Creative Coaching: Nish Nalbandian’s Transition to New Markets

At Wonderful Machine, our Creative Coaching service is designed to help photographers at every stage of their careers, from newcomers to seasoned professionals. Last spring, I had the chance to work with Istanbul-based photographer Nish Nalbandian. He is an accomplished photojournalist with a long history covering conflict zones around the world. Nish reached out to us for help in branching out into the commercial and editorial markets, particularly in Istanbul and the surrounding region.

As a senior photo editor at Wonderful Machine, I often rely on my experience in editorial publishing to help photographers enhance the narrative quality in their portfolios. For someone with a background in photojournalism like Nish, storytelling was a natural part of his work.

Understanding the Photographer’s Needs

Nish wanted to pivot from his years of photojournalism and develop a portfolio and online presence that resonated more with commercial and editorial clients. However, he still wanted to stay true to the personal, documentary-driven work that defines his style.

My first step in the Creative Coaching process was to understand what kind of work Nish was most interested in and what he wanted to continue creating in the new market. To do this, we began by combing through his image archive to identify content that would be most relevant to his target audience. Through several meetings and shared image folders, I quickly recognized that Nish has a gift for portrait photography, with a painterly sense of light and composition. With this in mind, we decided to start by building a portrait gallery for Nish’s new website, which would serve as the landing page for his commercial portfolio.

Next, we moved on to other specialized galleries. One of the standout categories we created was a “Moto” motorsport gallery, showing Nish’s ability to capture fast-paced action, a skill he honed through years of photojournalism. Additionally, we built “Travel” and “Craft” galleries to show other areas of Nish’s expertise.

Building the Brand

Once the galleries were in place, we then turned our attention to the website’s bio page. The “About” section was crucial for contextualizing Nish’s background and how his experiences as a photojournalist inform his current approach to commercial photography.

This also relates to his “Books” page, along with the documentation of the Syrian refugee crisis in southern Turkey and the battle of Mosul alongside Iraqi Special Forces. While this work was not directly targeted at commercial clients, it was important to present it as part of Nish’s expression of his commitment to photography as a means of communication.

New Marketing Strategy

Creative Coaching usually starts with a focus on branding, where we examine all the ways the photographer presents themselves to their audience (including their website template, their website photo selection, their social media accounts, their email promos, and any printed promos if they have them). However, once we’ve had a chance to smooth out any rough edges on their promotional materials, we shift our focus towards marketing.

To better understand Nish’s target audience, we analyzed creative agency and publication websites within his area. We utilized the Wonderful Machine Client Directory, as well as some organic research on the local market in Istanbul, to develop a list of prospective clients to reach out to. This process allowed us to explore new prospects and from there we developed a basic marketing plan for Nish to use going forward. This plan included the beginnings of a client contact list and an email script to use when reaching out to these potential clients to introduce his new website.

Conclusion

I believe that Nish, being a consummate professional with broad experience as a photographer, was now well-prepared to take the next step and transition into this new market! With his new website and customized marketing strategy in place, he was ready to introduce himself to commercial and editorial clients in Istanbul and beyond with confidence as we concluded our work together.

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Further Reading
Case Studies: Creative Coaching
Expert Advice: Marketing Misconceptions
Specialty: Portraiture Photography

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