We were lucky to catch up with Kelly Settle recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kelly, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with what makes profitability in your industry a challenge – what would you say is the biggest challenge?
Running a profitable studio takes more than creating stunning imagery for clients. With the rise of affordable cameras, quality cell phones, stock image and AI, businesses often opt for cheaper DIY options. This requires photographers to be able to educate their clients regarding the importance of quality custom imagery that will make them stand out from their competition. Utilizing the knowledge and skill to create original high-end images is what they are paying for, not just a place holder photo. Knowing your gear, industry trades and your cost of doing business is essential to be profitable. Photography is a highly competitive and often undervalued industry. With the influx of less experienced photographers offering bargain rates. While they may offer lower rates to attract clients, this often results in subpar work that doesn’t meet the demands of high-level commercial photography. Unfortunately, many businesses prioritize cost over quality, only to realize later that cutting corners on professional imagery can harm their brand’s credibility and marketing effectiveness. On many occasions I have bid on projects only to be undercut by another photographer and the client will come back to me later and have me redo the work resulting in the client essentially paying double for a job that could have been done correctly in the first place.
The oversaturation of photographers, the use of stock photography and AI
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Ive been in business for 20 years. My studio is a 1,500 Square foot historic property located in Springboro Ohio pop 19,400. We are centrally located between Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus. I have a studio manager who is a 1099 employee working approximately 10-20 hours a week. I subcontract fellow photographers for overflow, assistants, art directors and video work.
My photography journey started in 2004 after spending a decade in social work, which ended when my facility closed due to funding. I borrowed my husband’s professional gear and started photographing friends and family, and before I knew it, I saw the potential to turn this hobby into a career. I took some classes at a local art center, joined photography groups, and attended conferences to connect with other photographers. In the beginning, I photographed everything—families, children, newborns, seniors, weddings, boudoir. I even took on a few commercial projects that caught my interest.
Something about that type of work really clicked for me. Maybe it’s the entrepreneur in me, or my love of combining art and marketing, but commercial photography just felt right to me. I love that every day, every client and every situation is unique. I have photographed in almost any situation you can think of from operating rooms to metal fabricators, to climbing up fire truck ladders, underground mines, a corn harvest in a combine, marijuana grow houses, a commercial pig farm, Big Ass Fans & Gorilla Glue, in helicopters on airplanes, from the smallest business locally to some of the largest companies globally. Its exciting to have a new challenge with each assignment and to have a hand in helping these companies thrive in their marketing plans.
About ten years ago, I decided to go all in. I shifted my focus entirely to commercial work and let go of the other types of photography I was doing. It was definitely intimidating to drop other revenue streams, but I knew that to truly succeed, I needed to be all in.
In my opinion commercial photography is more client centric than any other genre. You’re dealing with more than just one customer. You have marketing departments, designers, managers and CEO’s looking and critiquing your work. I looked for mentors and inspiration and began putting my clients needs first.
One of my early commercial clients, Esco Corporation, was a big leap—I photographed industrial equipment, which was both challenging and rewarding. Thanks to a mentor’s guidance, I gained confidence and secured multiple projects with them. That experience really solidified that I was on the right path. Industrial photography has become one of the key strengths in my portfolio.
From there I began working with a large local medical system some local universities and high-end architectural projects, which led to national publications, countless annual reports, monthly spotlights in House Trends Magazine, and features in PPA Magazine. I value and kept pursuing more education and mentorships that led me to reach out to commercial based photographers such as Joe Glyda, Randy VanDuinen for Architectural guidance and Dan McClanahan for inspiration and new techniques. These mentorships have helped me grow both in skill and confidence. I truly believe these type of relationships are a huge part of my success.
I received my masters degree from PPA and that success motivated me to try my hand at advertising creative competitions too. Over the past few years, I’ve won two Hermes awards, along with several silver and bronze awards and in 2023 was “short listed” for the photography annual edition of CA(Communication Arts). These wins have given me the confidence to know I belong in the advertising world and can stand shoulder-to- shoulder with top commercial photographers in large population areas.
I also focused heavily on the business side of things—joining networking groups, refining my online presence, and moving into a new studio space. These steps helped me understand my clients better and operate with a business-owner mindset.
Now, I’m proud to call myself a successful commercial photography studio owner and photographer, and I absolutely love what I do.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
Mentorship! I wish I would have taken the time to really think about what I wanted my business to look like in 5, 10, 20 years and found people in those positions and reached out to them. It took me 8 years to realize that I needed more than just a yearly conference or 2 to really become successful. I pivoted into commercial photography after 9 years of portrait and I wish I would have done it sooner. I utilized Professional Photographers of America to locate some commercial photographers, contacted them and took a few smaller workshops. I met my mentor in one of these workshops.
Have you ever had to pivot?
For 8 years I was strictly focused on taking portraits of high school seniors; families with small children; and weddings big or small. In the big boom of digital, when everyone was getting their hands on a camera, it seemed there was a “professional” portrait photographer on every corner. I knew I needed to focus my skill on a specific niche. I wanted a real, vital business that I could make a living doing.
Equipped with that realization, I started to explore commercial photography. I love the advertising world and working with businesses to create imagery to sell their product & services really appealed to me. I set out to align myself with people that could expand my knowledge and expertise in this area. One creative friend in particular opened doors for me that led to some of my first commercial projects, a large medical management system and Miami University. I also tapped into some architectural projects with another friend that landed me my first byline in a national publication. I was hooked!
I knew I needed to also focus on the business of photography as well as the technical side. I joined a BNI networking group, which was a great experience for speaking in front of a group, making new contacts, and creating new referrals. I also kept my online presence polished and professional. I stopped working out of my home, took the next step, and moved into a studio space. This growth also helps me greater understand my clients’ needs from the perspective of a business owner.
One of my oldest commercial clients is Premier Health, a medical network of five hospitals and two major health centers in Dayton that initially hired me here and there for little filler projects – like staff headshots. But as I grew in my commercial abilities, so did our relationship and their trust in my process. This was apparent in their approach to their current University of Dayton Arena campaign, which went like this:
“This is our concept, this is what we want to achieve. We trust your artistic skills to create imagery to bring our vision to life.”
By giving me creative license, the Premier Health design team inspired the creation of these beautiful, enormous wall installations that grace the concourse of the University of Dayton Basketball Arena. We ended up using a combination of gels, glycerine, and atmosphere to sculpt our models with studio lighting. This kind of collaborative work with marketing agencies, art directors, and designers continue to inspire how I create impactful images for brands.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kellyannphotos.com
- Instagram: kellyannphotos
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KellyAnnSettle
- Linkedin: Kelly Ann Settle
