I’ve just started at a new co-working space in Brighton today, I’m hoping it’ll help productivity through winter and so far I’m actually way more focused, which bodes well!

When I’m at home though, I find it so hard to work past 4pm, I just wanna get snuggie on the sofa with the cat and read a book. Luckily I found a legit workaround that no one can argue with this week: I’ll get snuggie on the sofa with a business book. Nailed it! BULLETPROOF reasoning.

The first book I cracked open was called Do the Work. And even though I only got halfway through, I had a proper lightbulb moment.

The lightbulb moment came when the author said “Start at the end.”

Now, they’re talking about screenwriters, but I realised it totally applies to us as photographers.

How many times have you gone to post to Instagram and thought “why am I bothering, and what would I even have to say?!”

This little nugget takes the fretting, brain farts and imposter syndrome away.

So… Start at the end. Start by thinking about what you want your ideal client to learn and think. What do you want the outcome to be?

You want it to be: “wow not only are their photos great but they really know what they’re doing and I trust them to do a good job of my wedding day.”

So work back from that – how do you get that reaction? If you want to cheat, use my free Instagram ideas and captions generator.

Knowing this is the desired outcome really helps you decide what to post, what to say, and why the hell you’re even bothering.

Of course there are probably more lightbulbs awaiting me in the latter pages but Instagram came a-calling – I’d already had my epiphany, after all.

And, as I was scrolling, I came across a plant nursery company, you know one of those veg farms that does veg boxes? Well, their Instagram immediately proved to me why we need to write captions that gain trust, and not just drop a pretty picture.

They showed a photo of a leaf, and they told a story – a hook to get the reader interested – and showed their expertise (the fact that they know to go out at night and look for bugs) and their dedication (working through the night in the dark).

Why wouldn’t you choose them over another company when you feel like you know and trust them now?

And you can do that too! You know what the hell you’re doing, so you should share that with your followers.

Here’s a cheatsheet to get you started – it’s a free Instagram post idea generator for wedding photographers, complete with caption suggestions that show off your expertise.