Documenting your business through photography allows you to captures images that build your success. This is extremely important for designers because our livelihood depends on creating a visual masterpiece that brings joy and comfort to individuals, while influencing partnerships and agreements between multi-million dollar corporations that depend on our designs to celebrate the completion of complex deals.

How do you know if your design work is getting better?
How do you remember which masterpiece was given to which client?
How do you capture an idea shown in a window, on a billboard, and at a meeting?

Unless you’re a sketch artist, there’s only one way: with a camera.

Visual stimulus is all around us, and that means a camera should be part of your mobile toolbox. It won’t sit in the same tray as ribbon, scissors, and curling ribbon that waits to fix a problem that happens on the way to a delivery.

A camera will be stationed by your side, waiting to photograph elements that can only be captured at a specific moment.

Here are six reasons to have a camera with you at all times:

Photograph the finished creation in your studio.
Capture the presentation of your design(s) at private homes and corporate buildings.
Take pictures of displays and ideas in places where picture taking is allowed.
Recall how items were stabilized in your vehicle.
Photograph a recipient’s joy to send to the client via Email or within your thank-you note by mail.
Document ideas for business building as you travel in other states.

I use a four-pixel digital camera and am trying to hold back from buying a higher-pixel model. My camera is compact enough for a small purse, and its performance is fantastic, but it’s very difficult not to want a new camera because of the low prices. Electronics retailers are selling six-pixel, name-brand camera for incredible deals well below the price paid years ago for my current model.

When making your initial purchase or upgrading to a new model, you also must budget for accessories:

Memory sticks
Camera case
Tripod, table top and floor models
Batteries

Some digital cameras also support various lenses, filters, and flash accessories, which are other expenses that should be considered an investment in your business’s future.

Digital options allow us to capture and immediately view our work. This immediacy is what people love about digital cameras. However, don’t overlook traditional film cameras. These cameras, available in permanent or temporary models, are found everywhere, and both work well at a moment’s notice.

If you still use a non-digital camera, photo developing centers will put your photos on disk, and they do the same with the one-use models generally associated with on-the-fly family travel photos.

Consider a camera to be your quiet friend that retains images to capture memories that build relationships and increase sales.

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