed and not taken as seriously when you’re trying to pitch to a bigger market like L.A. or New York.”

“When I go to New York, editors are a little more able to make time for me than for someone who lives there.”

— Greta Rybus

Rybus also makes a point of visiting large markets regularly from Maine. “When I go to New York, editors are a little more able to make time for me than for someone who lives there. It can help you meet with people to be visiting from far away.”

With a limited pool of local clients, photographers in small markets say they find themselves shooting some less-than-ideal jobs out of necessity, but that work has plenty to teach them. Bread-and-butter wedding photography hones communication skills and on-the-spot trouble shooting, while local real estate promotions might call for a range of shooting skills from building exteriors and landscapes to portraits and sporting events.

“You’re going to do jobs that aren’t a total slam dunk, North Star, 100 percent match for you,” says Rybus. “You learn from them, and they keep you afloat long enough to be able to do more of the work that you really love over time.”

But beware of letting the small jobs define the scope or quality of your work.

Curcio, for example, shoots lifestyle and portrait images for corporations, magazines and advertising clients. “Who’s to say what I do couldn’t make it in a bigger market?” he says. “I made a conscious choice to stay in a smaller market. Would it sound cooler to say I shoot celebrities in New York City all the time? I used to have a complex about that,” he says. After building a clientele over ten years of freelancing, he says. “I’m no longer embarrassed to say that I work in a smaller market.”

In Denver, Rasmussen and other photographers set up Pattern, a shared workspace, gallery and photobook library, to support and encourage local photographers to think big. Thinking small is a big mistake, he says. His advice: “Have one foot in your world and one foot in the larger photo world.”

“Have one foot in your world and one foot in the larger photo world.”

— Ben Rasmussen

The close local ties to a smaller market left Johnson feeling uninspired doing tech and corporate shoots in Seattle. He moved to New York City in late 2019 to focus on portraits, lifestyle and travel work.

“It’s a glass ceiling a bit in a smaller market. That’s finally what made me just move,” he says. Nevertheless, he says small-market photography is a great start. “You cut your teeth, and it makes you understand the industry more. Learning how to survive in a smaller market that isn’t always as busy prepares you for the ups and downs.”

Working in small markets “are some of the best photographers I know,” says Sarah Rice, a documentary and editorial photographer San Francisco before moving to Portland, Maine. “I really like the work-life balance of a smaller market. Now I just feel like I have a lot more of a life. I still work really hard, but I get to enjoy things a little bit more.”