Photographers Field

I previously wrote about writing an artist bio. In this article I wanted to dive deeper into different instagram bio examples and go through them so you can see the differences and implement these tips in your own page.

If you’re still on your way in becoming a professional photographer, building the right kind of instagram bio is essential in building your business. Most of our clients use social media platforms to find photographers, and instagram is a great tool for that.

As you perfect your Instagram bio and expect new clients to work with, decide on what you will charge for your work.

Unless you’re an established photographer like Amber Asaly (just love her funky character!), you might want to add something more to your profile, to signal your audience on what topics you work with.

I will go through couple of different profiles, and analyze the content.

1. Fashion Photographer | Osma Harvilahti

Osma has a tranquil style of photographing. Lately his works have been fashion-based, but he also has published photography books with his personal projects.

This profile tells everything you need to know, from location to his profession. It’s easy to spot where he is involved in and his audience can contact him instantly. Using emojis to emphasize his style, he adds playfulness to his profile.

2. Contemporary Photographer | Alex Avgud

Alex is a contemporary photographer, working with black and white images. His work is about the male body where he reconstructs the male stereotype.

It is obvious looking at his profile that the work he does is mostly shown in galleries and publications. You can see his location in his profile, with added information on the latest exhibitions – so his audience can easily know where to see his work.

He has also added the prizes he has won, which further informs the audience of the direction this photographer is headed. Adding your website is a must, people can then find the work equally; unless like on instagram where it’s all chronological and might leave some great work in the shadows.

3. Art Photographer combining commercial work | Emma Sarpaniemi

Emma has a distinct style of photographing and is known for her colorful and funky images. In her case, she might not be presenting her commercial work nor informing her location – probably to let possible future clients contact her without letting the location distract them from the collaboration.

Emma has added her involvement in the collective, and emphasized her quirky nature with a personalized sentence – which translates right into her body of work.

I also wanted to show you some instagram bio examples that might not communicate clearly who the person is or what is their expertise.

Note that this can also be a conscious decision to have a ‘faceless’ profile where you’re not focusing on finding clients but just there to freely express yourself through imagery.

Bios with little info

So it’s possible to write literally anything on your instagram bio, but we have gone trough the helpful information, depending on your goals for your bio and the audience you’re trying to reach.

Here the artist has written his name, but nothing else is visible and no assumptions on their skills can be made.

This is also a common thing you might see when viewing artist bios on instagram; because of the misconception of commercial and contemporary photography being so far apart from each other, many artists decide to go against a clear bio that might convert into new clients. Some might think that this might affect their credibility as artists.

Unless your body of work is clear enough or you have made a name for yourself, having an empty bio can also just result in your audience not being sure who you are and what would they gain if they’d decided to follow you.

Another vague bio example and instead of the previous one – this one has a clear image of the artist. Which will help people find them, when searching for information on an artist.

Your image does not have to be a clear headshot, more likely an image that translates your interests and connects you to your work as an artist / photographer.

So what should you add to your instagram bio?

Anything you want essentially.

But when starting out as a photographer, you might want to clarify your way of working to your audience. You can see exquisite bios on wedding photographers profiles, but this is mostly to do with the saturation of the field, and the need to stand out with a clear profile.

What you can add

How can you summarize all these points within the 150 words Instagram allows for artist bios?

• Your full name
• What kind of photography you do (people easily mistaken photographers to only work with a specific groups of clients)
• Contact information | an email address rather than phone number
• Website
• Ongoing exhibitions and dates so people can see immediately the information
• Location
• Links to articles or platforms selling your work or publications

If your photography is tightly connected to your character, you can add other interesting information to communicate your personality.

In the third line of your artist Instagram bio, point out exactly what you want your audience to do. It could be an encouragement to purchase your work, read a particular post, or connect more.

Here’s something worth noting: Instagram allows you to attach one external link in your bio. A great call to action is to point your profile viewers to click on such links.

For instance, you can encourage viewers to click a link to view your online art store or point them to your website.

Your name on your social media platforms should obviously be easy to find and clear to connect to you when typing it to the search field. Here you can see an example of a bio where the name is not as clear, but how it is then clarified in the actual bio itself.

If wanting to simplify the bio, adding links to a photo agency or other organization will then lead your audience further to discover more detailed information.

And let’s face it; in our time many people are also craving for genuine connections and not always looking for to make a huge name of themselves. Some might just view social media as such – a place to spend some time and log out.

If you want to have more inspiring instagram bio ideas for your own bio, you’ll want to check out this freebie I’ve made.

Now just go and write your bio!

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