Commercial photographer with 9 years of experience shooting product, food and lifestyle work for brands and agencies. Shot an e-commerce image system that lifted a client's product page conversion by 12%. Runs shoots end to end, from pre-production and crew to lighting, retouching and asset delivery.
Experience
Owner and Commercial Photographer, Northlight Photo Studio (Minneapolis, MN)
Mar 2019 – Present
Shoot 70+ commercial projects a year for food, outdoor and home brands with budgets up to $60k
Built an e-commerce image system for a cookware client that lifted product page conversion by 12%
Manage crews of up to 6 including stylists, assistants and digital techs
Deliver retouched assets in Capture One and Photoshop within 5 business days
Staff Photographer, Great Lakes Retail Group (St. Paul, MN)
Jun 2016 – Feb 2019
Photographed 4,000 SKUs a year for web and catalog in an in-house studio
Standardized lighting setups, cutting reshoot rates by 30%
Assisted on lifestyle location shoots for seasonal catalogs
Education
BFA, Photography, Minneapolis College of Art and Design (Sep 2012 – May 2016)
Skills
Photography: product, food, lifestyle, studio and location lighting
Post: Capture One, Lightroom, Photoshop retouching, color management
Gear: Phase One and Canon systems, Profoto strobes, tethered capture
A strong Photographer resume shows the work you made, the audiences it reached, and the briefs you delivered on. Put your most relevant recent role first and make every bullet show a result, not a duty.
Sections, in order
Summary
Experience
Projects
Skills
Education
Length: One page for most candidates; move to two only if every line is relevant.
Summary: Write two or three lines: your role, your strongest skills, and one result that proves them.
Skills to feature
Storytelling
Content strategy
Adobe Creative Cloud
Video production
Copywriting and editing
Brand guidelines
Social media
Art direction
Project management
Audience analytics
Example bullet points
Produced a 12-episode video series that reached 4.8M views and grew the channel by 120k subscribers
Art-directed the rebrand across 60 assets, delivered two weeks ahead of the product launch
Edited 300 articles a year as managing editor, raising average time on page by 35%
Tips from recruiters
Link your portfolio or reel in the header; it matters more than any layout choice.
Name clients, publications or brands when you are allowed to.
A more expressive template is fine for creative roles, but keep the text easy to scan.
Recommended templates
Vanguard (ATS-friendly): Bold display name, accent-led headings with line rules
Timeline (ATS-friendly): Clean accent layout with a dated career timeline
Photographer resume FAQ
What should a Photographer resume include?
A Photographer resume should show the work you made, the audiences it reached, and the briefs you delivered on. Use these sections in this order: Summary, Experience, Projects, Skills and Education. Put your most relevant recent role first and make every bullet show a result, not a duty.
What is the best resume template for a Photographer?
Vanguard, Elegant and Timeline work well for Photographer roles. They are single-column with standard headings, so applicant tracking systems (ATS) parse them reliably.
How long should a Photographer resume be?
One page for most candidates; move to two only if every line is relevant.
Which skills should a Photographer put on a resume?
Prioritize the skills named in the job posting. Common ones for Photographer roles are Storytelling, Content strategy, Adobe Creative Cloud, Video production, Copywriting and editing and Brand guidelines.
How do I write strong Photographer resume bullet points?
Start with an action verb, say what you did, and end with a measurable result such as views, engagement rate and audience growth. For example: "Produced a 12-episode video series that reached 4.8M views and grew the channel by 120k subscribers."