There’s a lot of advice in photography that says you should specialise.
Pick one thing. Own one niche. Become known for one type of work.
And I understand the argument.
If you photograph weddings, food, newborns, pets, property, products, sports, events, portraits and the occasional passport photo for your neighbour’s aunt, things can get messy.
Nobody knows what you really do.
Your website looks confused.
Your marketing becomes a drawer full of tangled cables.
So yes, focus matters.
But I also think photographers can take this too far.
Because there’s a difference between being unfocused and being versatile.
And I think versatility is underrated.
I’m a portrait photographer, but that isn’t the whole story
Most of my work now is built around people.
Portraits. Headshots. Personal branding. Actors. Musicians. Small business owners. Professionals who need to show up properly online. Events where people, atmosphere and human moments matter.
That’s my core.
If someone asks what I do, I’ll usually say I’m a portrait photographer.
But that doesn’t mean I only want to stand in a studio photographing faces against a plain background for the rest of my life.
I also photograph events.
I photograph local stories.
I photograph theatre rehearsals, community projects, business owners at work, press moments, wildlife, landscapes and the odd strange thing that catches my eye on a walk.
Some of that is paid work.
Some of it is personal.
All of it makes me better.
Different genres teach different skills
Street photography teaches you to react quickly.
Event photography teaches you to anticipate moments before they happen.
Portrait photography teaches you to slow down, direct people and build trust.
Wildlife photography teaches patience, timing and the importance of not making sudden movements like an excitable spaniel.
Landscape photography teaches you to notice light, weather, colour and composition.
Brand photography teaches you to think about purpose, message and usefulness.
These skills don’t live in separate boxes.
They overlap.
The quick reactions I’ve learned from event and street photography help when a portrait subject suddenly relaxes and gives me a real expression.
The patience I’ve learned from wildlife photography helps when someone needs a bit more time to settle in front of the camera.
The lighting skills from studio portraiture help when I’m photographing an event in a room that appears to have been designed entirely to punish photographers.
The storytelling skills from events help when I’m creating brand images for a business that needs more than one nice headshot.
Everything feeds everything else.
Being versatile helps clients too
A client doesn’t always need one type of photograph.
A small business owner might need a headshot, but also some working images, detail shots, website banners and behind-the-scenes content.
An actor might need clean headshots, but also something more editorial to show a different side of their personality.
A charity might need portraits, event coverage, volunteer images and photographs that tell the story of what they do.
A musician might need portraits, live performance shots and social media content.
If I only thought in one narrow way, I’d be less useful.
Because real projects are often messy.
They need a photographer who can adapt.
Someone who can make a strong portrait, then turn around and catch a candid moment.
Someone who can light a subject properly, but also work quickly when the best image happens in natural light on the way out of the building.
Someone who can plan, but also respond.
That’s where being a “jack of all trades” starts to look less like a weakness and more like a strength.
The old phrase is usually misquoted
We all know the phrase.
“Jack of all trades, master of none.”
It’s normally used as an insult.
A polite way of saying, “You’re spreading yourself too thin, mate.”
But the longer version is often given as:
“Jack of all trades, master of none, but oftentimes better than master of one.”
Whether or not that’s the original wording, I like the idea behind it.
Because mastery isn’t always about doing one thing forever.
Sometimes it’s about building a wide enough set of skills that you can handle whatever the job needs.
Especially in photography.
A brilliant photographer isn’t just someone who knows one lighting setup, one pose, one lens and one editing style.
A brilliant photographer can think.
They can adapt.
They can solve problems.
They can work with different people, in different places, under different levels of pressure, and still produce images that feel useful and honest.
Personal work keeps the commercial work alive
There’s another reason I think variety matters.
It keeps photography enjoyable.
Once photography becomes your job, it’s easy for everything to become linked to bookings, invoices, galleries, enquiries, delivery deadlines and whether you’ve remembered to charge your batteries.
That’s fine. It’s a business.
But if every photograph has to serve a client brief, something can get a bit stale.
Personal work helps avoid that.
Going out to photograph wildlife, landscapes, local events or strange little moments around the village reminds me why I picked up a camera in the first place.
There’s no pressure.
No brief.
No one asking when the gallery will be ready.
Just looking, noticing and making photographs.
That matters.
Because the energy I get from personal work often comes back into the professional work.
It keeps me curious.
And curiosity is essential.
Variety suits the way my brain works
I’ve never been someone who thrives on doing the exact same thing every day.
Some people do, and good luck to them. I’m slightly envious.
For me, variety helps.
It keeps me engaged. It keeps me learning. It stops the work becoming mechanical.
That doesn’t mean saying yes to everything.
I don’t photograph weddings.
I’m not trying to become a product photographer, property photographer, newborn photographer, food photographer and underwater basket-weaving photographer by next Tuesday.
There are clear boundaries around what I do.
But within the world of photographing people, places, stories and events, I like the range.
A studio portrait one day.
A theatre rehearsal the next.
A business branding session.
A charity event.
An actor’s headshot.
A musician in a field.
A press image.
A personal wildlife project.
That mix keeps the work alive.
Focus still matters
To be clear, I’m not arguing for total chaos.
Your clients need to understand what you do.
Your website needs to make sense.
Your marketing needs to point in a clear direction.
If someone lands on your homepage, they shouldn’t need a committee meeting to work out whether you photograph people, cakes, houses or labradors in Christmas jumpers.
Focus matters.
But focus doesn’t mean cutting off every creative interest that sits slightly outside your main offer.
It means knowing what your business is built around, while still allowing yourself enough space to grow.
For me, the focus is people.
Portraits, branding and events all sit naturally together because they’re about human connection.
They’re about trust, expression, atmosphere and story.
My other photography supports that.
It doesn’t distract from it.
The best photographers keep learning
Every shoot teaches you something.
Sometimes it’s technical.
Sometimes it’s creative.
Sometimes it’s a reminder not to put your light stand there because someone will definitely trip over it.
The more varied the work, the more lessons you collect.
You learn to think faster.
You learn to see better.
You learn what matters and what doesn’t.
You learn how people behave in front of a camera, which is often not how they behave two minutes before the camera comes out.
You learn to stay calm when plans change.
You learn to make something good from imperfect conditions.
That’s the real craft.
Not just mastering one narrow thing, but becoming better at seeing, listening, adapting and making decisions.
So yes, I’ll take versatility
I’m not trying to be all things to all people.
That way lies madness, and probably a very confusing price list.
But I’m happy being a photographer with range.
A portrait photographer who also photographs events.
A branding photographer who understands storytelling.
A people photographer who learns from wildlife, street, theatre, landscape and personal work.
A professional who still likes to play.
Because all of that makes the work stronger.
It makes me quicker, calmer, more observant and more useful to the people who book me.
So while specialism has its place, I don’t think photographers need to be boxed in too tightly.
Sometimes being a jack of all trades isn’t a weakness.
Sometimes it’s exactly what helps you become better at the work that matters most.
