Business + Marketing


How Pro Wedding and Portrait Photographers Are Posting to Instagram

June 12, 2017

By Compiled by Libby Peterson

Photos © Jennifer Moher and Shelley Hartman

Five wedding and portrait photographers share the ways they use Instagram to cater to their varying audiences.

Photos © Jennifer Moher

Playing Around

“My goal with Instagram is to be able to show that I am more than just a wedding photographer. By showing my family and my creative life as well as wedding images mixed in, I am able to show potential clients more of who I am as an individual. Showing more than just weddings also gives me the freedom to be more creative in what I am sharing. In terms of the cohesion and the minimalist theme throughout my account, I became very inspired by the simplicity and beauty I was seeing in specific photos and have been creating an entire account based on that. It happened without me really even realizing it—I just started seeing a pattern in what I was posting and what I was drawn to, and that just happened to be minimalism. The photos are mostly just for Instagram—it’s like my own little creative playground!” —@jennifermoher

Photos © Ben Sasso

Tips Abound

“I only share my actual work in my feed—I save the behind-the-scenes and more personal stuff for my Instagram Stories. Instagram has turned into a place of engagement and education for me. Since I’ve leaned toward the education side of the industry, my following is largely made up of photographers looking for tips, thoughts and inspiration. I try my best to open up the comments section as a place for education because the whole thing would start to feel pretty empty to me if it wasn’t able to be an outlet for growth, both for me and my followers.” —@bensasso

Photos © Hartman Outdoor Photography

All In One

“Showing off my travels, hikes and what I love on Instagram alongside weddings has helped me connect with other like-minded people. This has been a huge way of getting destination weddings. I also think it’s more interesting to see bits of my story and personal life on Instagram, rather than just the photos I take when I’m ‘working.’ It’s really important to connect with my couples, and if they feel like they know me before even meeting me, that makes things a million times easier.” —@hartmanoutdoorphotography

Photos © Caroline Briggs/The Twins

Dual Identities

“Potential clients often pigeon-hole wedding photographers, which is why I was keen to separate my weddings from my commercial and editorial work. My personal Instagram features some of my professional digital and film work, alongside iPhone shots of my day-to-day life. It’s eclectic, relaxed and reflects my life and personality as much as my photographic work. For weddings, I want to show a variety of our (my and my sister Kelly’s) best work on our Instagram page to attract the right clients and give a consistent body of work. We have a very particular style, and a random snap of my coffee cup would be too jarring and off-topic. I prefer to carefully curate and present a cohesive portfolio that works for our brand.”
@carolinebriggsphoto @thetwinsweddings

© Sidney Bensimon

Separate And Equal

“Honestly, I just started a separate account for my wedding work because I made a separate site for it as well. Since I shoot lifestyle and food photography and just a few weddings a year, I decided to treat it as two different businesses. I feel like clients that want to see wedding photos just want to see wedding photos.” —@sjbweddings/@sidneybensimon

Related: How to Convert Instagram Followers into Dollars

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