Those of us who take photos regularly battle with finding an audience for the images we create. That audience can consist of social media followers, website visitors, or even people who want to publish or buy your images.

Often it feels like your beautifully crafted image is a small fish in a very big ocean of photos.

Attempting to make individuals care about your photographs is a big challenge. Your friends and family probably care enough to look at them, because they know you. But how do you expand your audience outside the circle of people you have a direct connection with?

If you are serious about taking photos that people want to see, there is one question you should ask before taking any photo:

Who is this photo for?

If the answer to that question is “Me, that’s fine and you should be happy. If the answer is “My family”, that is also fine and a totally valid reason for taking photos.

But, if you are trying to build a following, the question of who the photo is for should be at the forefront of your mind.

The question “Who is this photo for?” could be answered like this:
People who love dogs.
People who like street art.
Nature lovers.
Food lovers.
People who visited London.
Social causes.
The environment.
Birds.
People who love buildings.

There are a million things that people are interested in, and to grow your following you need to pick one specific niche that people are interested in and make photos for those people.

It also helps if you are enthusiastic about that subject too. It is no fun shooting cats when you can’t stand the sight of them.

So, find a subject, place or theme that you’re interested in, and then shoot that.

Find out what tags, words, Facebook groups and websites that people who are interested in that subject use, and use them too.

The aim is to find a niche, and become one of the best in that niche.

You can’t please all of the people, you just need to focus on pleasing a few and not worry about the rest.

The simple solution is to create a consistent, regular stream of great photos that the same targeted group of people will like.