It may come as a surprise to you that I am now no longer offering family portrait sessions. However, there is a good reason behind it, which I will explain below.

Niche: ‘denoting or relating to products, services, or interests that appeal to a small, specialized section of the population.’

Although I have been photographing since 2011, I’ve only fairly recently re-launched and ‘advertised’ my services. I realised photography is my true passion, and that I just needed to jump into the deep end and go for it. It’s been great and i’ve really enjoyed it, I’ve received lots of support and interest, but not as much as I would have hoped. I didn’t quite understand why at first – I was offering so many services, surely I should be doing so many different types of projects & shoots?

In my spare time, i’ve been doing photographs to help build up my portfolio. I’ve been working with a local make up artist (shoutout to Abbie Pochin Makeup) and taking lots of shots to help both of us. I realised that despite the fact I could practice whichever area of photography I wanted, I still kept returning to fashion and commercial, I find them so much more enjoyable, and seemed to come out with better results.

I recently did a pregnancy shoot with a friend, and although the shots were great and my friend loved them, I didn’t feel a buzz with the photos. I didn’t feel as though I was creative enough, or pushing my boundaries enough. I’d been listening to Olivia Bossert’s (a fashion photographer in cornwall) podcasts a lot lately, and she was talking about her experience in the photography industry, and spoke about how in the beginning she too tried to offer everything from weddings to family portraits etc, but found it didnt feed her passion. It was at that point, I realised I needed to change my thinking.

I love the creativity behind commercial & fashion photography, I enjoy the challenge, improving with every shot, it’s where my true interests lay but also I believe my best work. So in order to become better, and do what I truely enjoy and believe in, I am going to niche down, and only advertise & aim for commercial & fashion photography. It’s still a fairly broad area, as it covers anything from make up & beauty to cafe’s to fashion shots, (and who knows maybe I will niche even more in the future) but for now, this is my new focus.

I’m planning to fit in as many photoshoots as I can until we return to New Zealand, so if you are interested in collaborating, or know someone who is, get in touch! Also follow along on my facebook page, it’s where I post my latest shots & updates. (www.facebook.com/harrietcarterphotography) Thanks for reading!

Harriet 🙂