Working with a creative director

Most brand shoots are organized by the brand's marketing lead, with the photographer handling the visual execution. That structure works well for shoots where the brand has a clear concept and an established visual language. It starts to break down when the shoot is meant to define a new visual direction rather than execute an existing one.

A creative director sits above the photographer in the workflow. Their job is to shape what the campaign is saying — what the concept is, what the imagery should feel like, who's in it, where it's shot, what the wardrobe palette is, what story holds the individual frames together. The photographer's job is to render that direction at the highest possible visual standard. Both roles are essential; conflating them is the most common reason a brand shoot falls flat.

When you definitely need a creative director: when the shoot is about establishing a new visual identity, rebranding, or pivoting an existing brand toward a new audience. The strategic decisions in those moments are too consequential to be made in real-time on set, and the photographer is genuinely not the right person to make them — that's not their training or their lane.

When you can probably skip one: a quarterly content refresh for an established brand with a clear, working visual language. The brand already knows what it looks like; the shoot is about producing more of that. The marketing lead and the photographer can navigate this directly.

The middle case, which is most brand shoots: you might benefit from creative direction, but you're not sure if it's worth the budget addition. The honest test is whether the brand's existing imagery already feels coherent enough to extend, or whether each new shoot feels like it's reinventing the brand. If it's the second, you need creative direction; if it's the first, you probably don't.

I take on creative direction for projects where the brand and I are aligned on the concept and where there's enough scope to do the strategic work justice — usually multi-day shoots, multi-channel deliverables, or quarterly retainer relationships. For single-shoot brand work I'm typically the photographer alongside the brand's existing team or external CD.

If you're not sure which structure is right for your project, that's a fine reason for an early discovery call. Half the time we'd do a single-photographer shoot; half the time we'd talk through whether bringing in creative direction (mine or someone else's) would meaningfully change the outcome. There's no universally right answer; there's just the answer that fits the work in front of you.