Photographer Resume: Sample & Writing Guide [10 Steps]

Most of us can take photos by ourselves daily. For important or momentous occasions, however, people would usually prefer to employ the service of a professional photographer for their technical skills and creativity to achieve better results.

Most photographers tend to specialize in one particular area, and their responsibilities usually include:

• Editing and retouching pictures taken
• Choosing and setting up backgrounds and locations
• Communicating and working closely with clients for the best-desired results

No matter the type of photographer CV you’re looking to build – may it be a wedding photographer resume, a real estate photographer resume, or a freelance photography resume – a firm grasp of the anatomy of a resume can make the process a lot easier for you.

Your photographer resume format will affect the flow and readability of your resume, so you should pick one that will not only highlight your strengths and benefit your background, but also one that would flow naturally. For this, there are three choices to choose from:

A professional photography CV should cover the most basic information required by recruiters.

In this section, you

✅ Must include your most basic personal and contact details:

• Full name
• Email address
• Phone number

💡 May include other details such as:

• Address
• LinkedIn URL
• Personal website

❌ Avoid including unnecessary details:

• Sexual orientation
• Religion or belief
• Marital status and dependency
• Expected/current salary

Your photographer resume title will tell recruiters who you are. It’s essentially a summary of your photographer CV.

The main purpose is to give recruiters a snapshot of who you are as a candidate. It also serves as an attention-grabber, so you want to make sure that your resume title showcases your relevant achievements and strengths. 

The purpose of a professional photographer resume statement or a photographer resume summary is to elaborate further on your resume title.

In this section, you will want to describe yourself, your previous experience, and the relevant skills you possess. Remember to keep it short, ideally, a sentence or two is enough for a photographer resume summary.

It is also important to note that a resume summary is different from a photographer resume objective.

A resume objective which focuses more on your career goals and aspirations as a photographer. Thus, it is more useful for a beginner photographer writing a resume with little to no experience in the photography.

A photographer’s job requires a wide array of specific skillsets and abilities.

There are four ways you can showcase your photography skills in the resume: simple bullet lists, expanded bullet list, integrating skills with work experience, and categorized skills section.

No matter the format you decide to settle on, it is important to highlight your soft skills and hard skills.

The experience section of your photographer CV is extremely important because it tells recruiters and potential clients of your skills, qualifications, and work ethics. A professional photographer resume experience section should contain:

• (Previous) organizations or employers names
• State of the organizations
• Titles you previously held
• Employment period
• Brief description of your responsibilities and achievements (if applicable)

Remember to tailor your previous photographer job descriptions in your resume to exclude irrelevant ones. Quantifying the results of your achievements in your resume can make them seem more apparent and convincing. Lastly, use action verbs to provide more information for recruiters to paint a clearer picture of you.

A lot of photography jobs can be completed even if you only possess a self-taught photographer resume.

However, in many instances, clients and employers would still like to see your educational qualification as it is definitive proof of your skills. In this section, you should list your:

Your experience level will affect how you should position your educational section.

For example, if you possess a beginner photographer resume, your education section should be positioned after your resume objective or photographer resume summary.

On the other hand, if you have an experienced photographer resume, skills and qualifications that are highlighted in the experience section are more important.

Thus, placing your educational qualifications after your working experience section is acceptable.

Got hobbies, interests, activities, etc. that are aligned with the job context? You can include them to highlight your personality traits and achievements, allowing the recruiters to get a sense of you a lot better.

Some information that you can include in your photographer resume include:

The final step in your resume-building journey is to craft a photographer cover letter to accompany your photographer CV.

Because of the limited space in your CV, it is difficult to fully convince recruiters of your qualifications and fit for the job; a photography cover letter is where you can do so.

This one-page document should introduce yourself and explain your motivation for applying for the position. 

Job hunting is always stressful for everyone, but this stress can be somewhat alleviated when you understand the elements of a good resume.

Online resume builders like Cake can help you manage the formatting aspects (i.e., template, layout, format), which can benefit freshers or those who are looking to build their beginner photographer resumes.