PDN - May 2012

Crossover Hits
Catherine hall

When Catherine Hall began shooting weddings, she wanted to reach a higher-end clientele and charge rates at the top end of the wedding photography spectrum. But she says people working in the industry told her repeatedly that she had to work exclusively in wedding photography to reach those clients. “People want to hire a specialist at that rate,” she was told.

She didn’t buy it. “I would way rather have a bride who is intrigued by [the fact that I shoot personal, editorial
and commercial work] and hires me because of that versus a bride who doesn’t hire me because I don’t only shoot
weddings.”
Now, Hall shoots only 12 weddings per year and spends the rest of her time shooting personal projects, teach-
ing seminars and workshops, and working on commissions for commercial and editorial clients. Hall also co-hosts
a Web TV show on photography each week, which is produced by TWi T.tv.

Brides are happy to learn that she shoots editorial work, Hall says. “I’m interested in [the bride] knowing that
I don’t only shoot weddings—I do a lot of different things, I think that’s a unique selling point.” At present, how-
ever, she rarely volunteers the fact that she shoots weddings to non-wedding clients. “There are definitely a lot
of [mixed] opinions about wedding photographers, so if I was looking for editorial work I wouldn’t exactly throw
out my wedding site.”
There are a few situations where she might tell a potential editorial or commercial client about her wedding
experience. “If it was a commercial job that involved shooting a couple, then I would feel like it was relevant to
share, and I don’t think it would hurt me.”
It certainly did not hurt her with her most lucrative commercial client to date: John Deere. During a wedding, Hall
was approached by a John Deere executive in attendance who was “smitten with the way that I interacted [with the
wedding party and guests],” she recalls. After meeting with the company, Hall was hired to shoot a campaign that
involved showing real people using John Deere products. She has continued to work with the company.

Hall has developed editorial clients by diligently making targeted submissions to editors, so they develop a familiarity with her name and the mostly portrait-based work she does. “It’s a matter of resources and time,” she says of the process of getting her work out. Her images have appeared in National Geographic Traveler and The

Schneider_XSPR_PDN 1-2p_mf_Layout 1 3/2/12 8: 24 AM Page 1

S-PR

New
premium
MRC Nano
coating!

Revolutionary B+W XS-PRO Digital Filters feature
extra-slim mounting rings, especially suited to
DSLRs with wide-angle and zoom lenses. The
super-thin design prevents vignetting in even
the widest shots. Plus, convenient front threads
facilitate mounting of additional filters, screw-on
shades & lens covers. Available in UV, Clear and
now Kaesemann Circular Polarizer.