Property Photography throughout Scotland

Firstly, I just wanted to drop in that I am eternally grateful to call photography my full time job. Something which quickly turned from a hobby into a burning passion, now allows me to generate an income. Almost everyday I have to pinch myself or say to myself..... This is my job now.

After 15 years as a Microbiologist serving the food and drink safety industry and then later the Pharmaceutical industry, this is certainly a massive change.

It was also, not a decision I took in haste or without many sleepless nights. It was both scary and daunting to walk away from a career in which I had climbed the ladder, gained so much knowledge and generally enjoyed. I just didn't feel alive inside when doing it. There was no passion there any longer. While I loved knowing the work I was doing was helping people, I just didn't have the fire in my belly about it.

So, what happened after I walked away? Well, I'm glad you asked. Read on and I'll do my best to explain my journey from the lab to photographer as best I can.

Why I shoot Properties

Having moved house myself fairy recently, I was swamped by a myriad of listings which had very poor images. The same rooms were completely different colours, making it hard to identify which room was what in the home. Further, there were often no floorplans attached so it was virtually imposiible to know how the rooms slotted together in the property. It's great having amazing pictures, at least you can identify the rooms and see the space, but without the floorplan, it can still be challenging seeing the whole puzzle.

So when I decided that this was what I wanted to do full time, I made a promise that I would make my photographs as true as possible to real life. No stupidly wide angles that make a box room look like a roomy double bedroom, or a galley kitchen look like it could host parties of twenty people. Instead, I like to show how spaces lead to each other while having the correct colours.

White walls and ceilings make a home look fresh and inviting, yellowed walls and ceilings can make it look old and aged. The trouble with white is it is easily influenced by many factors.

• White looks yellow under standard lamps and lighting
• White can look green under LED lights
• light from outside is often blue, especially those summer skies
• if you have a grass garden, light will bounce in and look green

A quick property photography question

Lets say you are about to sell your home. You are currently looking at which estate agent to market your property. You have narrowed it down to only two.

• Option 1 - ABC agents will come to you home and photograph it, do the required marketing material and charge you the home owner £695. A great deal right?
• Option 2 - XYZ agents will arrange to have a professional come and capture you marketing material but will charge you £1095. Seems steep?

Benefits for Estate Agents

I could write a very long piece here, listing in detail how every estate agent can do nothing but benefit from professional photography services. Instead I will summarise briefly how it could be great for your business.

• You're going to make more money, probably lots more money - Ok, so the cost of hiring a professional is more than going to the home yourself and doing a few pictures! Won't that lose me money instead? No! By hiring a property photographer, you will free up your time to be doing more of the things you already have no time for. By hiring a professional property photographer, you will showcase the home and make it appealing to a broader market, increasing the chance of a sale, increasing the offer so thus, increasing your commission. Or, if you are a fixed rate commission, by elevating your brand by always showing the best quality photographs, you will win more listings. You will become the agent that everyone wants to sell with. So you will make more fixed rate deals and thus make more money.
• you will elevate your brand and become the go to person for home sales in your area. People who are shopping for their next home, be it the next step on the ladder or their forever home, they look at listings for several days, weeks, months even. We are a very visual species. If people have landed on your website and see all these beautiful photographs of homes, they will be more inclined to want to sell with you. So their home can look like these beautiful pictures. They will see you regualrly posting up sold posts to your social networks and know you are great at marketing and selling properties.
• Additional services are great value add ons. While you have booked your photographer, you can also get them to draw you floorplans of the property, having a listing with an accurate floorplan shows potential buyers the layout of the home and the sizes of the rooms etc, to se if it will fit what they envision living in. How they could adapt or modify the space if required too. How about aerial photographs to show the property in an entirely new perspective? Both floorplans and aerial photography, according to rightmove have shown to significantly increase home sales. A 360 tour of the home can also be massively beneficial, allowing remote viewers an insight into the home if they have to travel larger distances. Tours can also help build that clearer picture of how each of the rooms sit off one another to give the home a flow.
• Great customer service. I'm always happy to make small ammendments if required, to chat over the phone or email or to answer any questions you may have. I always aim to reply swiftly to any communications and while in a clients home, I am always friendly and polite. I can help the homeowner prepare their home for photography by supplying a preparation guide a few days prior to the shoot and by moving small items once in the home.

Which property photographs would you like to market your home?

You are a property photographer

So, I've now been a full time photographer for several months. I am happy to report, that no day has filled me with dread or fear. I made every mistake there was to make when I first started. I'm also sure I'll make more along the way. But, I'm learning everyday, I believe I produce a high quality product which helps people and professionals sell their properties daily. I am fortunate enough to work with some of the leading brands and agents in Scotland and no two days are even remotely similar. I have made some excellent contacts in the industry through networking across my social channels, One of whom is a chap who has essentially a "Black book" for property photographers. A directory to aid in finding the best in area to market your property. See here.



Recently complete Property Photography in Scotland

Property Photography in Central Scotland

So to sum up, I've probably gone off on several tangents during this article!!

If you would like your property to spend less time on the market, attract more potential buyers and possibly achieve a higher price, you need a professional property photographer.

If you are an estate agent who covers Falkirk, West Lothian, Fife, Stirling or Perth ( I do cover all of Scotland on request) please do get in touch if you would like to win more listings, sell properties faster and elevate your brand by being associated with only professional grade marketing material.

I can be reached on

gavin@gavinduncanphotography.com

or

07852322642