Above I have a slide show running of what are my most successful images from a business perspective. I find it amusing that two of these images are so successful. To be sure I am happy about it. My point, is that it is impossible to predict what your clients will like. Thus, I’d suggest that within the broader area of your specialties, photograph everything. Some of my specialties include wildlife, aviation and historical artifacts. Thus, it is very useful to photograph everything that falls under these categories. I originally did this because as a wildlife/conservation photographer I thought it was important to tell the story of all the animals. Later, I discovered that there’s no predicting how an image will be used and thus business wise it makes sense to photograph tons of different things too (with some limiting on this to maintain your “branding”; we hear a lot today about the pitfalls of generalization in this business, keep this in mind.) Now, I wouldn’t recommend traveling across the country and spending tons of money to photograph some odd thing that you don’t feel would ever be used, but if you traveled to a location for a different reason and the opportunity presents itself for the other item, capitalize upon it.

By the way, if you didn’t guess it was the Dickcissel photo that I felt confident in its usefulness at the moment of the shutter release.