We recently connected with Benjamin Norton and have shared our conversation below.

Benjamin, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about how you got your first non-friend, non-family client. Paint the picture for us so we can feel the same excitement you felt on that day.

The decision to relocate my business from London to the United States in 2015 meant starting from scratch after several successful years. After settling in, I began reaching out to potential clients via email, but received no responses. I understood that architects frequently receive cold emails, so after a few days, I decided to try a different approach to get noticed.

I spent a week assembling a physical portfolio and loading images onto an iPad. Armed with a list of potential client addresses, I began knocking on doors in downtown Nashville. It was surprising how many people were willing to spare five minutes to see me. You’ll be surprised how many people will make 5 mins of time to see you and if you’re engaging and have a good body of work, that 5 mins turns into 20 with coffee and a future client. I had my first shoot booked within a day and it just snowballed.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I got into the photographic industry completely by accident when I moved to London. I had built a darkroom in my flat and was photographing live bands every evening after working in dull office jobs in the day time and looking for full time work. One day I got a call from an agency that had found my resume online asking how interested I was in photography as it was only mentioned as a hobby. The guy asked if he could rewrite my cv to give my photographic skills more of a flourish and put me forward for a job in the industry and a week later I was working for Nikon.

From there I moved around London expanding my technical knowledge of camera systems into technical cameras and supporting photographers like Dennis Gilbert, Edmund Sumner, Richard Bryant and Peter Cook whos work really led me down the architecture path. I invested in a Cambo WDS and a Leaf digital back and that was my pathway off and running.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Being able to make a living by doing something that is a passion of mine is still a ridiculous concept in my mind. I can’t go on holiday without taking my camera and basing my trips on what there is to shoot in the area whilst my wife heads to the beach. The only part of my day that feels like work is carting my camera bag around.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I worked full time in the camera industry for about ten years before I went solo. I used this time to buy my gear in bits and pieces so that I was ready to assist and shoot as soon as I had decided to go it alone. It worked well as I managed to avoid going into any debt and start on the good foot

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.benjamin-norton.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benjaminnorton/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminnortonphotography/

Image Credits

All images © Benjamin Norton Photography LLC